From medical research to educational practices: brain-based learning in developing English-speaking skills among medical students

Background: Recent advances in cognitive neuroscience have provided inspiring opportunities for the current understanding of the language-learning process and its neurological underpinnings. To date, several brain studies investigating the structure and functions of the language-learning process have provided reasonable explanations for biological aspects of language acquisition in addition to behavioral elucidations. Brain-related studies can provide valuable learning information for teachers to apply in classrooms. Accordingly, the current study investigated the impact of brain-based language instruction on medical students’ English-speaking skills.

Methods: A quantitative quasi-experimental approach with a control group, using a pre-test/post-test format with a four-month follow-up in brain-based language instruction, was used for this study. To test the hypotheses underpinning this research, 64 medical students (40 women and 24 men) in a required course in general English in the Department of Foreign Languages at the Islamic Azad University of Kerman participated in this study during the 2021-2022 academic year. Pre- and post-tests of speaking skills were administered to ascertain differences in participants from the beginning to the end of the study.

Results: Analysis revealed that the experimental group, who received treatment in the form of a brain-based teaching approach, improved considerably in their speaking skill from the pre-test to the post-test (P<0.01). Although the control group improved from the pre-test to the post-test, the improvement was not significant, nor was it as large as the progress in the experimental group.

Conclusion: In brief, a collaboration between medicine and education elevates both fields of study and illuminates the process of language learning regarding the structural and functional operation of the brain. Findings around the new trend of brain network connectivity have paved the way for educational curricula to use teaching methods, materials, and tasks compatible with cognitive brain functions, potentially fostering learners in general and medical students in particular to reap the result.