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The benefits of learning foreign languages
The benefits of learning foreign languages
The benefits of learning foreign languages
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1. Introduction: In the last few decades, the notion of language and brain has been highlighted in different scientific fields such as: neurology, cognitive science, linguistics biology, technology and finally education. Recently, researches findings point out that the brain is a parallel processor which can perform many types of activities at the same time. Therefore, engaging language and brain will help in developing the process of acquiring and learning a second language. In fact, it is important to understand that: "The brain continues to be a new frontier. Our old way of schooling is fading fast as our understanding of the brain increases. Everything you do uses your brain, and everything at school involves students' brains. It's the most relevant understanding for educators to have right now." (Jensen, 2008). In this paper the writer is going to present an overview of the field of neurolinguistics which is the study of the mental faculties involved in the perception, production, and acquisition of language. In other words, the neurobiological factors that enable humans to acquire, use, comprehend and produce language. In addition to that, the writer will discuss the fact of neutral learning and language acquisition and finally how to engage brain-based learning approach to develop the process of second language learning. 2.The Human Brain According to (Fromkin, Rodman, & Hyams2007) , "The brain is the messenger of understanding and the organ whereby in a special manner we acquire wisdom and knowledge"(p.43) . In this part, the writer will point out the importance of the biological and neural foundation of language learning by discussing the following :First, the brain anatomy. Second, l... ... middle of paper ... ...., & Ay, S. (2008). "Different Approaches – Common Implications: Brain-Based And Constructivist Learning From A Paradigms And Integral Model Perspective." Journal of Turkish Science Education 5.3 (2008): 124-129. Journal of Turkish Science Education (TUSED) . Web. 3 Mar. 2014. Koizumi, H. (2004). ScienceDirect.com - Brain and Development - The concept of developing the brain: a new natural science for learning and education. ScienceDirect. Retrieved April 1, 2014, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii Plontke, R. (2003, March 13). Chemnitz UT. TU Chemnitz: - Technische Universität Chemnitz. Retrieved April 1, 2014, from http://www.tu-chemnitz.de/en/ Willis, J. (2008). Teaching the brain to read : strategies for improving fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Alexandria, Va. : Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development.
brain is a very complex part of the body that has everything to do with daily life and the ability to learn. As many people do not understand there are two parts of the brain and each works completely different in how one will learn and retain information. Why is the brain such a complex system and has the ability to adapt to every situation. We are going to be looking at the Left and Right side of the Brain and how each hemisphere works from the time you are a child and starting to receive information and the brain as a whole. We will also be looking into the Right side of the brain and how it learns faster as the Left side retains information. There has been a lot of research and case studies on the brain and how different people from different back grounds learn based on ethnic groups such as the American Indians and how they learn different with their brain.
Heilman, K. M. (2002). Chapter 2 Language. In Matter of mind: A neurologist's view of brain-behavior relationships (p. 17). Oxford: Oxford University Press
Language acquisition during early childhood could be determined by a biological explanation. This may show how the brain is wired so children can acquire language ev...
As discussed in class, my paper is on Neurology Linguistics, or Neurolinguistics. Since I am a psychology major I wanted to incorporate that into my linguistics class. The term Neurolinguistics came from the founder of the Journal of Neurolinguistics, Harry Whitaker. Neurolinguistics is the branch of linguistics associated with the relationship between the functioning of the brain, structure, and language. It is the study of how neural mechanisms in the brain control the comprehension and production of our brain, and the acquisition of language. To find out where our knowledge of language, such as, speech, writing, reading, and interpreting information is stored in the brain, we need to know parts of the brain.
Glasgow: Fontana/Collins & Co. Christiansen, M. H., & Chater, N. (2008). Language as shaped by the brain. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 31, 489-558. doi: 10.1017/S0140525X08004998. Gregory, R. L. & Co.
Eric Lenneberg was the first to propose there existed a critical period to learn a first or native language that was between that began around two and ended with the onset of puberty around thirteen years old. Lenneberg theorized that language acquisition was not possible before age two because of a lack of maturation, while post-puberty acquisition is inhibited by a loss of cerebral placicity occuring when the cerebral dominance of the language function is complete, happening around the time of puberty (Kraschen). “Children deprived of language during this critical period show atypical patterns of brain lateralization” (intro to language) Lenneberg argued that lateralization of the brain during this critical period is key to language acquisition. “The human brain is primed to develop language in specific areas of the left hemisphere but the normal process of brain specialization depends on ear...
When a young child begins to learn a second language it can help him or her mentally. The first important benefit of this is the cognitive (thinking) development of the brain. According to The World Book Encyclopedia, little kids have an increase in capacity to learn and talk a different “Language” without much thought (Wearing 62). According to Kovacs, when children start to learn a second language at a young age and they grow up where using a second language is normal, their brain will have to start to decipher which language to use at a certain time (Kovacs 49). Because of this “Bilinguals may have a language ability that enables them to achieve greater mental flexibility” (Weatherford 2). This is why we should start a second language education early because according to Caccavale, the president of NNELL, “it has been shown to enhance cognitive development. Children who learn a foreign language beginning in early childhood demonstrate certain cognitive advantages over children...
