A study on using the golden hour study of the brain to enhance english vocabulary for students at a university research methods

A STUDY ON USING THE GOLDEN HOUR STUDY OF THE BRAIN TO ENHANCE ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR STUDENTS AT DNTU TRỊNH THỊ A1, TRẦN THỊ B2 1Sinh viên, khoa Ngoại ngữ, trường Đại học 2Giảng viên, khoa Ngoại ngữ,.

A STUDY ON USING THE GOLDEN HOUR STUDY OF THE BRAIN TO ENHANCE ENGLISH VOCABULARY FOR STUDENTS AT DNTU

TRỊNH THỊ A1, TRẦN THỊ B2

1Sinh viên, khoa Ngoại ngữ, trường Đại học

2Giảng viên, khoa Ngoại ngữ, trường Đại học

Abstract

English vocabulary is always a concerned with students but it is not easy to put them into the brain memory permanently This study was conducted helps students to get awareness about using the golden hour study of brain for applying to learn English vocabulary It also helped to contribute in learning and enriching English vocabulary which coming to be as a reference in difficulties that face students in learning English words The results were very useful and convenient to help students, teachers, educators, and university instructors by pointing out some new methods which are able to make English vocabulary learning efficiently and easily

Keywords: brain memory, enhance vocabulary, golden hour learning,

1 Introduction

There are many, many reasons why learning a

new language is a good and conscious idea It

allows people to communicate with new

others Especially, language helps people to

see things from a different perspective or have

got a deeper understanding of another culture

diversity Besides, it helps others to become a

better listener It even has health benefits,

simply because studies have shown that people

who speak two or more languages have more

active minds in the future in their life Those

are all reasons that people ought to learn

any language if possible, however, do you

know that there are 6,500 languages spoken

over the world today? With such an enormous

number to choose from, why do they pick

English?

English, the worldwide communication tool,

also is universal language after their

mother-tongue And it is an official and important

language in many countries Then in learning

process, it is really paid attention very much

and it is estimated that the huge number of

people over the world who use English with the aim to communicate on a regular basis is two billion And 400 million people around the world speak English as their first language However, the problem that people have cannot communicate fluently and naturally It is told precisely that do not have enough the amount

of vocabularies to apply in reality, in other words, all of vocabulary in the memory brain

of human will be faded out by the time

1.1 Background of the study

Nowadays, in Vietnam, English is the dominant position in all aspects In fact, students learnt English when they are in grade

3 in 2006 At the present, almost students have

to learn English from grade 1 and the first step

of it that build a wide vocabulary by learning new words When people have the stable number of words, speaking skill as well as listening skill are improved automatically Of course, it is known that vocabulary is the key

of the beginning of learning English in particular and other languages in general However, it is quite difficult to remember all

of words that learnt today The problem is that

after 24 hours, the vocabularies make up only

35,7% and even if on the day after tomorrow,

the brain will be empty if these vocabularies

do not review again (Ebbinghaus, Memory,

1913) Therefore, the amount of English

vocabulary is still limited when applied into

Writing, Speaking, Listening, and Reading In

due to fact that vocabularies are not reviewed

constantly At present, in fact, the benefits of

using English language are immense with

Vietnamese So, vocabulary is considered as

the most noticeable problem to study English

throughout Vietnam in general and over the

world in particular Outstandingly, the golden

hour study of brain human is influence on

remembering more or less

Among the difficulties of learning English,

vocabulary is considered as the first important

part to start to approach 4 main skills are

Listening, Writing, Reading and Speaking

skills For most people mastering English

language, English vocabulary enhancing is an

essential part, an indispensable aspect

However, it is not easy for some people to

learn English vocabulary and especially

remember these words in usage for a long

time It is also a concerned goal for everyone

There is a study relating to this problem that

learning English vocabulary strategies by

using excellent English learners (Zhou,

2017) That does not give clear and consistent

concepts about learning English Because the

study only used the excellent students It

should be aimed at all of students

Alternatively, there is an another key advance

to learning English vocabulary in the study of

the golden hour study of brain was a German

psychologist - Hermann Ebbinghaus who

determines the content relating to experimental

study of memory and the forgetting curve

when learning something (Ebbinghaus,

Hermann Ebbinghaus, 1885) The research tested in himself and the use of role-play in learning English vocabulary had mixed success The golden hour of memory brain is influenced very much on studying new words and levels of eternal vocabulary memory

