ERIC Identifier: ED447727
Publication Date: 2000-12-00
Author: Genesee, Fred
Source: Center for Research on
Education Diversity and Excellence Santa Cruz CA., ERIC Clearinghouse on
Languages and Linguistics Washington DC.
Brain Research: Implications for Second Language Learning. ERIC
Digest.
There has been a longstanding interest among second and foreign language
educators in research on language and the brain. Language learning is a natural
phenomenon; it occurs even without intervention. By understanding how the brain
learns naturally, language teachers may be better able to enhance their
effectiveness in the classroom.
BRAIN DEVELOPMENT: CAN TEACHING MAKE A DIFFERENCE?
It has
long been known that different regions of the brain have specialized functions.
For example, the frontal lobes are involved in abstract reasoning and planning,
while the posterior lobes are involved in vision. Until recently, it was
believed that these specialized regions developed from a genetic blueprint that
determined the structure and function of specific areas of the brain. That is,
particular areas of the brain were designed for processing certain kinds of
information from birth.
New evidence suggests that the brain is much more malleable than previously
thought. Recent findings indicate that the specialized functions of specific
regions of the brain are not fixed at birth but are shaped by experience and
learning. To use a computer analogy, we now think that the young brain is like a
computer with incredibly sophisticated hardwiring, but no software. The software
of the brain, like the software of desktop computers, harnesses the exceptional
processing capacity of the brain in the service of specialized functions, like
vision, smell, and language. All individuals have to acquire or develop their
own software in order to harness the processing power of the brain with which
they are born.
A number of studies support this view. However, all were carried out on
animals, because it is not possible to do such research with humans. Caution is
called for when extrapolating these findings to humans. The studies discussed
below reveal the incredible neural flexibility of the developing (and aging)
brain. (See Chapter 5 in Elman et al., 1997).
Cortical tissue transplanted from its original location to a new location in
the brain of young animals takes on the structure and function of its new
location and not those of its original location. More specifically, neurons in
the visual cortex of rodents have been transplanted to regions of the brain that
are normally linked to bodily and sensory functions. The transplanted tissue
comes to function like somato-sensory neurons and loses the capacity to process
visual information (O'Leary & Stanfield, 1985). Likewise, if input from the
eyes is rerouted from what would normally be the visual area of the brain to
what is normally the auditory area of the brain, the area receiving the visual
input develops the capacity to process visual and not auditory information; in
other words, it is the input that determines the function of specific areas of
the brain (Sur, Pallas, & Roe, 1990).
Greenenough, Black, and Wallace (1993) have shown enhanced synaptic growth in
young and aging rats raised in complex environments, and Karni et al. (1995)
have shown expansion of cortical involvement in performance of motor tasks
following additional learning other words, the cortical map can change even in
adulthood in response to enriched environmental or learning experiences.
These findings may have implications for language educators: for one thing,
that teaching and teachers can make a difference in brain development, and that
they shouldn't give up on older language learners.
LEARNING THROUGH CONNECTIONS
The understanding that the
brain has areas of specialization has brought with it the tendency to teach in
ways that reflect these specialized functions. For example, research concerning
the specialized functions of the left and right hemispheres has led to left and
right hemisphere teaching. Recent research suggests that such an approach does
not reflect how the brain learns, nor how it functions once learning has
occurred. To the contrary, "in most higher vertebrates (humans), brain systems
interact together as a whole brain with the external world" (Elman et al., 1997,
p. 340). Learning by the brain is about making connections within the brain and
between the brain and the outside world.
What does this mean? Until recently, the idea that the neural basis for
learning resided in connections between neurons remained speculation. Now, there
is direct evidence that when learning occurs, neuro-chemical communication
between neurons is facilitated, and less input is required to activate
established connections over time. New evidence also indicates that learning
creates connections between not only adjacent neurons but also between distant
neurons, and that connections are made from simple circuits to complex ones and
from complex circuits to simple ones.
For example, exposure to unfamiliar speech sounds is initially registered by
the brain as undifferentiated neural activity. Neural activity is diffuse,
because the brain has not learned the acoustic patterns that distinguish one
sound from another. As exposure continues, the listener (and the brain) learns
to differentiate among different sounds and even among short sequences of sounds
that correspond to words or parts of words. Neural connections that reflect this
learning process are formed in the auditory (temporal) cortex of the left
hemisphere for most individuals. With further exposure, both the simple and
complex circuits (corresponding to simple sounds and sequences of sounds) are
activated at virtually the same time and more easily.
As connections are formed among adjacent neurons to form circuits,
connections also begin to form with neurons in other regions of the brain that
are associated with visual, tactile, and even olfactory information related to
the sound of the word. These connections give the sound of the word meaning.
Some of the brain sites for these other neurons are far from the neural circuits
that correspond to the component sounds of the words; they include sites in
other areas of the left hemisphere and even sites in the right hemisphere. The
whole complex of interconnected neurons that are activated by the word is called
a neural network.
The flow of neural activity is not unidirectional, from simple to complex; it
also goes from complex to simple. For example, higher order neural circuits that
are activated by contextual information associated with the word doggie can
prime the lower order circuit associated with the sound doggie with the result
that the word doggie can be retrieved with little direct input. Complex circuits
can be activated at the same time as simple circuits, because the brain is
receiving input from multiple external sources--auditory, visual, spatial,
motor. At the same time that the auditory circuit for the word doggie is
activated, the visual circuit associated with the sight of a dog is also
activated. Simultaneous activation of circuits in different areas of the brain
is called parallel processing.
