The contents of this article were presented to the Teacher Development Special Interest Group Conference of the International Association for Teaching English as a Foreign Language (IATEFL) in November 1995.
Imagine a teacher is introducing a lesson to a new class by saying: ''Learning a second language is rather like learning anything else - you need to be given lots of feedback as to how well you are doing''. A student comments: ''I’ve learnt lots of different things from algebra to zoology to riding a bike and each one of them required its own unique way of learning. And what’s more, it is obvious when I’ve learnt a language, I don’t need anyone to tell me''. The teacher thinks ''Oh! This is one to watch.'' She smiles and responds with: ''My students tell me they like lots of comments on their homework and learning is about acquiring new skills, the basic principles are much the same.''
Silence fills the classroom. The student stares blankly into space -- the ‘lights are on but no one’s home’- and he says to himself, ''What have I let myself in for?''.
Not the best way to start a course. The teacher and the student might as well be speaking a different language. The words are in the same tongue but the structure of their communication is worlds apart. How might those worlds begin to come together?
In the early 1970’ Richard Bandler and John Grinder1 wanted to find out what effect the structure of language has on our internal processes (our subjective experience). The result of their research has been a new way of thinking about thinking: Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP).
Bandler and Grinder discovered that individuals seem to communicate using consistent structures of language which over time can be recognised through repeating patterns. One of the structural elements they identified became known as Metaprogrammes, the subject of this article. In a moment of insight, they realised people who used similar language patterns quickly developed a deep rapport. They also noticed that when these language patterns were not aligned, people got confused, or they argued, or they found it difficult to understand each other.
What is more, when these patterns were brought to the attention of the individual, they were unaware of them. So this aspect of language production obviously takes place at an unconscious level.
This article will give you an overview of how to apply the idea of Metaprogrammes in the classroom and so improve the effectiveness of your teaching. I will explain three Metaprogrammes in detail which I believe are fundamental to learning: Sameness-Difference, Chunk Size, and Frame of Reference.
Those of you who are familiar with Myers-Briggs profiles and Carl Jung’ Psychological Types may notice similarities with Metaprogrammes. There is, however, a significant distinction: Metaprogrammes are not personality types. They are ways of processing information and communicating in the moment.
Linguistic indicators are being presented in every sentence, spoken or written. They are instantly recognisable - when you know what to look for!
Research has shown that the conscious mind can usually attend to only ''seven, plus or minus two, chunks (ie. pieces) of information'' at one time2.
Meanwhile, the unconscious mind is able to process millions of bits of data received from our external and internal senses every second. However, that data needs to be sorted for what is important at the time and within the context in which we find ourselves.
This sorting process can be regarded as perceptual filtering. It is usually out of our awareness and has a major effect on how we behave in the world. Using the analogy of computer software, this level of processing can be thought of as ‘programmes’ which control the ‘behavioural and linguistic programmes’. They are therefore referred to as Meta-programmes.
Our natural approach is to explain ourselves in ways that correspond to our perceptions of how best to understand. This will work well enough for the majority of students. However, there are likely to be a proportion whose way of thinking is sufficiently different from our own that we make it difficult for them to learn. In these circumstances, communication can often be dramatically improved by noticing the Metaprogramme preferences used by the other person and modifying our language to match.
It has been said that teaching is only the transfer of information until either you or your students hit a problem. It is at these times that utilising Metaprogrammes can be so powerful.
Since people exhibit an habitual tendency to organise their experience using certain combinations of Meta-programmes, they become useful predictors of behaviour. Keep in mind they are guides to behaviour and no one exclusively or permanently operates from a specific Metaprogramme. More accurately there is a continuum with each end representing a behavioural extreme. Depending on the context, each of us tend to gravitate towards one end or the other. Interestingly, the greater the level of stress we experience the more likely we are to revert to our old behavioural patterns and hence reduce our adaptability - just when we need it the most.
Researchers have identified a large number of Metaprogramme distinctions, many of which have specialised applications. However, there are about 10 which seem to operate in almost all contexts. What follows is a selection of three of the Metaprogrammes I have found to be most useful in a teaching environment.
When you are teaching, have you noticed how some students seem to learn best by relating the information to what they already know; while others prefer to look for how it is different from what they have experienced before? These two approaches to learning are aspects of a more fundamental way of perceiving the world.
Some people have a tendency to notice what is similar, what is common, how things are much like they have always been. In NLP-speak they are said to be exhibiting 'matching' behaviour. Teachers who are strong matchers prefer to use tried and tested methods, they easily empathise with their students and they like continuity. They might say:
Other people will emphasise how things are different. They will notice what is missing, what does not fit. They understand by 'mismatching'. Teachers who are great at mismatching like new and radical methods, will spot mistakes easily and get enthused when things change. They will say things like:
You may already have noticed the above applies to how we learn just as much to how we teach. You may think students who agree with what you teach, follow your instructions, copy the way you do things, are perfect students; especially if you use similarity thinking yourself. More likely they just prefer to learn by matching.
On the other hand, students who point out the inconsistencies in your explanation, your mistakes, and keep telling you why things are different to what you say, have not been sent to this planet just to make your life a misery. These students are actually making sense of the world in the best way they know how - THEY ARE LEARNING BY MISMATCHING.
The way to get the attention of a person who tends to mismatch is to explain how what they are learning is new, unique, different. Give them exercises to spot what is wrong, what is missing and how things have changed.
With a matcher you need to show how things are similar to what they already know, how each idea builds on the last, and emphasise areas of agreement and continuity.
As an experiment to see how this Metaprogramme operates, show 3 coins to a group of people and ask each one ''What do you notice about these?''. Then listen to whether they tend to notice similarity or difference. Most people, if they think for long enough, will notice both. However, what they pay attention to first tends to be consistent.
Shelle Rose Charvet : Words That Change Minds (Kendall/Hunt, 1995).
Anthony Robbins’ book Unlimited Power (Simon and Schuster, 1988) has a clear if brief introduction to Metaprogrammes in chapter 14.
Tad James and Wyatt Woodsmall’s book Time Line Therapy (Meta Publications, 1988) has a lot of detailed information in
James Lawley is a certified NLP trainer and UKCP registered psychotherapist who specialises in 'developing the developers of others': teachers, counsellors and managers. He is in the process of formulating a new domain of NLP called ‘Symbolic NLP’. Details of trainings and other events can be obtained from the address below.
The Developing Company, 9 Southwood Lawn Road, London N6 5SD. Tel/Fax: 0181-341 1062. E-mail: [email protected]