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Neurolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Perspectives on SLA
Author(s): Janusz Arabski (Editor), Adam Wojtaszek
- Publisher: Multilingual Matters
- Publication Date: 15 Jan. 2010
- Edition: Illustrated
- Language: English
- Print length: 208 pages
- ISBN-10: 1847692419
- ISBN-13: 9781847692412
Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Review
The compilation of articles in this book offers a view on the breadth of current research on second language acquisition and processing. Coming from a teaching background, the contributors provide reviews of a heterogeneous set of theoretical positions and research approaches. Some may find it eclectic, I found it stimulating.
This book is a must for all interested in SLA, multilingualism and language learning in general. It offers a well-composed selection of thought-provoking perspectives stemming from neuro- and psycholinguistic studies focusing on the second language learner. The various scholars study a wide range of topics in two promising areas of research and thereby give evidence of the multifaceted nature of methodologies used in modern linguistics. This source will certainly open up new research avenues in the field.
About the Author
Janusz Arabski and Adam Wojtaszek both work at the University of Silesia, Poland. Their research interests include psycholinguistics, language acquisition and linguistic pragmatics. They are the editors of Neurolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Perspectives on SLA and The Acquisition of L2 Phonology, both recently published by Multilingual Matters. The editors and the contributing authors are active members of many scientific committees and organizations devoted to the investigation of language acquisition processes, and they regularly participate in many conferences and publish extensively. The author list comprises experienced scholars as well as young and promising researchers.
Adam Wojtaszek is Associate Professor and the Deputy Director at the Institute of English, University of Silesia, Katowice, Poland. His major field of interest is linguistic pragmatics, psycholinguistics and language of persuasion. He has published two books on advertising language, Deciphering Radio Commercials - A Pragmatic Perspective (2002) and Theoretical Frameworks in the Study of Press Advertisements - Polish, British and Chinese Perspective (2011), as well as a number of articles on the topic. Within the area of psycholinguistics and second language acquisition studies, he has co-edited a number of volumes reporting on recent studies and developments, such as Neurolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Perspectives on SLA (2010), The Acquisition of L2 Phonology (2011a), Individual Learner Differences in SLA (2011b), Aspects of Culture in Second Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Learning (2011c), and recently Studying Second Language Acquisition from a Qualitative Perspective (2014). He is also the author of a chapter on morphosyntactic development in the volume edited by Danuta Gabryś-Barker, Readings in Second Language Acquisition (2012). He is also one of the organizers of the annual international SLA conference held in Szczyrk, Poland, a major event of international recognition, initiated in the mid 1980's by Janusz Arabski.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
Neurolinguistic and Psycholinguistic Perspectives on SLA
By Janusz Arabski, Adam Wojtaszek
Multilingual Matters
Copyright © 2010 Janusz Arabski, Adam Wojtaszek and the authors of individual chapters
All rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-84769-241-2
Contents
Contributors,
Introduction Janusz Arabski and Adam Wojtaszek,
Part 1: Neurolinguistic Perspective,
1 Identifying the Neural Substrates of Second Language Acquisition: What is the Contribution from Functional and Structural MRI? Maurits van den Noort, Peggy Bosch, Tarik Hadzibeganovic, Katrien Mondt, Marco Haverkort and Kenneth Hugdahl,
2 The Critical Period Hypothesis: Evidence from Information Structural Processing in French Robert V. Reichle,
3 On Neuroanatomical Substrates of Dyslexia: With Some Implications for Foreign Language Acquisition Joanna Nijakowska,
4 Emotion versus Cognition, or What Psycho and Neurolinguistics Tell us about Affectivity in Second Language Acquisition Danuta Gabrys-Barker,
5 Observable Strategizing: On Limbic Communication in Advanced Users of Language Agnieszka Slezak-Swiat,
Part 2: Psycholinguistic Perspective,
6 Bilingual Language Control in Translation Tasks: A TAP Study into Mental Effort Management by Inexperienced Translators Boguslawa Whyatt,
7 A Connectionist--Enactivist Perspective on Learning to Write Jan Zalewski,
8 Cross-Linguistic Conceptual Influence from a Bilingual Perspective: In Search of Research Paradigm Jolanta Latkowska,
9 On the Asymmetry of Verb--Noun Collocations Wojciech Malec,
10 Gender Differences in L1 and L2 Reading Liliana Piasecka,
11 An Educational Language Community: External and Internal Language Use by Multilingual Students Anna Ewert,
12 Language Awareness in Using Cognate Vocabulary: The Case of Polish Advanced Students of English in the Light of the Theory of Affordances,
CHAPTER 1
Identifying the Neural Substrates of Second Language Acquisition: What is the Contribution from Functional and Structural MRI?
