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

民间智慧和教育实践都表明，留学经历对学习一门新语言有好处。但是，为什么在目标语言环境中进行的语言学习比在课堂上学习要有效得多？拟议的催化研究项目通过比较两组学习者来解决这个问题：沉浸在第二语言环境中的美国学生(意大利米兰的留学学生)和在课堂环境中学习意大利语的美国学生(宾夕法尼亚州州立大学)。这一初步比较将为揭示学习环境(沉浸或非沉浸)的作用提供基础。研究人员将使用功能磁共振成像(FMRI)来检查学习环境对第二语言材料如何呈现和处理的影响，并与母语和语言歧义材料(例如，两种语言都可能出现的单词，如同形异义词)进行比较。此外，研究者还将考察学习者S在具体认知能力上的个体差异对第二语言学习成功与否的影响，以及这种差异是如何与学习环境相互作用的。我们推测，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，并跟踪正在说的语言。我们还假设，沉浸体验为更有效地抑制他们的母语提供了一个语境，从而促进了学习者对新单词与现有概念的直接映射，特别是对那些控制能力较弱的学习者。认知能力和学习环境之间的这种相互作用被假设为在包括左侧前额叶、前扣带回和中颞叶皮质区在内的几个关键脑区的双语表现背后的差异神经网络中表现出来。随着我们的世界变得日益全球化，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。拟议的催化工作为双语社区(意大利米兰和美国州立学院)背景下的新的、以前从未探索过的国际合作提供了一个理想的论坛。它将在一个迅速发展的领域产生新的理论和数据，双语认知神经科学跨越了心理学、语言学和神经科学的界限。该项目还反映了我们试图在与社会相关的背景下理解双语思维和大脑的努力，例如移民在第二语言方面面临的持续社会压力。这一领域知识的增加也可能对更有效的外语教学产生教学影响，例如，通过提供针对单词和概念之间直接联系的课堂培训(而不是通过一种-S母语学习第二语言)。这个项目将为研究人员之间的大规模合作提供进一步的催化剂？美国和意大利的机构对儿童和成人的第二语言学习进行纵向研究。

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.