Neurocognitive foundations of successful foreign language learning: Researcher, student and knowledge exchange between the UK and Japan

外语水平的提高是一个难点，这使得教育研究者开始研究如何以最有效的方式学习外语。从神经科学的角度，我们提出了一个新的，跨学科的假设，大脑和认知功能的个体差异相关的听力和记忆可以解释为什么某些外语学习者在不同的教学计划（形式与意义为导向）在不同的语言背景下（英国学习者的日语与日本学习者的英语）取得不同程度的成功。本研究的结果将有助于我们了解不同外语学习者的神经认知特征，找出他们的优势和不足，并提出最佳的、与特征相匹配的教学方法。在Connections Gant的帮助下，我们将在英国和日本两个独立发展的领域（即，教育，神经科学）在教师和学生的水平。它也代表了世界知名的教育机构（伦敦大学学院-在英国排名第二）和神经科学（伯克贝克和东北-在英国和日本分别排名第八和第三）之间的第一个合作伙伴关系（泰晤士报高等教育，2018）。两个主办机构，伯克贝克和东北，已表明他们愿意通过提供研究设施（办公室，会议室）来支持当前的倡议。为了促进拟议活动的执行，成员们还计划寻求内部资金（伯克贝克激励基金;与东北大学的联合研究项目）。该团队包括在不同时间点完成正式学术培训的处于职业生涯不同阶段的学者（Saito，2011; Tierney，2010; Révész，2006; Jeong，2007; Sugiura，2000; Suzuki，2015）。因此，该项目不仅促进了跨文化/跨学科的互动，也为博士生和学者在职业生涯早期提供了一个机会，通过与资深学者合作来增加他们的经验的广度和深度。在最初的视频会议之后，我们将在伯克贝克大学（2019年3月）和东北大学（2019年8月）举办为期5天的研究研讨会。在这些会议上，小组将共同就以下三个主题进行跨学科概述：（a）听觉神经编码和语音学习（Saito、Tierney、Révész、Jeong）;（B）陈述性记忆和词汇学习（Saito、Tierney、Sugiura、Suzuki）;（c）程序性记忆和语法学习（Révész、Jeong、Sugiura、Suzuki）。这些主题的研究结果也将根据每个目标语言（日语与英语）进行总结。成员的博士生将作为合著者参与文献检索和手稿撰写。为了传播研究成果，我们将在伦敦（2019年9月）和东京（2019年10月）举办独特的研讨会。在每次活动中，成员和他们的博士生合作者将与来自教育和神经科学的两位专家主题演讲者一起展示他们的概念论文，他们将对团队的研究提供宝贵的反馈。为了激发不同类型观众的兴趣，本地博士生和外语教师将被邀请发表他们对成功外语学习的见解，并与团队成员进行讨论。所有演讲将以开放获取的形式出版，由国际出版商编辑出版。关于成功外语学习的认知机制的非技术性报告将通过团队的新网站和社交媒体以日语和英语分享。在合作的最后阶段（2020年4月），该团队将处理赠款申请（例如，JSPS，ESRC）资助了一系列实证研究，并测试了该团队将开发的假设。

The difficulty of developing adequate foreign language (FL) proficiency has led education researchers to investigate how FLs can be learned in the most effective and efficient way. Drawing on perspectives from neuroscience, we propose a novel, interdisciplinary hypothesis that individual differences in brain and cognitive functions related to hearing and memory can explain why certain FL learners attain different degrees of success under different instructional programs (form- vs. meaning-oriented) in linguistically different contexts (British learners of Japanese vs. Japanese learners of English). The findings of the research will shed light on whether it is possible to identify neurocognitive profiles specific to different groups of FL learners, highlight their advantages and shortcomings, and suggest optimal, profile-matched instructional methods.With the aid of the Connections Gant, we will initiate a novel collaboration between the UK and Japan across two somewhat independently developed fields (i.e., education, neuroscience) at both faculty and student levels. It also represents the very first partnership between world-renowned institutes in education (UCL - ranked 2nd in the UK) and neuroscience (Birkbeck and Tohoku - ranked 8th and 3rd in the UK and Japan, respectively) (Times Higher Education, 2018). The two host institutes, Birkbeck and Tohoku, have shown their willingness to support the current initiative by providing access to research facilities (office, meeting rooms). To facilitate the execution of the proposed activities, the members also plan to seek internal funding (Birkbeck Incentive Funds; Joint Research Program with Tohoku University).The team includes both scholars at different stages in their careers who completed their formal academic training at different time points (Saito, 2011; Tierney, 2010; Révész, 2006; Jeong, 2007; Sugiura, 2000; Suzuki, 2015). Thus, the project not only promotes intercultural/interdisciplinary interaction, but also serves as an opportunity for PhD students and scholars early in their careers to increase the breadth and depth of their experience by working with senior scholars.After the initial video-conferencing sessions to meet and exchange ideas, we will host 5-day research workshops at Birkbeck (March 2019) and Tohoku University (August 2019). In these meetings, the team will work together on an interdisciplinary overview on the following three topics: (a) auditory neural encoding and phonological learning (Saito, Tierney, Révész, Jeong); (b) declarative memory and lexical learning (Saito, Tierney, Sugiura, Suzuki); and (c) procedural memory and grammar learning (Révész, Jeong, Sugiura, Suzuki). Research findings on these topics will also be summarised according to each target language (Japanese vs. English). The members' PhD students will participate in literature search and manuscript writing as a co-author. To disseminate the research, we will host unique symposia in London (September 2019) and Tokyo (October 2019). In each event, members and their PhD student collaborators will present their conceptual papers alongside two expert keynote speakers from education and neuroscience, who will provide valuable feedback on team's research. To invoke interests from various types of audience, local PhD students and FL teachers will be invited to present their insights on successful FL learning and engage in discussion with team members.All presentations will be published in an open-access, edited volume produced by an international publisher. A non-technical report on the cognitive mechanisms underlying successful FL learning will be shared via the team's new website and on social media in both Japanese and English. During the final period of the collaboration (April 2020), the team will work on grant applications (e.g., JSPS, ESRC) to fund a series of empirical studies and test the hypotheses that the team will have developed.