1.2 Statement of the problem

The problem is that students have a poor amount of English vocabulary in order to applied into 4 main skills: Writing, Speaking, Listening, and Reading at the university – Dong Nai Technology University, the issue of the way to learn English vocabulary is acquired only in the lesson class and after school as long it is interested to learn And especially learning English vocabulary at the time that the brain does not active best

In addition, it is influenced by the forgetting curve which is demonstrated in the Hermann’s study (Ebbinghaus, A Contribution to Experimental Psychology, 1885) According

to Hermann, near 80% of information will be

“evaporated” after 24 hours if not review again And it is given a prove the brain periods that work actively best that are able to called

“the golden hour study” It means that the brain of human has golden hour to study English vocabularies best as well as forgettable hour to practice and review these English vocabularies again

1.3 Objectives of the study

As noted above, the problem lies in that the students have the meager vocabulary as well

as enrich vocabulary without success in while

it is essential things in learning English There

is very little research on effective vocabulary learning But only Mr Hermann’s research is the most concentrated Since then, the objectives of this study, the researcher wants

to find a method to use the golden hour study

of the brain to memorize vocabulary a long

term and in which combines with the other

method of Spaced Repetitions increases

efficiency of enhancing English vocabulary

maximally

1.4 Research Questions

Because of the strange method, firstly, the

questions will be related to the awareness of

DNTU students, then, it will be asked the

feeling and problems of students in learning

English vocabulary by this way

Focused on the problem above at DNTU, it

may be formulated as follows:

1 How do awareness that students get in

using golden hour study of brain to enhance

English vocabulary at DNTU?

2 To what extend does the brain memory of

human influence on learning English

vocabulary for students at DNTU?

2 Literature review

2.1 Definition of terms

2.2.1 Definition of vocabulary

Vocabulary is acquired incidentally

through indirect exposure to words

intentionally through explicit instruction in

specific words and word-learning strategies

Richards and Renandya state that vocabulary

is a core component of language proficiency

and provides much of the basic for how well

learners speak, listen, read and write Richard

states that vocabulary is one of the first things

applied linguistics turned their attention to

(C.Richards, 2002)

On the other hand, vocabulary is a list or

collection of words or of words and phrases

usually alphabetically arranged and explained

or defined: LEXICON Merriam also said that

vocabulary is a sum or stock of words

employed by a language, group, individual, or

work in field of knowledge and a list or collection of terms or codes available for use (as in an indexing system) (Webster, Vocabulary, 1828)

2.2.2 The golden study hour of the brain

“The golden study hour of the brain” is considered as the best time that the brain acts most productively Most of us already seem to know the time when our brain is supposedly most active and alert It has to be morning, right? From religious texts, to medical treatises, have all been ranting since times immemorial that morning is the best time to do the toughest tasks as your brain is most active then But being active is different than being productive Maybe the first few hours right after you get up are when you get the best ideas and are most creative But the time your brain is most productive is not morning It is at night Yes, you heard it right Do you feel tired right after you get up as if your mind has been juggling all night? If yes, here’s your answer Your brain is most active when you are asleep It’s even a proven fact that the ATP chemicals that provide energy to the cells increase at night (TNN, 2018)

They have found that the time of day influences your brain’s ability to learn and the human brain learns more effectively in the evening And by identifying at what point in the day the brain is best able to operate, rehabilitation therapy can be targeted to that time, when recovery is maximized “Our research has several future applications,” Mr Sale says “If the brains of stroke patients can

be artificially stimulated to improve learning, they may be able to recover better and faster.” The researchers used a magnetic coil over the head to stimulate nerve activity in the brain, and linked it to an electrical stimulus of the hand

