Vygotsky chose consciousness as a foundation for his approach to psychology, although it took several iterations to arrive at his final conception of a dynamic, semantic system, which included not only thought and language, the subject of most of his work up to that point, but how we refract our experience of the world through personhood as well.…

In today's globalized world, strong English listening skills have become more essential than ever before. Whether you're a language learner, a professional conducting business internationally, or a traveler exploring new cultures, the ability to understand spoken English is an asset. Fortunately, advancements in technology have opened new avenues…

Teaching modifies the brain of the learners. In that respect, providing teachers with information about ways in which the brain learns could allow them to enhance their practices. Similarly, language teachers should also embrace what experts and theories from Educational Neuroscience and Mind, Brain and Education Science (MBE) Science can offer to…

The declarative/procedural (DP) model posits that the learning, storage, and use of language critically depend on two learning and memory systems in the brain: declarative memory and procedural memory. Thus, on the basis of independent research on the memory systems, the model can generate specific and often novel predictions for language. Till…

This article aims to highlight the challenges faced by schools when addressing a wide range of learning needs--specifically English language learners (ELL) and students with exceptionalities. Both populations of students have a history of being isolated rather than included with sameaged peers due to non-traditional learning profiles. Many…

The topic of this article is the link between research on the neurocognition of the teaching--acquisition interface and research on second language teaching. This recent scientific enterprise investigates whether and how different aspects of second language instruction may change both the anatomy and the functioning of an adult learner's brain…

Despite the number of articles devoted to the topic of content-based instruction (CBI), little attempt has been made to link the claims for CBI to research in cognitive science. In this article, I review the CBI model of foreign language (FL) instruction in the context of its close alignment with two emergent frameworks in cognitive science:…

How can ELT be made enjoyable and effective? One feasible pedagogical application is to integrate English songs into ELT. Song, a combination of music and lyrics, possesses many intrinsic merits, such as a kaleidoscope of culture, expressiveness, recitability and therapeutic functions, which render it an invaluable source for language teaching.…

Recent research in psychology and neuroscience has demonstrated that co-speech gestures are semantically integrated with speech during language comprehension and development. The present study explored whether gestures also play a role in language learning in adults. In Experiment 1, we exposed adults to a brief training session presenting novel…

Reviews research about the brain's hemispheric functions, emphasizing the practical implications and applications of bimodal language learning. Four pedagogical principles (contextualization, visualization, diversification, and personalization) that characterize any integrated approach to language teaching are also discussed. (CB)

A modified, chronologically-based approach to the foreign language literature survey course integrates traditional elements of chronological organization with critical and concrete analysis of literary texts to increase the significance of the material to the liberal arts education. Research in higher education and research on left-right brain…

The use of freewriting in English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) instruction as a means of promoting communicative competence is examined, particularly as it may improve high-school-level ESL instruction in Japan. First, the educational environment of Japanese high schools is described, and some problems with the teaching of ESL writing are outlined.…

This paper describes the rationale for development of a self-instructional program using the bilingual-dichotic method, which accelerates the learning of foreign words. First, ways of learning vocabulary and the use of bilingual word lists for direct instruction with beginners are noted, and criteria are given for selection of words. Differences…

Based on the questions of second language teachers concerning classroom practice, generated by mail survey in 1983, research on aspects of second language teaching and learning was reviewed and is summarized here. In each case, a question or questions are posed and a brief discussion follows, in layman's language and based on relevant research,…