The article “Nature and Nurture in Language Acquisition: Anatomical and Functional Brain-Imaging Studies in Infants” by Ghislaine Dehaene-Lambertz, Lucie Hertz-Pannier, and Jessica Dubois focuses on the study of the left hemisphere of the brain, which is where language is processed. Neuroimaging of infants’ brains show how words that are heard are sorted through in certain regions and how infants uncover characteristics of their native language. Dehaene-Lambertz also points out that it is advantageous for fetus to be exposed to speech while still in the womb. An important point is made when Dehaene-Lambertz and her colleagues establish that “human brains before intense exposure to speech have things in common with the brains of mature and linguistically competent human adults” (367). It is noted that certain parts in the cranial cavity of the brain, such as the auditory cortex, are bigger on the left side than on the right side, giving the cerebrum a slightly asymmetric structure in both the children and adults. Also, this finding is confirmed by Chomsky when he states that “such an organical structure as of the brain” (176) is capable of processing and generating human language. Since an infant’s brain is extremely similar to the adults’ cerebrum that have already mastered language communication, this proves that the infant’s brain is capable of the
The brain is a complex system that houses the controls to your body ranging from your reaction, emotion, speech or language, development, memory, body functions, and much more. It’s created of a jelly like fat and protein weighing in about three pounds. It’s the body’s biggest organ and consists of over one hundred billion nerves that not only put together thoughts and highly coordinated physical actions, but regulate our unconscious body processes, such as digestion and breathing (http://science.nationalgeographic.com). The largest part of the brain is called the cerebrum, which accounts for eighty-five percent or the organ’s weight, the distinctive outer surface of the brain is the cerebral cortex. The cerebrum is split into two halves, or hemispheres, and it is further divided into four regions, or lobes, in each hemisphere (http://science.nationalgeographic.com). The cerebrum frontal lobe, located behind the forehead, is responsible for speech, thought, learning, emotion, and movement; behind the frontal lobes there’s the parietal lobes that processes sensitive information such as temperature, touch, and pain; at the rear of the brain there’s the occipital lobes that deals with your vision, and then there’s the temporal lobes, near the temples, which control your hearing and memory (http://science.nationalgeog...
Throughout the course of history many people in time had no idea that many creatures of life had brains. With remarkable breakthroughs in technology and through human ability to take pictures of the human brain through head scans, scientists have discovered and mapped out the human brain. As neuroscientists understand how the brain works, discovery of brain-based learning has been a growing field ever since. Education is extremely important for human beings because the more educated we are as a society the better we contribute to society. Knowledge is extremely powerful and as a future educator, understanding how the brain works and developing lesson plans surrounding the inner workings of the brain will allow learning to manifest in the classroom.
The study of the mental lexicon deals with how words are acquired, comprehended, organized, stored, retrieved, and produces. The term “mental lexicon” is used interchangeably with what some scholars refer to as “internal lexicon” (Bonin, 2004). It involves the different processes and activations done in the brain in order to store the words and form an internal memory which functions as a mental dictionary. Psychologist and linguists who are concerned with this study believe that words are stored in relation to their phonological, semantic, syntactic and even orthographical features.
To continue with the key features, language is known to be special because of how children are able to learn in ways that are different from learning other things. (Willingham, 2007). Strong evidence shows how prepared the human brain is to learn language with very little stimulation. The results that show this point of view to be true is known to be the worldwide consistency of language learning.
Schnitzer, Marc L. Toward a neurolinguistic theory of language. Brain & Language. Vol 6(3) 342-361, Nov 1978.
NLP comprises three essential elements neuro, linguistic, and programming. Neuro consists of the nervous system through which an experience is received and processed through the five senses. “The importance of neuro lies in listening, observing, and identifying the language pattern of people, and in the normal course, responds in the same manner in line with the principle of mirroring” (Tripathi, 2012). Linguistic consists of language and non-verbal communication approaches which neural interpretations are implied, structured, and given sense. “The eyebrows, the lips, the shoulders, the hands, the legs, fingers all form an integrated team in conveying messages like feeling, response, and even our intentions” (Tripathi, 2012). Therefore, unknowingly one’s body language can expose one’s unconscious thoughts. Programming consists wit...
Still today, it is the commonly held belief that children acquire their mother tongue through imitation of the parents, caregivers or the people in their environment. Linguists too had the same conviction until 1957, when a then relatively unknown man, A. Noam Chomsky, propounded his theory that the capacity to acquire language is in fact innate. This revolutionized the study of language acquisition, and after a brief period of controversy upon the publication of his book, Aspects of the Theory of Syntax, in 1964, his theories are now generally accepted as largely true. As a consequence, he was responsible for the emergence of a new field during the 1960s, Developmental Psycholinguistics, which deals with children’s first language acquisition. He was not the first to question our hitherto mute acceptance of a debatable concept – long before, Plato wondered how children could possibly acquire so complex a skill as language with so little experience of life. Experiments have clearly identified an ability to discern syntactical nuances in very young infants, although they are still at the pre-linguistic stage. Children of three, however, are able to manipulate very complicated syntactical sentences, although they are unable to tie their own shoelaces, for example. Indeed, language is not a skill such as many others, like learning to drive or perform mathematical operations – it cannot be taught as such in these early stages. Rather, it is the acquisition of language which fascinates linguists today, and how it is possible. Noam Chomsky turned the world’s eyes to this enigmatic question at a time when it was assumed to have a deceptively simple explanation.