An article on English learing for engineers at mycom.co.jp:
Study strategiesでは目標設定ばかりではなく、記憶のメカニズムを知って日々の勉強に役立てる話題も頻繁に出てきます。よく聞くのは、”the multistore model of memory”という記憶のメカニズムです。人の記憶はsensory memory(視覚、聴覚などの刺激を覚えている記憶)、short-term memory(STM)、long-term memory(LTM)の順に蓄積されていくのですが、覚えていられる時間はそれぞれ、2秒、30秒、無期限となっています。
The author supports Atkinson and Shiffrin’s model on human memory, and attempts to appy the model to language learning.
Hilarious. The model was first proposed in 1968, but today no one argues that the model is valid. I will reiterate my point. It’s bullshit.
I have been reading the series of the articles written by the same author, Yoko Harada. All the 29 articles by her simply show her incompetence to suggest any language learning to anyone. She may indeed have an excellent command of English; however, her knowledge and skills of language pedagogy are little. Articles on learning English by successful developers are truly misleading unless the articles are based on solid knowledge and research on langauge learning.
As I studied English langauge, cognitive psychology, linguistics and pedagogy at a university and finished my degree with a thesis on langauge learning and human memory, I found the articles fairly disgusting.
What should also be noted is that the aurhor never mentions what references she use for writing each article, which is, in my view, unprofessional. (And, yes, this is a serious copyright problem.) I will make a detailed analysis on what she writes.
The aurhor’s name is 原田洋子, and the title of the columns is エンジニアのための英語術. A quick Google search tells you that she is a Java expert. Is this a reason why Java developers are moving to Ruby on Rails?