Our Brain and Language Learning - Essay Example

Our brain and language learning The modern world demands the knowledge of foreign languages, however, this task appears to be easy for some people and difficult for other. The question is what the reason of such difference in abilities is. In order to answer this question the scientists pay attention to the function of human brain. Different parts of human brain take part in processing different types of information. These parts are called hemispheres. As a whole we use the both left and right hemispheres, but in the majority of people there is a predomination of one hemisphere over another. However, there are lucky ones, who use the both hemispheres equally. The damages of the brain always affect the language production “certain types of brain damage can affect language production without actually eliminating language from the brain. A stroke that damages the muscles of the vocal apparatus may leave the abstract cognitive structure of language intact--as witnessed by the fact that right hemisphere stroke victims often understand language perfectly well and write it perfectly with their right hand--although their speech may be slurred due to lack of muscle control. We have also seen that certain disorders involving the subcortex--the seat of involuntary emotional response--may have linguistic side effects” (Language and the brain). The left hemisphere processes verbal, analytic and abstract information sequentially and logically. It is responsible for identifying contrasts and differences and for inductive thinking (imagining the whole picture using separate parts) and data analysis. Thus, when this hemisphere is damaged, the consequences are very negative as it is considered to be more important: “a left-hemisphere stroke often results in right-sided paralysis and a curiously extreme cautiousness on the part of the sufferer. It takes a lot of teaching and frequent encouragement to lead such a person through the steps of recovery” (5 Ways to Recover From a Left-Hemisphere Stroke). It identifies numbers and is responsible for remembering facts and dates. Left hemisphere is connected with our abilities to learn languages and mathematics. “In human beings, it is the left hemisphere that usually contains the specialized language areas.  While this holds true for 97% of right-handed people, about 19% of left-handed people have their language areas in the right hemisphere and as many as 68% of them have some language abilities in both the left and the right hemispheres” (Boeree, 2004). The right hemisphere is processing nonverbal, figurative and spatial information and the processing is happening simultaneously. It is considering the picture as a whole and separate elements as the parts of the whole, it is responsible for imagination, abilities to music and painting. “Damage to the right hemisphere of the brain leads to cognitive-communication problems, such as impaired memory, attention problems and poor reasoning. In many cases, the person with right brain damage is not aware of the problems that he or she is experiencing” (Right Hemisphere Brain Damage). Some speech skills include analytical, logical information processing, in which the left hemisphere takes part. The other are connected with the work of the right hemisphere including assumptions, the formation of associations and main idea identification. It is obvious that people who have the both hemispheres dominating have advantages in the process of language learning. However, among left- and right- dominating hemispheres there are students, which achieve much success and able to speak foreign languages fluently and correctly. They learn to apply the abilities of the both hemispheres depending on what activity they use while learning language. The left hemisphere takes part in setting up the goals, looking for motivation. As soon as the motivation is found and learning is started, the right hemisphere is involved in the process. In the process of listening and comprehension the large part of the work is fulfilled by the right hemisphere, which is responsible for formation of images and associations. People with left dominating hemisphere, who have analytical type of thinking, do not often reach the desirable fluency in the process of languages learning primarily because their more developed logical thinking is slowing down their comprehension and reproduction of the foreign speech. People with right hemisphere dominating usually learn language fast and reach fluency, but they often have difficulties with grammar and can’t speak correctly. They manage to catch the main idea of the conversation but miss the details. So, how may the process of learning languages differ in people with different types of domination? If a person has left hemisphere dominating he/she should analyze the received material. For example, it will be easier to learn new words dividing them into several parts (morphemes) and tracing the rules of adding suffixes, prefixes, etc. It is necessary to pay attention to the rules, which connect the words in sentences. At the beginning such people may consider some conversational phrases and the use of them in natural conditions to be illogical and too different from what it is written in the textbook, but gradually everything gets right. It is also important for such people to try to analyze and define the important factors of communicative situations. This will help react and choose the answers correctly. The methods of learning, which will appear more effective, are grammatical analysis, learning by heart, solving puzzles and checking hypotheses. If a person is related to much smaller group of those, who have the right hemisphere dominating, the traditional school lessons based on the grammar learning is not the way to learn language. The programs with the use of communicative methodic will be more useful. It is important to find the way to learn language in the process of communication with other people and using creative and innovative approaches. Creative abilities will help get pleasure from learning foreign language. It is necessary to use games, pictures, colors and own ideas to learn the material. It is necessary to use intuition to guess about the meaning from context, the details do not mean much. Music, poems and other kinds of art will also help. Speaking about the certain system in our brain that may be responsible for language learning, it is essential to mention that the science does not define such system yet and further investigation is needed: “neuroscientists have acquired extensive knowledge of the physical structures in the brain. Nevertheless, this knowledge by itself has so far not revealed how the brain functions to perform the mental processes we use in speaking and in understanding speech. Even the basic question of how the brain stores symbolic information remains a mystery to neuroscientists. Nowadays a lot of research is being done in brain imaging, using techniques of PET, fMRI, and MEG. But brain imaging only provides information about where things are going on, not about what is going on there” (Language and brain: Neurocognitive linguistics). However, some areas were already defined by the scientists. A neurologist Paul Broca, who performed an autopsy to a patient, who had speech problems, revealed that a certain area in his brain was damaged. This area was called Broca’s area and was defined as an area that is responsible for first language. Carl Wernicke, a German neurologist defined an area that is responsible for learning second language by making autopsy to a patient who had problems with comprehension but spoke well. He revealed a damaged area, which was called Wernicke’s area. There is one more area called arcuate fascilicus. When this area is damaged, a person can’t understand the speech of others. The area called angular gyrus is responsible for reading and writing. “The angular gyrus has been implicated in problems such as alexia (the inability to read), dyslexia (difficulties with reading), and agraphia (the inability to write).  In research involving the use of PET scans on people with these problems, the angular gyrus is not as active as it is in other people while engaged in reading or writing.  However, problems such as dyslexia also can involve other areas of the brain, or not involve brain disorders at all” (Boeree, 2004). The process of learning foreign languages is always long and difficult. The dominating hemisphere plays its own role, but it is possible to state that this role is not very essential. Our brain systems are too difficult, thus we can’t state anything for sure “If the human mind were simple enough for us to understand, we would be too simple-minded to understand it"(Anonymous cited in Language and brain: Neurocognitive linguistics). First of all, most people have left hemisphere dominating, secondly all the recommendations stated above are rather relational. It is not possible to start speaking foreign language having the knowledge of grammar, but without any oral practice. At the same time it is not possible to take part in the conversation understanding its meaning. but without good knowledge of grammar. Thus, the conclusion can be made that no matter what hemisphere is dominating, it is necessary to use the both approaches to language learning by combining learning grammar rules with games, learning poems and singing songs. Such approach is proved to be the most effective. Referencing Boeree, G 2004, Speech and the Brain. Accessed March 30, 2013 at http://webspace.ship.edu/cgboer/speechbrain.html Right Hemisphere Brain Damage. Accessed March 30, 2013 at http://www.asha.org/public/speech/disorders/RightBrainDamage.htm Language and brain: Neurocognitive linguistics. Accessed March 30, 2013 at http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~lngbrain/main.htm 5 Ways to Recover From a Left-Hemisphere Stroke. Accessed March 30, 2013 at http://www.livestrong.com/article/10190-recover-from-lefthemisphere-stroke/ Language and the brain Accessed March 30, 2013 at http://pandora.cii.wwu.edu/vajda/ling201/test4materials/language_and_the_brain.htm Read More