I have primarily taught Elementary students and discovered the significance of attention as one crucial cognitive process for their learning. I share the view of Arévalo (2022) who states that attention plays a fundamental role in the classroom since learning and memory are impossible without it.
We could explore strategies and potential neuroscience perspectives on keeping students engaged during learning activities. Additionally, it may be beneficial to emphasize the importance of attention and its processes and the types of attention that individuals can possess.
Various books categorize types of attention into 11, 12, or even more! However, we are going to follow Sohlberg and Mateer's model which is the one that is commonly used in education. They present five categories: focused, sustained, selective, alternating, and divided attention (Shahmoradi).
This post will focus on learning-related attention types, particularly at the early elementary level, including sustained, selective, and divided/alternated attention.
* Sustained attention is basically the ability to stay focused on a specific task for a period of time. Ex. when students are building their reading stamina, they are expected to focus on the reading without losing focus during a certain amount of time.
* Selective attention or the ability to stay focused despite the distractions around. Ex. A student is able to listen to the teacher while reading a book even though a child next to him is making noises.
* Divided attention: applies when an individual can perform two or more tasks at the same time. Ex. spelling test: the child listens to the teacher, makes the correspondence phoneme-grapheme in his mind, and writes the letters on his paper. However, alternated attention is being considered more accurate as it is the ability to perform activities immediately after another.
However, how are they related to the learning process?
Selective attention is considered one of the most important components in the learning process. If not developed, students will find it difficult to concentrate or focus on a task since they cannot avoid distractors.
If it is stimulated and practiced, the children will be able to perform better during tasks such as understanding and extracting the main ideas. the most relevant information, or the details from a text, problem, concept, etc. They will be able to ask accurate questions, give priority, or organize the sequence to follow when working on a task. Ultimately, all this will be reflected in the ability to comprehend and problem-solve.
Sustained attention requires a high level of self-regulation, and the focus on a task lasts a certain period of time. Its benefits are noticed when carrying out tasks such as studying concepts, formulas, and lists, practicing for a test, reading texts, listening to the teachers, etc. The authors agree that sustained and selective attention work together in most cases.
Divided attention is a type of attention that many consider difficult to achieve and even disadvantageous since it is likely that when people work on two activities simultaneously, they tend to do one better than the other. However, if executed properly, it can have learning benefits such as writing while listening to a spelling test, filling in the blanks of a song or a story while listening to the song or the story, when participating in class dialogues because they must listen to others participation to then formulate their ideas to express them. Nowadays, alternate attention is being supported more.
And, what can teachers or parents do to improve these skills with their students?
Here are some ideas.
References:
Arévalo Parra, J. M. (2022). Neuropsicología escolar. Colombia: Editorial El Manual Moderno.
Daloiso, M. (2017). Supporting Learners with Dyslexia in the ELT Classroom. United Kingdom: Oxford University Press.
Johnson, A., Proctor, R. W. (2004). Attention: Theory and Practice. India: SAGE Publications.
Risueño, A., Motta ,I. (2005), Trastornos de aprendizaje. Argentina: Editorial Bonum.
Shahmoradi, Leila & Mohammadian, Fatemeh & Rahmani, Meysam. (2022). A Systematic Review on Serious Games in Attention Rehabilitation and Their Effects. Behavioural Neurology. 2022. 1-32. 10.1155/2022/2017975.
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