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

民间智慧和教育实践都指出了留学经历对学习一门新语言的好处。但是，为什么在目标语言环境中学习比在课堂上学习更有效呢？提议的催化研究项目通过比较两组学习者：沉浸在第二语言环境中的美国学生（在意大利米兰留学的学生）和在课堂环境中学习意大利语的美国学生（在宾夕法尼亚州州立大学），用神经认知方法解决了这个问题。这种初步的比较将为揭示学习环境（浸入式或非浸入式）的作用提供基础。研究人员将使用功能性磁共振成像（fMRI）来检查学习情境对第二语言材料的表征和加工的影响，并将其与母语和语言模糊材料（例如，可能在两种语言中出现的单词，如同音异义词）进行比较。此外，调查人员将检查学习者的影响？第二语言学习成功的具体认知能力的个体差异，以及这种差异如何与学习环境相互作用。我们假设，这些能力包括不同程度的抑制控制和工作记忆能力，因为学习者在说第二语言时总是需要抑制母语，并跟踪所讲的语言。我们还假设浸入式体验为学习者提供了一个更有效地抑制母语的环境，从而促进学习者将新单词直接映射到现有概念，特别是对于那些控制能力较弱的学习者。这种认知能力和学习环境之间的相互作用被假设为在几个关键的大脑区域，包括左前额叶、前扣带和中颞叶皮层区域，显示出双语表现的差异神经网络。随着我们的世界变得越来越全球化，需要通过使用多种语言进行更有效的跨文化交流。因此，了解第二语言学习成功的认知和神经基础是很重要的。提议的催化工作为双语社区（意大利米兰和美国州立大学）背景下的新的、以前未探索的国际合作提供了一个理想的论坛。它将在一个快速发展的领域，即跨越心理学、语言学和神经科学界限的双语认知神经科学中产生新的理论和数据。该项目也反映了我们在社会相关背景下理解双语思维和大脑的尝试，比如移民在学习第二语言时所面临的持续的社会压力。增加这一领域的知识也可以对更有效的外语教学产生教学意义，例如，通过提供针对单词和概念之间直接联系的课堂培训(而不是通过一个？英语)。该项目将进一步促进研究人员之间的大规模合作。美国和意大利的机构对儿童和成人第二语言学习的纵向研究。

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.