The gist of his advice, by my reading, is this: "Immersive contexts are generally helpful because they activate different neural centers in the brain -- which leads to what researchers call 'integrated' memories, which are more durable and easier to recall."

Many, many people have advocated immersive contexts for second language learning, of course. But what the author seems to be saying is that researchers are starting to find specific neural mechanisms that would support such learning approaches, based on fMRI measurements and other data.

Figure out which works better for you: Immersion or Paired-Word Association. Then hammer home whichever you need to, and ignore the other as much as possible.