Neurolinguistics: Role and Function of Brain

1. NEUROLINGUISTICS:
ROLE AND FUNCTION
OF BRAIN
Presented by:
Shaheera Samim

2. What is Neurolinguistics?
It is defined as the relationship between language and
communication, to different aspects of brain function, i.e.,
how our brain understands and produce langauge.

3. Understanding Brain In Terms Of Language

4. Broca’s Area
Wernicke’s
Area
Production
Comprehension
Transfer

5. Brain and Second
Language Learning
(SLA)

6. Major Concerns of Neurologists
Is the location and representation of L2
independent of L1’s location/position?
Where are L2’s components stored in brain?
How learner differences influence L2 learning?

7. Three 3 Foci of Neurolinguistics (for SLA)
1.
Language and The
Brain
Lesson 2.
Learning Processes
Lesson 3.
Learner Differences

8. 1. Language and The Brain
(Location and Representation of Language in
Brain)
• Different researches have contrastive ideas about the location and representation
of language in brain.
• As per the researchers, L2 is not entirely present in L1’s location/positon. It can
have a location of it’s own.
• Ervin and Osgood language and brain can relate in three different ways
coordinate, compound, and subordinate bilingualism.

9. Ervin and Osgood’s study
Three ways
Coordinate
Parallel/Independent
Linguistic System
Compound
Unified system
Subordinate
Bilingualism
One Linguistic system
accessed through other

10. 2. Learning Processes
vs
Purposed by Edward
Thorndike
Purposed by George
A. Miller
(The performance of brain against different
learning processes)

11. Major Differences
◦ Learning language is a skill and is equal to
learning any other skill, i.e., painting,
driving a car.
◦ The developers of IP believe that more
practice can enhance language proficiency.
(“practice makes a man perfect)”
◦ There’re three stages: (1) Input (perception),
(2) central processing, and (3) output
(production)
◦ As per this theory language's proficiency
can be increased through “stimulus-
response” theory.
◦ L2’s efficiency does not involve depends
on knowledge or abstract language learning
rules
◦ Language proficiency depends on the
association between stimulus and response
◦ Any change is the stimulus, response and
the relationship between them can affect
L2’s proficiency
Information processing
(IP) Theory

12. 3. Learner Differences
(How different individual brains (learners) learn
L2?)
• This theory works to find out why some learners learn L2 more effectively than
others?
• This foci is the part of humanistic framework and highlights that emotional
involvement, gender, and age are the factors that influence language learning.
• Emotional factors consist of: motivation, aptitude. etc.

13. Learner Differences
Age
Adult learner vs
young learners
Gender
Female’s and
male’s
contrastive/similar
behavior towards
language learning
Aptitude
Phonetic coding
ability,
grammatical
sensitivity, etc.
Motivation
Intrinsic and
extrinsic
motivation
Personality
Different types of
learners, i.e.,
extroverts and
introverts

14. Conclusion
• L2’s proficiency highly depends on the
functioning of brain, and it’s good health.
• Moreover, the brain’s performance is highly
effected by individual’s motivation, aptitude,
etc. Apart from that, learning processes also
control the functioning of brain. For instance,
in case of IP, practice helps learns achieve
proficiency, whereas, in connectionism one has
to strengthen the association between stimulus
and response.
• Neurolinguistics is all about studying how
brain helps in learning language. The
researchers of this area are introducing
new L2 learning techniques which further
helps in enhancing L2 proficiency.