Speaker
Description
From the brain’s perspective, it is a massive task to take something we know and turn it into goals and actions. Knowing is only half of what EFL learning is. The other half is doing, called cognitive control in neuroscience, something we grossly undervalue. Let us look at the neuroscience behind this perspective, including the role of play, tasks, and automaticity, and review approaches that maximize both halves of learning: knowing and doing!
Abstract
Can one learn a language by just knowing things about it, such as words, expressions, grammar rules, register, and so on? According to neuroscience, we cannot. Neuroscientist David Badre says:
“...knowledge and action are distinct things to some degree. So, knowing is not enough. You have to be able to bridge from what you want to do to how you behave. And that gap is not trivial. It’s not easy. You actually need a class of functions in the brain to bridge it. And that’s what cognitive control is all about. (Campbell, 2021)
In other words, from the brain’s perspective, it is a massive task to take something we know and turn it into goals and actions (Badre, 2025). Cognitive control allows us to do that and plays an essential role in language production, proficiency (Luque & Morgan-Short, 2021) and virtually all language processing (Ness, et all, 2023). In short, knowing is only half of what EFL learning is. The other half is doing, something we might acknowledge in the classroom, but grossly undervalue. Instead, once we understand the role of cognitive control in language processing we must see tasks– tools to elicit doing – as mandatory rather as than just another method.
We will look at the neuroscience behind this perspective, including the role of tasks, play, and automaticity, and consider approaches that maximize both halves of ELT learning: knowing and doing!
Keywords
Neuroscience, cognitive control, tasks, TBLT
Short summary
From the brain’s perspective, it is a massive task to take something we know and turn it into goals and actions. Knowing is only half of what EFL learning is. The other half is doing, called cognitive control in neuroscience, something we grossly undervalue. Let us look at the neuroscience behind this perspective, including the role of play, tasks, and automaticity, and review approaches that maximize both halves of learning: knowing and doing!
Special scheduling requests
if Sunday, earlier is better since I might be flying out that night.
References
Badre D. (2025). Cognitive control. Annual Review of Psychology. 2025 Jan 17;76(1):167-95.
Campbell, G. (Host) (2021). Interview with David Badre, author of On Task: How Our Brain Gets Things Done [Audio Podcast] Brain Science, BS 190. https://brainsciencepodcast.com/bsp/2021/190-badre?rq=Badre
Luque, A., & Morgan-Short, K. (2021). The relationship between cognitive control and second language proficiency. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 57, 100956
Ness, T., Langlois, V. J., Kim, A. E., & Novick, J. M. (2023). The state of cognitive control in language processing. Perspectives on Psychological Science, 17456916231197122.
| Scheduling preference | Anytime on Saturday or Sunday |
|---|---|
| Title | Neuroscience informs us that tasks are mandatory, not optional |