Brain Research in the Foreign Language
Classroom
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Creating a Brain Compatible environment in your
classroom.
Teenage
Brain: A work in progress
Myths and Misconceptions
In Search
of . . . Brain-Based Education
Learning
a Second Language May Not be as Laborious as Believed
Breakthrough in Brain Research: Learning languages without stress
Research
and Discussions on Language Learning after Puberty
Merrill Swain (1979), a leader in the field of foreign language learning,
believes that early immersion students enter into the process of learning a
second language at a time when it does not compete with other interests, as it
is an integral part of their normal school activity.
Older students, on the other hand, quickly recognize that learning a
second language involves considerable time, dedication and effort,
consequently preferring to spend their time and energy elsewhere.
In other words, older students may excel in their initial rate of second
language learning as input is more comprehensible for them because of their
background knowledge--they are faster acquirers as well as faster learners and because
of this they have a greater ability to consciously learn
grammar rules (Krashen & Terrell, 1983), while younger students excel
in long-term second language achievement.
However, it is a myth to think that children find the process totally
painless (Hakuta, 1986). The most
difficult learning task for children and adults alike may be the attempt to
acquire second language proficiency in school environments (Asher, 1982).
It is simply not true that young children learn a new language more
easily and quickly than adults because the many variables that are directly
involved in the process of learning a language such as specific situations,
input, interactions and most importantly, the amount of time invested in
language learning in a quality program make language learning hard work for both
groups.
Research into the language
learning difficulties of high school and college students revealed that
phonological decoding deficits account for much of the variance between
successful and unsuccessful language learning experiences (Ganschow, Javorsky,
Pohlman & Bishop-Marbury, 1991; Gardner & Smythe, 1981; Strozer, 1994).
Providing more activities related to social interaction in a
brain-compatible setting could possibly eliminate future problems associated
with phonological processing difficulties involving phonetics (speech sounds),
phonemics (relationships between speech sounds), or the development of syntax
and creative language.
Tarone & Swain (1995) noted that children participating in immersion
programs during the early grade levels tend to use the second language with each
other in the classroom and socially to a much greater extent than children in
the upper grade levels. They believe that situations
where the second language is only used in the classroom generally occur within
immersion classrooms where the second language is the superordinate or formal
language used in the classroom for academic purposes, while the native language
is reserved for use during informal social interactions. Tarone and Swain (1995) refer to this as diglossia and
speculate that a major reason for the reluctance of older immersion students to
use the second language in social situations at higher grade levels is because
of the increase of diglossic situations encountered in their daily activities.
Dahl (1997) reiterates this point stating that students are generally not
taught the vernacular vocabulary which would allow them to communicate in social
situations in the second language, thus forcing the students to speak in their
native language.
The problem still remains with the thousands of secondary foreign language programs that attempt to influence second language learning during a two year period after the brain has initiated these early developmental phases described above. Teachers must take a proactive stance and examine a different question—What information can brain research provide us with that will facilitate second language during the secondary school experience? The answer lies with exploring ways to involve the students actively by incorporating many different instructional approaches including methodology utilized in early language learning into the secondary classroom setting, and creating a brain-compatible learning environment that enables students to excel at their own rate.
Language is not taught, rather it is learned through informal classroom structure that encourages social interaction (Morison, 1990).