MAURITS VAN DEN NOORT, PEGGY BOSCH, TARIK HADZIBEGANOVIC, KATRIEN MONDT, MARCO HAVERKORT and KENNETH HUGDAHL
The Critical Period Hypothesis
In the language acquisition field, the proposition that there is a critical or sensitive period for language acquisition is an influential one. Penfield and Roberts (1959) and Lenneberg (1967) were among the first to hypothesize that there was a critical period for language acquisition. The idea of a critical period was originally inspired by research in biology referring to the phenomenon that certain skills, such as a particular type of birdsong, might only be acquired if adequate external stimulation is available during a certain temporal frame in the ontogenetic evolution of the organism. If this temporal frame is missed, acquisition of the specific skill becomes impossible or will at least end up as incomplete (Indefrey & Gullberg, 2006).
Since the 1960s, much ink has been spilt trying to explain the role of age in second and foreign language acquisition (Birdsong, 2006). Scientists often talk about 'the critical period for language acquisition' as if there were only one critical period for all features of language. It is, however, widely agreed that there are different critical phases for different linguistic subsystems, for example phonology and syntax (see e.g. Long, 1990; Seliger, 1978), and there is no unique sensitive period for all parts of language (Van Boxtel, 2005). In addition, the notion of different critical periods is consistent with current neurobiological views on critical periods in other contexts (Knudsen, 2004).
The negative correlation between age of learning onset and eventual asymptotic performance is best described by an 'earlier is better' rule. Much recent experimental data have accumulated supporting this generalization, largely offering a maturational account of age effects and indicating a particular sensitive period that limits both first language (L1) acquisition and second language (L2) acquisition (Bates et al., 1992; Birdsong & Molis, 2001; Huttenlocher, 1990; Long, 1990).
If a critical period puts constraints on L2 acquisition, one would suppose that the observed performance should correlate negatively with the age at which L2 learning starts. Moreover, according to this hypothesis, the effect should already be visible in individuals who started L2 learning before the end of maturation. In addition, it should be impossible for all or at least most late learners to perform in the range of native controls. However, if constraints put on attainment are largely maturational in nature, then they should pertain to L2 acquisition in general. Following these lines of reasoning (Birdsong & Molis, 2001), Johnson and Newport (1989) proposed a maturational model of L2 attainment. Although the reported findings and corresponding interpretations of Johnson and Newport have been widely acknowledged, another line of evidence is directed against this model.
For instance, in several experimental studies, postmaturational age effects were reported (Bialystok & Hakuta, 1994, 1999; Birdsong, 1992; Flege, 1999). Moreover, many studies have found native-likeness results among late L2 learners (Birdsong, 2006), who tended to perform similarly to native speakers on a variety of language tasks (Bongaerts, 1999; Cranshaw, 1997; Van Boxtel, 2005). Taken together, a rather controversial idea about the existence of a critical period for language acquisition is still an unsolved and highly debated issue (Birdsong, 1999; Hyltenstam & Abrahamsson, 2001; Marinova-Todd et al., 2000; Scovel, 2000; Singleton, 2001; Van Boxtel, 2005; Wartenburger et al., 2003). As a consequence, we feel it is natural to ask what could functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and related non-invasive structural neuroimaging techniques add to this vivid discussion?
Neuroimaging Research
Neuroimaging techniques seem to be very useful for investigating the issue of eventual neurophysiological modifications in the brain before the end of maturation that can account for the general tendency to attain a higher level of proficiency in early versus late learners. For instance, if late learners could be shown to process their L2 in different brain areas than early learners, this would further support the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) for L2 acquisition (e.g. see Van Boxtel, 2005).
The question about how second and/or third languages are represented and maintained in the brain is not new and has been the focus of much previous neuroimaging and related research. One important proposal is that, in bilinguals and multilinguals, different languages are represented and processed in distinct brain regions, resulting thus in multiple and language-specific neural network systems. Some indirect support for this hypothesis comes from studies with bilingual and /or multilingual patients diagnosed with aphasia (Paradis, 1989). In some cases, it was found that only one of the acquired languages was affected (Albert & Obler, 1978; Paradis, 1995). Moreover, fairly often, it has been reported that different languages can recover to different degrees or even that there is an antagonistic pattern of recovery between L1 and L2 (Paradis, 1977). In addition, in other cases, neurosurgery was shown to have a selective impairment of only one language in bilinguals (Gomez-Tortosa et al., 1995). Finally, the hypothesis that different languages are represented and processed in distinct brain regions is...