When you use your brain on

perpetual overdrive, you're bound to hit

productivity slumps where it feels like you're

fresh out of new ideas While there's no

shortage of tricks and tips to hack your way to

more innovative thinking, timing is

everything, says sleep doctor Dr Micheal

Breus, author of The Power of When He

believes working in sync with our body's

natural clock is the key to unlocking success to

produce our best, most creative work

(Wilding, 2017)

The science of "good timing"

called chronobiology  reveals peak

performance is hardwired into our DNA "An

inner clock embedded inside your brain has

been ticking away, keeping perfect time, since

you were a baby," writes Breus, "This

precisely engineered timekeeper is called your

circadian pacemaker, or biological clock."

So, the next time you're feeling mentally

sluggish, try tapping into chronobiology to

perform at your best in these areas:

The Best Time to Learn Something New

Learning is most effective when the brain is in

acquisition mode, generally between 10:00 am

to 2:00 p.m and then again from 4:00 p.m to

10:00 p.m

Night owls beware: think twice before pulling

an all-nighter The lowest learning valley

occurs between 4:00 a.m and 7:00 a.m

The Best Time To Brainstorm

Ironically, research has found that people are

at their least creative when it's demanded the

most: at the heart of the workday, between

11:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m

Breus suggests leaning into "moments of

groggy greatness" when we're slightly tired

and easily distracted During these times, right

and left brain communicate, which can trigger new and novel connections and spark innovative ideas (Wilding, 2017)

2.2 Methods of enhancing English vocabulary

2.2.1 Using the golden hour study of the brain

If you are a student, studying is always an essential part and parcel in your life It takes patience and lots of time to establish the best time for you to study Mornings are better in studying for some people, while for others, evening or night time enables to focus more easily on their studies

According to the science of “good timing”, also known as a chronobiology, peak performance is hardwired into our DNA Our biological clock, which is an inner clock embedded inside our brain since young, actually helps us decide when is our perfect timing for studying Although new discoveries prove that timing may not be everything, it is important if you want to create and perform at your best consistently

That said, science has indicated that learning is most effective between 10:00 am to 2:00 pm and from 4:00 pm to 10:00 pm, when the brain

is in an acquisition mode On the other hand, the least effective learning time is between 4:00 am and 7:00 am While there is really no one best time of the day to study, let’s take a look at the benefits of studying in the morning versus the other times of the day

Studying in the Morning

Most people would think that morning is the best time to study, as our brains tend to be the sharpest in the morning after a refreshing night’s sleep and breakfast The natural light available is also good for your eyes and keep you alert This period is great for opening a

textbook to learn a new theory, or just

reviewing your lecturer’s notes from the

previous day because mornings generally give

you a better recollection ability

Studying in the Afternoon

In the afternoon, students’ brains are good at

integrating new information with what they

already know During this time of day,

students are able to create connections and

make the information they have learned more

meaningful

Mornings and afternoons are better for

studying also because if you get stuck midway

through your study, you can always call your

peers or teachers to clarify quickly, as it is the

time when people are most active, or even visit

the library for more information

Studying at Night

For some students, they have more energy

later in the day Hence, the evening or night

time is a more effective time for them to read

and study Studying at this time also helps to

improve your concentration and creativity as

there are fewer distractions, and with everyone

in bed, there is definitely peace and quiet

Sleeping after studying is also said to

consolidate information and improve recall

One thing to note though, do make sure you

are still getting an average of 8 to 9 hours of

sleep nightly

Interestingly, some research has suggested that

studying at your most tired time can help your

brain retain higher concentrations of new

skills, such as speaking a foreign language

This apparently even has a name to it:

sleep-learning Because during slow-wave sleep, the

memory-consolidation process does its best

work and your brain could be receiving the

restoration and reactivation that it needs

during its time of rest This means that

studying before bedtime can help your brain learn new things, even in your sleep

How to find your best time to study? 

