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Article published In: Language, Plasticity and Learning: Developmental Issues: Langage, Plasticité et Apprentissage : enjeux développementaux
Edited by Michèle Kail and Frédéric Isel
[Language, Interaction and Acquisition 12:1] 2021
► pp. 54–81

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Neuroplasticity of second language vocabulary acquisition

The role of linguistic experience in individual learning

 | Université Paris Nanterre, CNRS, UMR Modèles, Dynamiques, Corpus
Published online: 27 July 2021
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https://doi.org/10.1075/lia.20023.ise
Abstract
The present article reviews a series of selected functional and structural magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) studies focusing on the neuroplasticity of second language vocabulary acquisition as a function of linguistic experience. A clear-cut picture emerging from the review is that brain changes induced by second language vocabulary acquisition are observed at both functional and structural levels. Importantly, second language experience is even able to shape brain structures in short-term training of a few weeks. The evidence that linguistic experience can sculpt the brain in late second language learners, and even solely after a short-term laboratory training, constitutes a strong argument against theoretical approaches postulating that environmental factors are relatively unimportant for language development. Rather, combined neuroimaging data lend support to the determining role of linguistic experience in linguistic knowledge emergence during second language acquisition, at least at the lexical level.
Résumé
Cet article passe en revue une série d’études d’imagerie par résonance magnétique (IRM) fonctionnelles et structurelles, centrées sur la neuroplasticité de l’acquisition du vocabulaire dans une langue seconde. Cette synthèse montre que les changements cérébraux induits par l’apprentissage d’un nouveau vocabulaire sont observés à la fois au niveau fonctionnel et structurel. Il est important de noter que certaines études ont clairement montré que l’expérience en langue seconde est capable de façonner les structures cérébrales après un entraînement de courte durée de quelques semaines seulement. La démonstration empirique que l’expérience linguistique peut sculpter le cerveau d’apprenants tardifs d’une langue seconde, et ce même après un entraînement de courte durée en laboratoire, constitue un argument solide qui remet en question les approches théoriques postulant que les facteurs environnementaux joueraient un rôle secondaire lors de l’apprentissage d’une langue. Les données en neuroimagerie montrent que l’expérience linguistique a un effet déterminant au niveau lexical sur l’émergence des connaissances linguistiques lors de l’acquisition d’une langue seconde.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Second language experience-dependent neuroplasticity
  • 3.Functional imaging data
    • Word level
  • 4.Structural imaging data
    • Long-term experiences with L2 and anatomical changes in the brain
      • Type of bilingualism
      • AoA and level of proficiency in the second language
      • Structural brain changes induced by short-term L2 learning or training in laboratory settings
      • The role of learning context: Immersion learning, virtual environment, and the traditional classroom
  • 5.Conclusions and perspectives
  • Notes
  • References
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