The Inner Life of Words: an Investigation Into Language in Teaching and Learning

University of Surrey Department of Educational Studies, School of Arts THE INNER LIFE OF WORDS: AN INVESTIGATION INTO LANGUAGE IN TEACHING AND LEARNING By Jane A.-M. Mathison September 2003 Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy ProQuest Number: 27693966 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a com plete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. uest ProQuest 27693966 Published by ProQuest LLC (2019). Copyright of the Dissertation is held by the Author. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States C ode Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 4 8 1 0 6 - 1346 Abstract This is a quaiitative inquiry into the possible relationships between language and thought for teachers and learners. This research has as its central focus some questions about the dynamic nature of language. These were 'what is the role of language in the formation of conceptual structures', 'what light might an inquiry into this subject throw on the processes of teaching and learning' and 'what kind of method could best be used to iliuminate such questions?' The thesis uses Neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) as a method for inquiring into people's deeply subjective experience, especially for modelling those experiences. The methodology was both action research and phenomenology, inquiring into people's subjective experiences. There were two phases to this project; the first consisted of my own interviews of six ex-patriates who had attended a course I had taught in a Middle Eastern country in 2000. Both phases paid attention to what in NLP terms, are called internal representations. I explored their responses to a number of language structures in interviews, which aimed to elicit some deep introspections from the learners. The second phase was the analysis of transcripts of six more interviews carried out by two collaborators, where I track changes in people's constructs of learning, and themselves as learners. The interview data is used to develop working hypotheses about the relationships between language and thought. These involve proposing that language transmits messages about how information is to be decoded, as well as content. A key finding appears to be a number of basic epistemological processes that are mediated through language, and which play a role in the construction of knowledge. The study offers models that describe the interactions of language and mental constructs, and lists some basic epistemological processes. Practical implications of the study concern teachers' awareness of the power of language, and the potential need for the training of teachers to address the interplay between language, thought and learning. Ill TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract Acknowledgements VII Chapter 1 Setting out on the Journey of Discovery_________________ L_ 1.1 Introduction ^ 1.2 An overview of forthcoming chapters ^ 1 3 Serendipity, and the personal emergence of the question for the researcher 4 1.4 Language in teaching and learning: some introductory reflections on theory 10 1.5 Introducing Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) 15 1.6 Conclusion Chapter 2 The Nature of this Inquiry: some methodological _____________ issues addressed _________________ _ _____________ _____ ??— 2.1 Reflections on research methods 20 2.2 The case for introspection 25 2.3 What about Discourse Analysis? 28 2.4 An outline of the data-gathering phase of the research process 31 2.5 Action Research 2.5.1 The Pilot Interviews, which then became a surprisingly important source of information ^ 2.5.2 Designing the pilot interview schedule 40 2.5.3 The interview schedule “^2 2.5.4 Questions that ended in the recycle bin 50 2.6 Ethics and research protocols 51 2.7 Concluding reflections 52 Chapter 3 Of Maps and Models^ Phantasmagoria and Simulacra 55 3.1 Introduction 3.2.1 Mental models, internal representations, cognitive maps or constructs; a rose by any other name 56 3.2.2 Constructivism and cognition 50 3.2.3 Modelling learning, and learning modelling 51 3.2.4 Behaviourism and information processing; two different approaches 66 3.2.5 Cybernetics ^2 3.2.6 The Cybernetics of control and goal achievement; the TOTE 59 3.3.1 NLP, models and modelling 24 3.3.2 Sandler, Grinder and MacDonald's ideas on internal representations and sub modalities; how the senses may be involved in information processing 77 3.3.3 Sub-modalities ^5 3.4.1 Abstraction, categorisation, classification, logical levels; thinking about thinking about sense-making 55 3.4.2 Metaphors 3.5.1 Unconscious processes ^4 3.5.2 Emotions and performance ^5 