Low Down

    Given the widespread problems observed with regard to the insufficient commitment and enthusiasm of language learners, as well as the high rate of language learning failure, L2 teachers have traditionally been on the lookout for techniques they can apply to enhance student motivation. There is a wealth of materials that classroom practitioners can apply to promote their motivational teaching practice and to create a motivating classroom environment. Therefore, an unexpected new challenge arose: the need to organize the possible motivational strategies in a structure that offers a wide range of options for teachers to choose from yet which avoids being daunting and making readers feel how complex the domain is and how much they are not doing. The Dörnyei-Ottó process model described earlier and consisted of four main dimensions:   1.     creating the basic motivational conditions, 2.     generating initial student motivation, 3...

  PET (positron emission tomography) scan is a tool used in radiology to determine the functioning of the body, specifically small areas the size of a grain of sand in tissues and organs. It is particularly useful in looking into organs, such as the brain, that are encased in bone. The PET scan is considered a functional rather than merely structural scan because it measures the functioning of the brain. Radioactive molecules that interact with the brain in specific ways are injected before the scan. They can be sugars, to measure the brain’s metabolism, or drugs that link to the receptors for various neurotransmitters, to measure the distribution of those receptors.   In this scan the doctors used an isotope of fluorine, F-18, bound to a type of glucose taken up by active brain cells. It remains in the cells and emits positrons, a form of radiation, for about an hour. The glucose is injected into a vein in the subject’s arm, and then the subject is slid onto a gurney into...