Cognitive Neuroscience of Second Language Acquisition the Department of Defense Research Landscape
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UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND CENTER FOR ADVANCED STUDY OF LANGUAGE Cognitive neuroscience of second language acquisition The Department of Defense research landscape Joseph Dien, PhD Amy Weinberg, PhD PURPOSE—To evaluate the potential use of cognitive neuroscience methods Sergey Blok, PhD in second language acquisition research within the Department of Defense and describe current such studies. Polly O’Rourke, PhD CONCLUSIONS—The Department of Defense can leverage cognitive Kristina Kayton, MS neuroscience of second language acquisition research conducted by civilian Nina Hamedani, MS agencies. RELEVANCE—To aid Department of Defense managers in making better use of research on the cognitive neuroscience of second language acquisition. Executive summary TTO 84601 E.4.3 | CDRL A017 | DID DI-MISC 80508B | Contract No. H98230-07-D-0175 PURPOSE access to language-enabled recruits. successful completion. CNS suggests that it is not necessary CNS has helped to develop and The University of Maryland Center for for foreign language learning to occur evaluate strategies that can improve Advanced Study of Language (CASL) during childhood, but that it can be training at every level of language set out to evaluate how the cognitive beneficial. For this reason, it is in the comprehension. neuroscience (CNS) approach might DoD’s interest to help K–12 schools benefit Department of Defense (DoD) promote foreign language learning. Culture research on second language acquisi- 4 Some types of DoD personnel, Aptitude tion (SLA), to what extent it currently such as attachés, military analysts, is being utilized, and how it might be 2 Training recruits in a new language and officers negotiating with the local better utilized. is extremely expensive, so improving authorities, require high levels of CASL did this by conducting a the identification of those likely to proficiency. literature review and in-depth inter- complete such training successfully CNS methods have helped to views with approximately two dozen could save the DoD substantial sums. clarify how members of other cultures program managers and researchers. CNS research has helped to separate may have different cognitive styles and distinguish the many cognitive and make different assumptions. CONCLUSIONS abilities that contribute to language Incorporating these cultural insights aptitude, such as perceptual acuity, into advanced language training could CASL research supports the following speed of processing, working memory, help DoD students reach these higher conclusions: long-term memory, and induction. levels of proficiency. Bilingualism Training DoD research landscape 1 Whether developing bilingualism 3 Beyond screening for aptitude, 5 CNS of SLA research currently during childhood is necessary, merely improved language training could pro- is being supported primarily by the beneficial, or possibly even a burden vide further DoD savings by accelerat- Office of Naval Research, the Defense is important to DoD efforts to improve ing training and improving the rate of Advanced Research Projects Agency, © 2012 University of Maryland. All rights reserved. November 2011 i COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION and the Defense Language Institute civilian and DoD program offices. Corresponding Author and Reprints: Joseph Dien, PhD, Foreign Language Center. • Organize an annual forum for University of Maryland Center for the Advanced Study of Language, (301) 226-8848, [email protected], www. program managers, scientists, and casl.umd.edu. Gap assessment other relevant individuals. Funding/Support: This material is based upon work 6 supported, in whole or in part, with funding from the United Civilian funding agencies are not • Establish programs to trans- States Government. Any opinions, findings and conclu- late research findings into the sions, or recommendations expressed in this material are addressing DoD training needs in the those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the areas of adult students, intensive train- classroom. views of the University of Maryland, College Park and/ • Balance long-term as well as or any agency or entity of the United States Government. ing, aptitude, retention, pressure, and Nothing in this report is intended to be and shall not be short-term research. treated or construed as an endorsement or recommenda- cross training. tion by the University of Maryland, United States Govern- • Integrate existing language and ment, or the authors of the product, process, or service that Recommendations include the culture efforts to bridge the gap is the subject of this report. No one may use any informa- following: tion contained or based on this report in advertisements between the two. or promotional materials related to any company product, • For the proposed R-Space website process, or service or in support of other commercial purposes. This report is not Releasable to the Defense for facilitating researcher interac- Technical Information Center per DoD Directive 3200.12. tions: support a dedicated staff for The Contracting Officer’s Representative for this project is RELEVANCE David Cox, Government Technical Director at CASL, (301) populating it, ensure that it has a 226-8970, [email protected]. critical mass of users, and make it Foreign language preparedness is a easy to find researchers interested major priority of the DoD. Since CNS in a particular topic. is playing an increasing role in civilian • Leverage current DoD research research on language processes, there on related topics to supplement is a need to determine what solutions it second language research. can provide for DoD second language • Improve communication between needs. © 2012 University of Maryland. All rights reserved. November 2011 ii COGNITIVE NEUROSCIENCE OF SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION tive training (a possibility that future learn a second language during child- research may clarify).This discovery hood to achieve full proficiency, if Executive report indicates that CNS methods may be it were true that there was a critical used to assess an individual’s L2 capa- period during childhood after which PURPOSE bilities and/or training needs. adults would not be able to learn a Additionally, CNS research has second language in the same manner The War on Terror initiated by the 9/11 found neural correlates of aptitude (Lenneberg, 1967; Penfield & Roberts, attack made it clear that there would for second language acquisition. Xue 1959), then one would expect to see a be an increasing need for the analysts et al. (2006) found that activity in a difference in CNS measures between and warfighters of the Department of specific brain area predicted partici- the brain activity of those who learned Defense (DoD) to engage with regions pants’ success in learning a new script. the second language in childhood and of the world through speaking lan- CNS research in SLA thus has the those who learned it as an adult. If guages not commonly taught in the potential to improve testing for both so, then it would suggest that adult United States. Furthermore, it became proficiency and aptitude. Each of these learners have, in a sense, missed the clear that the relevant languages could findings, summarized in our literature boat and that while they can still learn change quickly as threats arose in dif- review, provides direct application to a second language, it can never be ferent parts of the world. and impact on DoD language needs, as the same as if they had learned it as a The University of Maryland Center expanded on in the next section. child. for Advanced Study of Language In both brainwave measures (see (CASL) set out to evaluate how CONCLUSIONS Kotz, 2009; van Hell & Tokowicz, the cognitive neuroscience (CNS) 2010 for reviews; van Heuven & approach might benefit DoD research CASL research supports the following Dijkstra, 2010) and brain imaging on second language acquisition (SLA), conclusions: measures (see Abutalebi, 2008; Kotz, to what extent CNS currently is being 2009; van Heuven & Dijkstra, 2010 for Bilingualism – Enriching the utilized, and how it might better be review), what is seen is that in gen- recruitment pool used. CASL did this by conducting a 1 eral the patterns of activity are quite literature review and in-depth inter- On the one hand adults seem to have similar, so it is not necessary to learn views with approximately two dozen much more difficulty learning a second as a child. There are nonetheless some program managers and researchers. language than children. On the other differences however, which underscore In the same way that CNS has hand, there is concern that overloading observations that those who learn a informed the study of psycholinguis- children with multiple languages could second language during childhood do tics, it can contribute significantly harm their learning process. Whether have advantages in certain domains, to research in SLA. In addition to developing bilingualism during child- particularly with respect to discrimi- showing that language processing hood is necessary, merely beneficial, nating between language-specific and representation in second lan- or possibly even a burden is important speech sounds and mastering gram- guage (L2) becomes more native- to DoD efforts to improve access to matical systems. like with increased proficiency (see language-enabled recruits and even to Bilingualism – DoD significance Abutalebi, 2008; Kotz, 2009; van enhance the cognitive performance of Hell & Tokowicz, 2010 for review; its personnel. 2 Taken