3.6 Conclusion Chapter 4 Reflections on Language, and the Cybernetics of _____________ Cognitive Systems __________________________ __ _____ 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Language and cognition 155 4.3 On some of our current approaches to language and thought 107 4.4 Distinguishing between map and territory 109 4.5 Vygotsky, Sapir, Whorf and others H I IV 4.6 Some reflections on NLP in the context of 20^^ and 21"^ Century thinking 116 4.7 Setting the stage for the linguistic part of NLP 122 4.8.1 The NLP approach to language and thought 124 4.8.2 Deletions, Distortions and Generalisations 125 4.9.1 Some hidden aspects of deletions 128 4.9.2 Hidden Comparisons 130 4.10.1 Nominalisations 132 4.10.2 The tyranny of hypostatisation 133 4.10.3 Are nominalisations metaphorical? 133 4.10.4 Nominalisations as categorisers 136 4.11 Conclusion 138 Chapter 5 The Imperative of Connections in Cognitive Mapping, and the Relevance of Presuppositions_________________ 139 5.1 Introduction 139 5.2 Causality as significant to the mapping process 141 5.3 Modal operators: carriers of information about future events? 142 5.4 Cause-effect thinking as basic conceptual processes 145 5.5 Hidden connections and double binds 149 5.6 Mind reading, and other epistemological traps 153 5.7 Presuppositions 155 5.8 Conclusion 157 Chapter 6 Exploring Nominalisations and De-nominalising, and finding Other Things on the Way 158 6.1 Introduction 158 6.2.1 Nominalising and de-nominalising 160 6.2.2 Responses to Question 4, textbook language explored 162 6.3 First words emerge as important 169 6.4 Reflections on the responses to question 10; memories of childhood 173 6.5 Reflections on the transcripts of question 17 179 6.6 Doing it wrong, and doing it wrongly; adjectives and adverbs 183 6.7 Conclusion 186 Chapter 7 Modal Operators in Action, and Little Words that Mean a Lot 189 7.1 Introduction 189 7,2 Responses to modal operators 190 7.3 Internal dialogue and causal assumptions 195 7.4 The phenomenon of location in internal representations 199 7.5 Modal operators and motivation 200 7.6 Other small, powerful words 208 7.6.1 Responses to the word 'feel' 209 7.6.2 Responses to the word 'but' 211 7.6.3 Changing time frames with 'yet' 214 7.7 Concluding reflections 215 Chapter 8 Language, Thought and the Dimension of Time 218 8.1 Introduction 218 8.2 The interview questions addressed in this chapter 219 8.3 The apparent comparing of information between present and future constructs in internal representations 221 8.4 Goals and outcomes; back to the future 225 8.4.1 'What' and 'how' questions 225 8.4.2 'Why' questions 229 8.5 Changing perceptual positions in time 232 8.6 Changing time frames 237 V 8.7 Conclusion rhanffar Q WnrHc. and the Generationof Internal Resoonses 241 9.1 Introduction 241 9.2 Setting directions for internal searches, and the consequences 241 9.3 Negations 250 9.4 Sameness and difference as two ways of attending to information 253 9.5 Conclusion 258 Chapter 10 The Master Practitioners' Interviews; Teaching and Learning as Transformational Processes 260 10.1 Introduction 260 10.2 The background to this part of the inquiry 261 10.3 Collaborative inquiry 263 10.4 Issues of power and bias 265 10.5 The Master practitioner's modelling project 268 10.6 Reflections on using a phenomenological approach 272 10.7 Some patterns that emerged from the Master Practitioners' interviews 273 10.7.1 The demon failure; a nominalisation with power 274 10.7.2 Learning about learning 280 10.7.3 Changes in people's perceptions of their futures 284 10.8 Sub-modalities revisited; the physiology of internal representations 290 10.9 Conclusion 298 Chapter 11 Mapping the Territory; Synthesising the Research Findings 301 11.1 Introduction 301 11.2 Language, teaching and learning 302 11.3 Cybernetics, and other approaches to understanding complexity 305 11.4.1 Induction, deduction, and abduction in particular 308 11.4.2 Abduction 311 11.4.3 Induction, deduction and abduction in the classroom 314 11.5 The role of the senses in teaching and learning: the world of internal representations 317 11.6 Connections that produce influential beliefs 321 11.7 The inner dimension of causality as a factor in learning 326 11.8 Framing and connecting 329 11.9 Language and future outcomes 331 11.10 Searching for, and ordering information through inner dialogue 333 11.11 The role of the construct of the self as learner; judgements and mind-reads 337 11.12 Comparison 339 11.13 Factors that appear to generate or inhibit learning 341 11.14 Epistemological processes as part of a systemic network; a working hypothesis 344 11.15 Conclusion 346 Chapter 12 Some Thoughts

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