In early stages of learning, neural circuits are activated piecemeal,
incompletely, and weakly. It is like getting a glimpse of a partially exposed
and very blurry photo. With more experience, practice, and exposure, the picture
becomes clearer and more detailed. As exposure is repeated, less input is needed
to activate the entire network. With time, activation and recognition are
relatively automatic, and the learner can direct her attention to other parts of
the task. This also explains why learning takes time. Time is needed to
establish new neural networks and connections between networks. This suggests
that the neural mechanism for learning is essentially the same as the products
of learning is a process that establishes new connections among networks and the
new skills or knowledge that are learned are neural circuits and networks.
What are the implications of these findings for teaching? First, effective
teaching should include a focus on both parts and wholes. Instructional
approaches that advocate teaching parts and not wholes or wholes and not parts
are misguided, because the brain naturally links local neural activity to
circuits that are related to different experiential domains. For example, in
initial reading instruction, teaching phonics independently of the meaning of
the words and their meaningful use is likely to be less effective than teaching
both in parallel. Relating the mechanics of spelling to students' meaningful use
of written language to express themselves during diary writing, for example,
provides important motivational incentives for learning to read and write.
Second, and related to the preceding point, teaching (and learning) can proceed
from the bottom up (simple to complex) and from the top down (complex to
simple). Arguments for teaching simple skills in isolation assume that learners
can only initially handle simple information and that the use of simple skills
in more complex ways should proceed slowly and progressively. Brain research
indicates that higher order brain centers that process complex, abstract
information can activate and interact with lower order centers, as well as vice
versa. For example, teaching students simple emotional expressions (vocabulary
and idioms) can take place in the context of talking about different emotions
and what situations elicit different emotions. Students' vocabulary acquisition
can be enhanced when it is embedded in real-world complex contexts that are
familiar to them. Third, students need time and experience ("practice") to
consolidate new skills and knowledge to become fluent and articulated.
ARE ALL BRAINS THE SAME?
Brains are not all the same. Take
the early research on left-right hemispheric differences with respect to
language. For most individuals, the left hemisphere is critically involved in
most normal language functions. We know this because damage to the left
hemisphere in adults leads to language impairment, which is often permanent.
However, approximately 10% of normal right-handed individuals have a different
pattern of lateralization; their right hemispheres or both hemispheres play a
critical role in language (Banich, 1997, pp. 306-312). Males and females have
somewhat different patterns of lateralization, with males being more
left-hemisphere dominant than females. In the domain of reading, brain maps of
students with dyslexia demonstrate that there are very large individual
differences in the areas of the brain that underlie their difficulties (Bigler,
1992).
We also know that the areas of the brain that are important in specific
domains of learning can change over the life span. There is increasing evidence
of right hemisphere involvement in early language learning but less in later
learning. Young children with lesions to their right hemisphere demonstrate
delays in word comprehension and the use of symbolic and communicative gestures.
These problems are not found in adults with right hemisphere lesions. Stiles and
Thal have argued that there may be a link between the word comprehension
problems of children and the right hemisphere, because "to understand the
meaning of a new word, children have to integrate information from many
different sources. These sources include acoustic input, but they also include
visual information, tactile information, memories of the immediately preceding
context, emotions in short, a range of experiences that define the initial
meaning of a word and refine that meaning over time" (Stiles and Thal, as cited
in Elman et al., pp. 309-310). We know from a variety of sources that
integration across domains of experience is a right-hemisphere function.
By implication, brain research confirms what we know from education research:
that educators must make provisions for individual differences in learning
styles by providing alternative grouping arrangements, instructional materials,
time frames, and so on. Instruction for beginning language learners, in
particular, should take into account their need for context-rich, meaningful
environments. Individual differences in learning style may not be a simple
matter of personal preference, but rather of individual differences in the
hardwiring of the brain and, thus, beyond individual control.
CONCLUSIONS
Our understanding of the brain is continually
evolving, thus our interpretation of the implications of findings from
brain-based research for teaching and learning should also continually evolve.
Brain research cannot prescribe what we should teach, how we should organize
complex sequences of teaching, nor how we should work with students with special
needs. Educators should not abandon their traditional sources of insight and
guidance when it comes to planning effective instruction. They should continue
to draw on and develop their own insights about learning based on their
classroom experiences and classroom-based research to complement the insights
that are emerging from advances in brain research.
REFERENCES
Banich, M.T. (1997). "Neuropsychology: The
neural bases of mental function." Boston: Houghton-Mifflin.
Bigler, E.D. (1992). The neurobiology and neuropsychology of adult learning
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Elman, J., Bates, E.A., Johnson, M., Karmiloff-Smith, A., Parisi, D., &
Plunkett, K. (1997). "Rethinking innateness." Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Greenenough, W.T., Black, J.E., & Wallace, C.S. (1993). Experience and
brain development. In M. Johnson (Ed.), "Brain development and cognition: A
reader" (pp. 290-322). Oxford: Blackwell.
Karni, A., Meyer, G., Jezzard, P., Adams, M., Turner, R., & Ungerleider,
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O'Leary, D.D., & Stanfield, B.B. (1985). Occipital cortical neurons with
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Sur, M., Pallas, S.L., & Roe, A.W. (1990). Cross-modal plasticity in
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