Brain + Multilingualism / Language Learning Factors that matter in Second Language Acquisition – a Cognitive Neuroscience Approach to SLA Ass. Prof. Susanne Reiterer, PhD Dr.rer.nat. (PhD in Psychology) – Univ of Vienna, Austria Mag.phil.(MA in Linguistics) - Univ of Vienna University of Vienna & Tübingen (formerly) Centre for Language Learning Learning and Teaching Research (FDZ ) – at the Faculty for Philology and Cultural Studies, University Vienna
This document is posted to help you gain knowledge. Please leave a comment to let me know what you think about it! Share it to your friends and learn new things together.
Transcript
Brain + Multilingualism / Language Learning
Factors that matter
in Second Language Acquisition –
a Cognitive Neuroscience Approach to SLA
Ass. Prof. Susanne Reiterer, PhD
Dr.rer.nat. (PhD in Psychology) – Univ of Vienna, Austria
Mag.phil.(MA in Linguistics) - Univ of Vienna
University of Vienna & Tübingen (formerly)
Centre for Language Learning Learning and Teaching Research (FDZ ) – at
the Faculty for Philology and Cultural Studies, University Vienna
Language is for everyone ..
Factors for growth & development in L2
L1
age
..exposure
use..
soil
Plant type
dandelion (engl)
“pissenlit“ (fr)
Löwenzahn (ger)
wind
rain
sun
Individual variation !
Where do these abilities stem from? - theories
Mezzofanti
Kató Lomb
• God
• Brain structure &
function
• DNA/ Gene
(80% genes in linguistic functions
compared to g. IQ (K.
Stromswold
FOXP2, KE family;
JR family –semantics,
Briscoe2012 )
• “they work harder“
• Motivation
• exercise
• having much time
• everybody can do it
• musicality
• working memory / hearing
• personality (extraversion)
• empathy
Behaviorism Nativism
handedness
Individual Differences (Factors)
Brain structure
Attention
Extraversion (personality)
Openness
Conscientiousness
Emotional Intelligence / Empathy
Anxiety
Attitudes
Teaching method
Nature (genes, brain) aptitude? giftedness
Modifying factors Nurture (environment) practice
Second Language Learning Process
Language Aptitude
Motivation
Working Memory
DNA sex/gender
testosterone level
Exposure Time
Quality of training
Typology of language (linguistic similarity/distance)
DNA genetic equipment („developmental language disorders“…)
Sex (female linguistic advantage?)
Handedness (lateralization and language, left handers)
Age (Age of Onset) (as a consequence of brain maturation, deterioration) Bio
log
y
Intelligence/ Verb Intell (biol? social?)
Aptitude, language learning talent (biol? psychol? social?)
Domain general cognition / Executive Functions / Cognitive Control
Affective factors (Anxiety..)
Memory / Working Memory (biol?)
Learning strategies
Learner‘s Type (inborn? acquired?)
Personality (biol? cultural? psychol?)
Psych
olo
gy/
Co
gn
itiv
e
So
cia
l
Acquisition / Teaching Method
Quality of Input
Purpose of Language Use/ linguistic environment
Exposure Time
Language Attitudes
Polyglottism (L2, L3, L4… number of)
Bidialectalism (early experience of)
Amount / Quality of Training
Language typology Lin
gu
isti
c /
so
cio
lin
gu
isti
c
Language Learning Aptitude
• Definitions
• prediction of how well, relative to other individuals, an individual can
learn a foreign language in a given amount of time (speed and
accuracy are important) [John B Carroll, Charles Stansfield]
• As with many measures of aptitude, language learning aptitude is
thought to be relatively stable throughout an individual’s lifetime and
per definition there is a certain “given”, pre-existing element of
giftedness to it. [Niklas Abrahamsson]
what is this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FOiXtWcQ8GI 16 year old American boy, 20 languages
Language and its many faces (levels)
Grammar (syntax,
morphology) Phonetics/phonology
Pragmatics
Speech imitation aptitude: a large scale study Linguistic part Psychological part Brain Imaging part
Linguistic description (~10
tests)
Proficiency & Talent measures
• Language aptitude test (MLAT by Carroll 1960), • detailed phonetic language
recordings to determine
pronunciation fluency and aptitude
(own tests)
* 2 TOEFL (list comp, grammar)
• language learning questionnaires (history)
• psycholing. Questions (learn style, type of instruction, contacts in L2)
N=138
Psychological testing
(~15 Tests)
• Phonological working memory
• 2 Empathy tests
• 2 Personality questionnaires (Big
Five and Inhibition-Activation Sys)
* Verbal & non-verbal IQ (Raven)
• 2 Musicality (Gordon’s AMMA)
plus questions abt music hobbies
• Mental Flexibility (Simon task)
N~116
Brain Imaging
(3 types of measures taken)
• structure
MR anatomy – (mdeft)
VBM (voxel based morphometry – white / grey matter density)
• DTI (diffusion tensor imaging) (diff 12 dir)
• function fMRI (EPI, TR 2s; +Tr 12s)
N~70
How were the recordings done?
1. part: phonetic-
linguistic testing:
138 participants were recorded in (Uni Tübingen&Stuttgart) a soundproof room on 1
h speech production and 1 h speech perception.
Production tasks: English (L2): read texts, tell story, free speech, imitate sentences.
German (L1): imitate sentences (prosody), speak foreign-accented sentences in L1.
Hindi (L0): imitate sentences and words (no prior experience).
Perception tasks: English and German: disriminate sentences in diff prosody, Toefl test, listening comp,
detect foreign accented speech …
2 online native speaker ratings:
1. For English (L2): www.susannereiterer.eu/eval we need ~ 250 natives from all world (mainly US & GB) to make short online ratings (30 min) – work in progress!
2. For Hindi (L0): www.susannereiterer.eu/eval_hindi we had ~ 30 natives from all India (mainly Hindi speakers) to make long online ratings (2 h) – work completed!
• Results: Only Working Memory (digit span and nonword repetition) together “singing” (“like singing and can sing”) significantly predicted the Hindi Pronunciation Aptitude (Hindi score).
behavioural results (Hindi) – multiple regression
• Subjects: n=113, age = 26 ± 6, from 19 to 40 years, onset =10
• Dependent Variable: English Pronunciation Aptitude (imitation of Hindi sentences)