That said, different timings work for different students and you can find your best time of the day to study if you consider the following factors

 Firstly, when are you most alert? Think about that, but different qualities of memories and alertness seem to be better at different times of the day for different people For example, you can have a better visual memory in the morning, but your critical thinking ability peaks in the afternoon Secondly, if your optimal time is prone to distractions, such as dinner time, which might disrupt your routine,

it is best to find another timing Lastly, make sure you select a time that you can stick to consistently, at least for a few days every week because consistency helps ensure you study daily and improves the quality of your study time

Just like each student has a unique learning style, different students may learn better at different times of the day But if you study at the same time every day, you will condition your mind and body gradually and soon, you will be in your best frame of mind for study Once you know what works best for yourself, you can start your studying routine more effectively and efficiently (Academy, 2020) Based on study above, students’ brains tend to

be sharpest in the morning, after a refreshing night’s sleep and full of energy provided from breakfast (10:00 am – 2:00 pm) This makes it

a good time to open a book to learn something new as well as vocabulary, or review notes from the previous day With a more alert brain, students have a better ability to recall details like names, places, dates and facts

In the afternoon and evening, exactly it is from

4:00 pm to 10:00 pm, brains of students are

good at integrating new information with what

they already know During this time of day,

students are able to create special connections

and make the information they have learned

more meaningful and eternally

2.2.2 Spaced Repetition

Spaced repetition is a centuries-old

psychological technique for efficient

memorization & practice of skills where

instead of attempting to memorize by

‘cramming’, memorization can be done far

more efficiently by instead spacing out each

review, with increasing durations as one learns

the item, with the scheduling done by

software Because of the greater efficiency of

its slow but steady approach, spaced repetition

can scale to memorizing hundreds of

thousands of items (while crammed items are

almost immediately forgotten) and is

especially useful for foreign languages &

medical studies (Haskell, 2009)

The SRS (Spaced Repetition System) is a

presentation method that gives you the

information before you would forget it and

makes sure that it stays constantly fresh in

your mind So, you might see a word a few

minutes after the first time, then a

few days later, then a few weeks later etc.

always at the time you need to see it most to

make sure it is constantly fresh in your mind

It's a more complex version of

the flashcard system where you have a word

on one side of a card and its translation on the

other You look at the word, test yourself to

see if you know it and turn over the card to see

the translation You couldn't get more low-tech

than that even if you tried, but SRS uses 21st

century technology to make this possible while

considering the time dimension

So how would a person like me who dislikes studying indoors, is not usually a fan of flashcards and already has a pretty good

learning strategy, be interested in software for

improving recall of vocabulary?

Finding the time to study

There are ways to make time – get

it back from the time spent waiting

You wait for the bus/metro/train to arrive, you wait in it while going to work/school or home, you wait in the supermarket queue/line, you wait in a traffic jam in your car, you wait when ordering coffee in the morning, you wait for your water to boil if you prepare it yourself, you wait for your friend to arrive, you wait at the doctor's/dentist's, you even wait for a minute or two in lifts, elevators, at traffic lights, when waiting for something to load on your computer, for someone to answer the door after you knock etc

In most of these situations you may be alone –

so if you can't talk to someone, what do you do? Stare into space? Read advertisements around you? Twiddle your thumbs? Press the pedestrian cross or lift button again in frustration that nothing has happened yet? These little segments of our day fly by unutilized and actually add up to a huge

amount of time wasted You can't avoid these

situations – they are natural parts of your day

I actually don't mind when these occasions arise! Seriously – if someone is arriving a little late, or if I just missed the bus and the next one won't come for 15 minutes, or the Internet goes down and I can't work – rather than cursing at my “bad luck”, and adding stress to

my life by being angry during this time, I think

to myself – great! Another chance to study some vocabulary

Improving on the old-school method

For several years, in these situations I would

take out my phrasebook, or pocket vocabulary

book for these moments, open it up to

a random page and learn whatever I saw

Sometimes I'd see a word I never did before

and sometimes I'd see something I needed to

review and had already long forgotten and

need to relearn rather than just remind myself

It did the job but to be honest, in retrospect it

was inefficient and sloppy (Although, if you

learn by listening, these moments are good

times to take out your MP3 player and press

play!)

