Ed Week October 27, 2010: Brain Research and Bilingualism

The article "Pathways Seen For Acquiring Languages" reports on the latest brain research and what it can tell us about the cognitive benefits of learning other languages.  Apparently there has been an explosion in research having to do with second language acquisition.  Some studies have been funded by the NSF and several new institutes have been established at universities.  The Bilingualism, Mind, and Brain project was recently launched at Penn State.  It is a five year project with a budget of $ 2.8 million.  This project is a collaboration of neuroscientists, linguists, and cognitive scientists.  They are using technology to compare the brains and mental processes of different types of bilingual speakers, such as a Mandarin- English speaker and a deaf English speaker who uses sign language.  The University of Washington also recently opened the world's first brain-imaging center created to study language and cognition in infants and children.  I find it absolutely thrilling and exciting to learn about this cutting edge research into language and the brain.  In all of the scholarly articles I looked at as part of my training as a German teacher, many of the linguists hypothesized about how language and the brain worked.  Now we have the technology to see, evaluate and measure what is going on neurologically.  This will hopefully translate into effective teaching strategies and research supported curriculum decisions.  In a time of economic crisis the foreign language programs are the first things to be thrown overboard.  This is even happening at the university level in the United States.  Although I have been around long enough to know this is cyclical, as a language teacher I find this disturbing.

One of the academic benefits of bilingualism mentioned in the article:
 Bilingual children have greater cognitive flexibility and can adapt better to changes in rules than monolingual children. Bilingual children demonstrate flexibility in problem-solving.

One interesting and surprising fact I did not know is that the window of opportunity for learning a second language is open longer than we previously thought !  Linguists used to think that after age 7 a child's ability to learn another language shrinks.  By the end of puberty it was thought to be too late. New interdisciplinary research has shown that  this time frame may be more flexible.   This gives me hope that I can improve my Spanish, even though I am 45!  Marty Abbott who is the Director of Education for the American Council on Teaching of Foreign Languages, articulated another hope that I fervently share.  She said she hopes this type of research will convince education officials to make second language instruction for all students at the elementary level part of the curriculum.  The research shows that it is not a good idea to wait until high school to start learning a foreign language.  I am also deeply disappointed that it is possible to graduate from high school in Oregon without taking a foreign language.  It is my hope that as new research comes out, we may see a turning of the tides.  Rather than closing college-level foreign language programs we will see the establishment of more dual-language elementary programs.