Neurocognitive Mechanisms of Second Language Learning: Role of Learning Context and Cognitive Functions

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Both folk wisdom and educational practices point to the benefits of study-abroad experiences for the learning of a new language. But why is language learning so much more effective when conducted in the target language environment, as compared with learning in a classroom? The proposed catalytic research project addresses this question with a neurocognitive approach by comparing two groups of learners: American students who are immersed in the second language environments (study-abroad students in Milan, Italy), and American students studying Italian in a classroom setting (in State College, Pennsylvania). This initial comparison will provide the basis for uncovering the role of learning context (immersion or no immersion). The investigators will use functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to examine the effect of learning context on how second language material is represented and processed, as compared with that of native language and language-ambiguous materials (e.g., words that could occur in both languages, such as homographs). Furthermore, the investigators will examine the impact of the learner?s individual differences in specific cognitive capacities on the successfulness of second language learning, and how such differences interact with the context of learning. These capacities, we hypothesize, include different levels of inhibitory control and working memory abilities, because the learners always need to inhibit the native language while speaking the second language and to keep track of the language being spoken. We also hypothesize that the immersion experience provides a context for more effective inhibition of their native language, thereby promoting direct mapping of new words to existing concepts for learners, especially for those with weaker control abilities. Such interactions between cognitive capacities and learning context are hypothesized to show in differential neural networks underlying bilingual performance in several key brain regions including the left prefrontal, anterior cingulate, and middle temporal cortical areas. As our world becomes increasingly globalized, there is need for more effective cross-cultural communications via the use of multiple languages. It is thus important to understand the cognitive and neural bases of what makes second language learning successful. The proposed catalytic work provides an ideal forum for new, previously unexplored, international collaborations in the context of bilingual communities (Milan, Italy and State College, USA). It will lead to new theories and data in a rapidly developing field, the cognitive neuroscience of bilingualism that crosses the boundaries of psychology, linguistics, and neuroscience. The project also reflects our attempt to understand the bilingual mind and brain in a socially relevant context, such as the continuing social pressures faced by immigrants struggling with their second language. Increased knowledge in this domain could also have pedagogical implications for more effective foreign language teaching, for example, by providing classroom training that targets the direct connections between words and concepts (rather than second language learning through one?s native language). This project will provide further catalyst for research leading to large-scale collaborations between the investigators? institutions in the USA and Italy for longitudinal studies of second language learning in children and adults.