Randomly or even systematically going

through vocabulary in order like this means

that you might not review the hardest words

when you need to, or you'll keep seeing the

easy words too often, or you'll forget words

because you didn't review them for a very long

time

SRS answers all of these issues by letting you

decide when you should see a word again

based on certain criteria (usually,

how hard you felt it was) So, the easy words

are pushed way off into the future, the hard

ones keep constantly reappearing until you are

finally happy with them, and the

middle-difficulty ones will reappear just when you

need them most, to refresh your memory

Deciding when to study a word again when

you see it in a printed list is too hard, but that's

where technology comes in! (Lewis)

3 Research Methodology

3.1 The Context of the study

This study was conducted at Dong Nai

Technology University which is located in

Bien Hoa City of Dong Nai Province DNTU

was established on the basic of upgrading of

Dong Nai Technical College in 2011 The

university teaches diversity of majors with 15 majors at undergraduate level and 1 major at postgraduate level Until now, it has more than

7000 students All of majors have to have English certification at B2 level except for English Language To reach the level, students must learn from the basic English 1-2-3 to the advanced English 1-2-3 So, English is essential for English non-majored students as well as English-majored students And English vocabulary is always a concerned with students but it is not easy to put them into the brain memory permanently

3.2 Research Design

The study is designed to examine the possibility of using the golden study hour of the brain when learning English vocabulary The aim of the research is found out if how to enhance English vocabulary efficiently for students at DNTU by using the golden study hour of the brain, how students apply daily the way to remember all of the words that was learnt before, and do the study help them keeping the learnt vocabularies into the brain memory permanently Simply because almost students who learn English vocabulary will not remember all without practicing again

The data collection procedure is carried out by

a questionnaire and a vocabulary test because

the participants are all students at DNTU that have majored-language students and especially non-majored-language students, researchers cannot allow them to answer complex and long questions like interview or do the things students do not want to Moreover, in order to avoid wasting students’ time, questionnaire is the most suitable way On the other hand, researchers would like to give students an English vocabulary It takes them a lot of time

to make the test but researcher only takes students that accepted to join So, it is OK

3.3 Participants

The study is carried out with students at Dong

Nai Technology University The sample is

twenty-five students from different faculties of

school such as Accounting, Business

Administration, Finance and Banking… and

mostly are students from Faculty of English

Language Primarily, the participants of the

sample are freshmen, sophomores, juniors and

seniors from Dong Nai Technology

University

Because the study is carried out by 2 ways, the

participants would be divided into 2 tables

The total of contributors is who say “yes” to

join the mini test for the vocabulary test and

the remaining people for the questionnaire on

Google form They join to evaluate electronic

form and chose their answers

3.4 Research tools

In order to examine the detected English

vocabulary learning among students whose

major is Accounting, Business Administration,

Finance and Banking, etc and Faculty of

English Language are mainly used in this

study This study provides opportunities for

students to experience the new way to

enhancing English vocabulary and expand the

knowledge about the golden study hour of the

brain

There are two main research tools consist of

questionnaire and testing vocabulary

3.4.1 Questionnaire

This tool plays an essential role in this

research It is surely used for the research

study It was carried out a survey on google

form The questionnaire consisted of 15

questions Questionnaire have 3 parts:

Part 1: General background information of the respondents

Part 2: Questions about the ways DNTU students learn English vocabulary

Part 3: Questions about the awareness

of the golden study hour of the brain

3.4.2 Testing vocabulary

Giving participants 9 new words and required them to learn all of these words until they remember all at the particular time that the brain can absorb information fastest After 2 hours, testing those 9 students how many vocabularies they remember 9 vocabularies are classified 3 levels:

