How an awareness of the biology of learning may have an effect on performance

Abstract

The advances in brain-based researches, new insights about the brain and how it works have all led to rich developments, ideas and principles that can be used in educational settings. In this research, three main factors, relaxed alertness, orchestrated immersion and active processing (Caine & Caine 1994), have been considered as essential phases for a complementary learning environment. Moreover, the twelve main principles of brain-based research (Caine & Caine 1994) and how these might apply to learning and teaching English as a foreign language (EFL) formed the basis for the brain-based part of this study. As far as the e-learning part is concerned, a course website was created and designed according to brain-based principles. The purpose of this experimental study is to examine if there is a significant relationship between brain-based e-learning and grammar translation method in middle-school students' academic achievements and attitudes towards an English course taught in Turkey. In this study, a course unit with a brain-based learning approach supported with e-learning strategy was studied in an experimental group that consisted of 68 seventh grade students; in the control group, 34 students studied the same unit using a grammar translation method for four weeks. The findings obtained at the end of this study were that the experimental group students' academic achievements in the unit with brain based e-learning were higher than the control group students' academic achievements in the unit (ie the group that used a grammar translation method). That said, no significant difference was found in terms of attitudes between students in the experimental and control groups.