brain scanning/neuro-imaging technology and cognitive solution: the impact of the neuro-linguistic programming technique on negative labeling experience in efl context

The use of cognitive psychology and neuro-linguistic-programming (nlp) technique are finding a special place in tefl (teaching-english-as-and-foreign-language) contexts. the current research sought to find a solution to negative labeling as one of the most hindering problems in online education via using the nlp technique called anchoring. to this end, four tefl-major students (1 male, 3 females) who were selected through purposive-sampling and had an actual experience of being negatively labeled on their academic performance by their instructor, took part in this qualitative/case study. for the anchoring technique stage, a motivational text (recited/recorded by a professional) which encouraged the participants/students to positively imagine their future academic-achievement position, was prepared. to carry out the anchoring technique more technically, four music genres (tender/calmness, happy, sad, high-energy types) based on eerola et al.'s (2010) study and by consulting a phd holder in sound/audio/recording engineering, were determined as a cover anchor to be combined with the recorded-text. the participants were supposed to listen to the audio file repeatedly while doing the imagination procedure. this experiment, based on nlp, could activate the participants’ brain signal processing and had an effect on brain waves by creating a hidden association. to scrutinize if the anchoring strategy had an effect on the negative-labeling experience and could replace it with more positive emotional trajectory, the brains of the participants were scanned via electroencephalography (eeg) device in the cognitive-science laboratory. the analysis of the neuro-imaging data of this study (with the approval-code of the ethics-committee-in-biomedical-research of atu: ir.atu.rec.1400.037) indicated a change in their brain waves (i.e., alpha, beta and theta) with an impact on their mindset, helping them to internalize the positive association. the findings were triangulated/approved by their self-reports after brain-scanning stage. the obtained data interpretation yielded implications for advocating language-teaching domain and guiding teachers, students, student's parents, and researchers.