Iconicity is a relationship of resemblance between the form and meaning of a sign. Compelling evidence from diverse areas of the cognitive sciences suggests that iconicity plays a pivotal role in the processing, memory, learning, and evolution of both spoken and signed language, indicating that iconicity is a general property of language. However,…

Iconicity, or the resemblance between form and meaning, is often ascribed to a special status and contrasted with default assumptions of arbitrariness in spoken language. But does iconicity in spoken language have a special status when it comes to learnability? A simple way to gauge learnability is to see how well something is retrieved from…

For many people, learning a second language as an adult is a challenging endeavor. Much interest in the study of adult second language learning has concerned the type of input that learners receive in their second language, with findings suggesting that second language learners are often exposed to a register of speech called 'foreigner talk' that…

The studies regarding using a cross sectional view of speech organs enriched with attention cueing and written text to probe learners' learning efficiency and behavior through mobile phones is scant. The purpose of this study was to examine whether the presence of attention cueing can benefit learners with different amounts of prior knowledge in…

In recent years, the intersection of cognitive psychology, developmental psychology, and neuroscience with regard to deaf individuals has received increasing attention from a variety of academic and educational audiences. Both research and pedagogy have addressed questions about whether deaf children learn in the same ways that hearing children…

Encoding voice information is a cognitively effortful, age sensitive process. For older adults, enhanced voice encoding under the intentional condition, relative to the incidental condition, was accompanied by a significant decrement in sentence recall. The age difference apparently reflects the diminished processing capacity of older adults.…

Draws upon recent publications dealing with brain function (particularly F. Vester, "Denken, Lernen, Vergessen", Munich, 1978) for ideas for foreign language teaching. These include constant use of the foreign language in the classroom, frequent repetition, and avoidance of false associations by explanation in the native language.…

Describes part of a research project in France involving the second-language acquisition of young children that focuses on the use of a computer augmented with a voice synthesizer. Topics addressed include written versus spoken language; multiple sources of information; self-correction; self-esteem; memory; and speed in the learning process.…