Neurofunctional Theory

Language:A Left Hemisphere Function

(Hoff, 1997)

Broca’s Area vs. Wernicke’s Area

Broca’s Area–Responsible for

the precise control of the mouth and larynx muscles–Seat of grammar,

comprehension, and production

Wernicke’s Area–Home of meaning

(Hoff, 1997 & Bardies, 1999)

• Condition in which language functions are severely impaired

(Hoff, 1997)

Aphasia

Carl Wernicke Paul Broca

Broca’s Aphasiaor

Wernicke’s Aphasia

Broca’s or Agrammatic Aphasia

• Difficulty speaking–Lacks grammatical structure–Has no understanding of expression–Has short strings of content words

• Difficulty comprehending(Hoff, 1997)

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005401.html

Wernicke’s or Paragrammatic Aphasia

• No difficulty speaking–Speech has no sense–Use meaningless words–Speech is syntactically full but

semantically empty• Great difficulty comprehending

(Bardies, 1999; Ekiert 2003; Hoff, 1997)

http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?start=122&um=1&hl=fil&tbo=d&biw=1241&bih=567&tbm=isch&tbnid=1HN9r4LLOG8SeM:&imgrefurl=http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/broca%27s%2520aphasia&docid=e-LicVRyNZr5eM&imgurl=http://25.media.tumblr.com/

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Brain Lateralization

Brain Lateralization

Experiment:Experienced Musicians – Right Ear (LH) Naive Listeners – Left Ear (RH)

Brain LateralizationLeft Hemisphere (LH) • Detailed Processing

of Structured Sequence

• Syntax and Phonology

Right Hemisphere (RH)• Holistic processing• Semantics and

pragmatic aspects• Visual-spatial tasks

(Hoff, 1997)

Which matures first? RH or LH• Babies– are attentive to

intonation– vocalize prosodic

contours before they articulate

– produce isolated syllables before sequence of syllables

– phonology and syntax come later

(Bardies, 1999 & Hoff, 1997)

ResultsofExperiments

(Hoff, 1997)

The Signers

• LH damage resulted in aphasia for signers just as it does for users of a spoken language

Split-Brain Patients• Corpus Callosum• No communication between 2 hemispheres

http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~gawron/intro/course_core/lectures/aphasia_cases_slides.html

Undamaged Adult

• Use dichotic listening experimentResult: 1. It shows a right ear advantage– Due to the position of LH• LH is the locus of language ability

2. Speech sound travels to LH (RE)3. Musical sound travels to RH (LE)

Equipotentiality Hypothesisvs. Invariance Hypothesis

(Hoff, 1997)

Equipotentiality Hypothesis• Proponents: Bishop and Lenneberg• LH is not specialized for language at

birth• LH and RH have equal potential for

acquiring language• Language shifts to the left only with

maturity(Kennedy, 1997)

Equipotentiality Hypothesis

Evidences1. Infants’ Brains and Language

Magnets2. Dichotic Listening Results3. Recovery from Aphasia4. Brain Plasticity

(Kennedy, 1997)

Invariance Hypothesis

• Proponents: Kinsbourne, Satz & Lewis, Satz, and Witelson

• LH has the adult specialization for language at birth

• Nothing about lateralization changes in development

What happens when the LH/RH is damaged prior to

language acquisition?

(Hoff, 1997)

1. Delay2. Catch up3. Subtle impairments

The Bilingual Brainby Monika Ekiert

Results and Implications• Different cerebral networks support L1

and L2 acquisition• Patient’s performance varies among

languages• Presence of Differential Aphasia• Anatomical separation of grammar and

phonology vary to the age and manner of language acquisition

Early vs. Late Bilinguals

• Early–No distinct regions for different languages

• Late–Grammar and phonology are in close

proximity– L2 develop separately as if L1 is already

fully connected

Dual-language Environment

• Early and late SLA resulted in a LH localization of the L2. • Children = Recruitment of new

connection• Adult = Creation of Connection

Limitations of the Study

• Brain imaging studies show lack of differences between cerebral activation and behavioral data

• No study for novel sentence production• No method of control to measure

proficiency of participants

Implications of Neuroscience for Educational Reform

(Kennedy, 1997)

1. TRUE OR FALSE

• Brain of a 2-year old has twice as many synapses or connections as an adult’s brain.

TRUE• Learning experiences determine which

brain connections become developed and which will no longer function.

2. TRUE OR FALSE• There is a neurological time frame for learning

features of L2.TRUE

• Accents are established by 6 months.• Window for acquiring syntax closes at 5-6.• Window for allowing new words may never

close. • Learning an L2 become steady then decline

after 6.

• Beginning language learners should be taught a new language in a different way than they acquired their first.

(Kennedy, 1997)

3. TRUE OR FALSE

FALSE

1. Ingredients of L2 learning:–Encouragement and Natural

Environment–Observing, Listening,

Understanding, Speaking, Reading, and Writing

2. Use ultradian rhythms in the class.(Kennedy, 1997)

4. TRUE OR FALSE

• The required time in L2 learning depends on the language being learned.

TRUE• Thousands of hours – Spanish and

French• 4-5 times longer – Arabic, Japanese,

Korean, Mandarin, and Russian

(Kennedy, 1997)

5. TRUE OR FALSE• Words should be heard 20-30 times before

it stays in the long term memory. FALSE

• 40-80 times• Vocabulary: “Hear and Say” before “Write”• Avoid lengthy word list. • Visual imagery elicits memory retrieval.

END.(Kennedy, 1997)

References

Bardies, B. d. (1999). The Infant Does Not Talk, But.... How language comes to children: from birth to two years (pp. 29-35). Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press.

Ekiert, M. (2003). The Bilingual Brain. WP TESOL/AL, 3, 1-8. Retrieved February 17, 2013, from http://journals.tc-library.org/index.php/tesol/article/view/31/

References

Hoff, E. (1997). Biological Bases of Language Development Language development (pp. 388-405). Brooks Cole Pub.: Pacific Grove CA.

http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/005401.html

https://www.google.com.ph/imghp?hl=fil&tab=wi

References

http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?start=122&um=1&hl=fil&tbo=d&biw=1241&bih=567&tbm=isch&tbnid=1HN9r4LLOG8SeM:&imgrefurl=http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/broca%27s%2520aphasia&docid=e-LicVRyNZr5eM&imgurl=http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyu7xjnO5d1qcz3vdo1_500.jpg&w=417&h=750&ei=KTUgUc_mK8SOrgeLo4DIBQ&zoom=1&ved=1t:3588,r:34,s:100,i:106&iact=rc&dur=511&sig=103095329080267584863&page=9&tbnh=196&tbnw=109&ndsp=17&tx=56&ty=54

http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~gawron/intro/course_core/lectures/aphasia_cases_slides.html

References

Kennedy, T. J. (2006). Language Learning and Its Impact on the Brain: Connecting Language Learning with the Mind Through Content-Based Instruction. Foreign Language Annals, 39(3), 471-486.