Level 1: 3 words with little number of letters

- Liquor (n) rượu

- Jealous (adj) ganh tỵ

- Clinic (n) phòng khám chữa bệnh

Level 2: 3 words with medium number of

letters

- Judicious (adj) có đầu óc sáng suốt

- Bumblebee (n) ong nghệ

- Humidity (n) Sự ẩm ướt

Level 3: 3 words with multiple number of

letters

- Discombobulate (v) làm cho lúng túng

- Comprehension (n) Sự nhận thức, sự lĩnh hội

- Unadventurous (adj) không liều lĩnh, không mạo hiểm

In the part of testing vocabulary, the test will

be designed according to the golden study hour of the brain and the forgetting curve

3.5 Data collection procedure

With the aim of giving the new way to learn English vocabulary by using the golden study

hour of the brain for students and if they can

apply daily the method into reality to

enhancing English vocabulary to develop 4

main skills: Listening, Reading, Writing and

Speaking, would help students keeping all of

learned vocabularies in the memory brain

permanently to use them into English

The questionnaire is carried out at Dong Nai

Technology University (DNTU) on google

form The link was commented in a general

status of DNTU’s page All data is presented

as pie charts by Google Form The researcher

continuously updates evaluation data of

students The whole of the questionnaire

would be completed in 1 week including make

questions as well as create the questionnaire

within 2 hours, and starts to post for take

evaluation within 1week for summing up the

result The figures are listed in the Appendix

enclosed with the questions in the

questionnaire

On the other hand, the vocabulary test is done

with a stable number of participants well The

researcher will not force to learn immediately

in order that participants would feel they are

comfortable and quiet to learn 9 English

vocabularies And the test is taken by the

participants at the golden time to be listed It

takes about thirty to forty minutes for them to

learn ten English vocabularies given before

After learning all of words by heart, they are

required that had to come back for the memory

test of those English vocabularies after 5 hours

(that is at 3:00 pm) by choosing Obviously, it

is not sure for exactly 5 hours, there could be a difference but the test is done well with students’ voluntary and help

3.6 Data analysis procedure

In this study, quantitative data are collected through questionnaire and a vocabulary test Both are conducts with all the participant who are studying at DNTU The questionnaire conducts in English language All data is presented as pie charts by Google Form And Google Form continuously updates evaluation data of students

About the vocabulary test, the participants are invited accidentally in DNTU’s yard and of course, only choosing people who volunteer to take part in the test Fortunately, there are 52 students agreed out of 62 They have an ask to learn 9 vocabularies by heart and after 5 hours, they come back the place at first to test the memory of those vocabularies All data is automatically analyzed all of figures that the researcher entered into

4 Results and Discussion 4.1 Analysis of results

General information of the demographics

The gender distributions of the participants are

24 males (38,7%), 34 females (54,8%) and 4

others (6,5%) in the questionnaire (Table 1).

The gender distributions of the participants are 52 students (84,2%) out of 62 students totally in the questionnaire to join the

vocabulary testing (Table 2).

Table 1 Demographic Gender Distribution in the Questionnaire

Table 2 Demographic Gender Distribution in the Vocabulary Testing

Accordingly, it mainly shows the information

of the level at DNTU, referring to the students

those who are freshmen, sophomores, juniors

and seniors About level of students, there are

all 62 students of DNTU It can be seen each

pie having quietly same size But senior holds

the highest percentage with 30,6% are 19 students The second position is lower than 1 person is junior There are 18 students with 29% Sophomore has 14 students with 22,6% And 17,7% is the proportion with 11 students

It can explain clearly in the Figure 1

Figure 1 Participants’ level

The most of students’ major, it mainly

illustrates the amount of DNTU students with

many different majors such as Finance and

Banking, Business Administration,

Accountant, Mechanical Engineering,

Information Technology (IT), English

Language and Engineering Industry, etc

English language holds the highest proportion

with 23 students (40,4%) There are 9 students

who study Finance and Banking with 15,8% 8 students study Business Administration with 14% The remaining amount are Accountants with 7%, 4 Mechanical Engineering with 7,1%, 5 Information Technology with 8,9%, and small proportions are Land Management, Engineering Industry with 3% and 3,8% respectively It can be seen clearly in the Figure 2