Brain Plasticity and Second Language Acquisition: Part I

Since the 1950s, discussion within the field of Linguistics about the corrolation between neuroscience and language acquisition has been dominated by Noam Chomsky, brilliant, prolific and vastly influential Professor of Linguistics at MIT and political activist. Chomsky's research focused on First Language Acquisition (FLA) using the finding of neuroscience to undergird his theory of Universal Grammar, the theory that we are "hard wired" to acquire language. However, his research and theorizing was ubiquitous of the time in believing that after a developmental stage that ends sometime around the early teen years, our minds are then forever locked into - or stuck in - whatever state of wiring they are in at that moment. This is a wonderful and very logical way to explain FLA during childhood but what about Second Language Acquisition (SLA)?

Hard core believers in Chomsky's work - or Innatists, as some call thems - such as Stephen Krashen believe that SLA occurs in the same way as FLA, so that we acquire languages rather than learn them, and all that is needed is comprehensible input and ideal learning conditions (e.g. low stress). Those in the Social-Interactivist camp have appeared to be the more rationale than the Innatists in their ability to bring into the mix the factors that contribute to how we learn and who we are. As opposed to the Innatists who appear to believe that we are just minds who are not influenced by the outside world, our environment or rather social interaction have a tremendous influence on how we acquire language or learn anything, whether it be language, science or how to interact in society. Social-interactionist indeed have their hearts in the right place by putting social justice and the fight against oppression at the root of their beliefs and philosophies. Following this train of thought would make alot of sense, if it were true that our minds were locked into place by the time we all hit puberty. However, recent research in the field of neuroscience has shown this to be untrue.

Neuroscientists have found that our minds are plastic, not literaly plastic but plastic in the sense that they are constantly changing physically from birth until we die. Even in very elderly people at the end of their lives, new neuropathways are being created in their brains. Neuroscientists such as Michael Merzenich, Professor of Neuroscience at the University of California, San Francisco are pioneering this area of research and have attempted to use what they have learned from this research to apply it to other areas of knowledge such as physical therapy and psychology. In this video, Bruce Wexler, Professor of Psychiatry at Yale Medical School discussed with Dr. Merzenich about how brain plasticity relates to culture:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Qd9H5m1U5I

The implications of these insights to language learning (or acquiring as some might say) made by the the research being done by the likes of Merenich and Wexler is far reaching and multifaceted. For anyone who has taught English to new immigrants, particularly those who are in the later stages of life, the challenges of learning a new language and culture can be daunting, even terrifying. As with anyone learning something new, their attempts, failures and successes plainly demonstrate the physical manifestation of their old ingrained thoughts patterns. As Wexler stated, these old thought patterns, and through action, behaviors feel better than thinking new thought patterns. Staying with your own "tribe", following the same cultural customs and speaking your "mother tongue" feels better. Yet, there is the disconnection of being a minority in a small immigrant community within the dominant society which has an alien culture and language. The question then becomes whether the benefits outway the disadvantages of learning a new language and culture or if it is possible to retain one's first culture and language, while learning the new one (which most educated people other than English First proponents know to be possible and culturally and mentally beneficial). With enough motivation, these ELLs do learn making amazing progress moving from just surviving to thriving in their new environments. However, as any aging adult knows, most of us become less and less adventurous as we grow older, making us less able to take the leaps of faith needed to learn new information and have new experiences - two processes essential to new brain growth.

Those in the field of linguistics and education can now begin to proudly say "language learning!" in stead of "language acquisition" and then be able to back up our use of this terminology with research that shows that English Language Learners (ELLs) are actually learning and just acquiring language.


These new advancements in neuroscience do not negate or contradict the beliefs and theories of Innatists and Social-Interactions but rather it support both schools of thought ellaborating and deepening Chomsky's pioneering research and theories about the innate, "built-in" qualities of First Language Acquisition, while giving Social-Interactionists more solid ground to lay their claims about the influence of one's social environment on language learning. It is the eternal argument of nurture vs. nature. Of course, it is both. We acquire and learn language. The level of acquisition does appear to be more apt to occur during the early years of life when our brains are literally being wired. Later on in life, the generative growth process in our brains does slow down but it does not stop. What Social-Interactionists have known for years can now be proven scientifically that while adults may not be acquiring new brain growth, through conscious motivation to learn new information and to engage in new experiences, adults are able to create astounding cerebral development.

Now that we know that adults are not "stuck" with their original "hard wiring" and can learn anything from being able to overcome a physical disability to learn a new language and culture. While scientists have proven tested and proven how people with disabilities can retrain their minds and bodies to overcome the loss of the use of a limb, sense or in general cognitive faculty, the field of linguistics and language learning is a brand new frontier. We know that it can be done - adults can learn new languages and cultures - but how is it done? Many approaches and methods already exhist from the different Behaviorialist, Innatist and Social-Interactionist camps. Yet, which ones work the most effectively and how? Using neuroscientific research as a guide, we can now hone in on how to educate language learners in with the exactness of a lazer rather than our previous shotgun approach.

The danger of this Brave New World is whether the research results will lead educators, and even more dangerous - governmental education policy makers in, to prescribe education methods which are inhumane or will the research lead us to understand the nature of ourselves with humane educational teaching and learning. The process of understanding out minds is as ellusive and yet enlightening as peering into our very souls. We surely will never understand both completely, but we can reach new heights of knowledge standing on the shoulders of old and new giants like Chomsky, Krashen, Merenich and Wexler.