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Have Fun Learning

If kids are having fun while learning a language, it is much more likely they will enjoy it and want to keep learning. One language-learning startup that takes this to heart is Linguacious, an award-winning company started in 2017 by two multicultural and multilingual parents raising their kids trilingually, using the OPOL method (one parent, one language). The father, Victor D. O. Santos, PhD, is an applied linguist and language-learning expert who, in addition to being at the forefront of Linguacious, is also a data and assessment manager for Avant Assessment. Linguacious develops research-based and innovative physical vocabulary flashcard games for children in several languages, including Hebrew, Turkish, Mandarin, Arabic, Russian, Portuguese, Polish, and others. Children can play over ten different games with the cards to learn and practice vocabulary, quiz themselves independently across all four language skills, and hear a native speaker pronounce the word in each flashcard by scanning the QR code on each card with the Linguacious app. The company’s dream and goal, in Dr. Santos’s words, is: “We want to publish our vocabulary card games in as many languages as our lifetime will allow. We want kids to be proud of their linguistic heritage and appreciate the linguistic heritage of others.” www.linguacious.net

Austria Links Welfare to German

The amount of the minimum income protection in Austria is now to be made dependent on the German language skills, among other factors, according to reports from Vienna.

In each of the nine Austrian states, there is currently a different minimum income scheme. Now the Austrian government has decided to create a nationwide legal regulation, the general aim of which is to make immigration into the Austrian social system more difficult and to curb what is known as “minimum income tourism” between the federal states. Vienna also plans to make a distinction in the new system between immigrants and people who have already paid into the system.

In interviews with two major European newspapers, Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz detailed plans of his country’s European Union (EU) presidency, which starts in July. Unsurprisingly, Kurz, who was sworn in in mid-December as Austria’s new, and at 31, youngest-ever chancellor, leading a nationalist government that includes the country’s most virulent far-right party as coalition partners, plans to focus on fortifying the EU’s external borders.

“German is the key to full minimum income,” Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said in a statement.

Critics have questioned whether the minimum income is the right tool: “What a great government, those who do not speak enough German should starve and become homeless,” was a comment on Facebook.

Making S-PACE for Grammar

Manuela Gonzalez-Bueno introduces a new model to teach second-language grammar

The complexities of teaching and learning a foreign language have been greatly explored over the last decades. By acknowledging that, in addition to grammatical competence, pragmatic, sociolinguistic, and discourse competences play relevant roles in communication, we have made authentic, real-life communication our main goal for teaching and learning a foreign language. However, having removed grammar from the limelight, we might have unjustly lost focus on grammatical competence, which is still an integral part of the  communicative competence. That includes not only rules of morphology and syntax but also rules of phonology. A contributor to this loss of focus on grammatical competence might be the lack of specific pedagogical techniques to teach grammar and pronunciation that are in line with the new and paramount goal of communication.

This article focuses specifically on the adaptation of two form-focused pedagogies which greatly line up with the principles of the communicative language-teaching approach: VanPatten’s (1996, 2002) processing instruction and Adair-Hauck’s and Donato’s (2002) PACE model. In both pedagogies, the attention of learners is drawn to the form without losing sight of the meaning, and most importantly, they highlight the significance of form in accurate communication. Although originally designed to teach grammar, these two form-focused techniques can be used to teach pronunciation, which is also part of the linguistic form (Gonzalez-Bueno and Quintana-Lara, 2011; Gonzalez-Bueno, 2018). However, processing instruction and the PACE model focus on the grammatical form from two different perspectives, a discrete-form, or bottom-up, and a whole-language, or top-down, perspective respectively. 

Two Procedures: Processing Instruction and the PACE Model

a. Processing instruction 

Processing instruction (PI) is an instructional approach based on the input processing model (VanPatten, 1996, 2002). Processing instruction consists essentially of exposing learners to strategically controlled exercises that require their active attention to the form of the input in order to attach meaning to it. The model assumes that by intentionally delaying production of the target language, the learner will have already processed its grammatical system and will be capable of accurately producing grammatically correct language. Practice in only recognizing the target grammar in structured input exercises is provided immediately after the input to facilitate intake, whereas output is not required until after intake has happened.

Processing instruction could be called a bottom-up approach, since it starts with concrete instances of the target grammar presented in the form of structured input exercises, followed by structured output exercises and then more open-ended activities.

b. The PACE model

Adair-Hauck’s and Donato’s (2002) PACE model, on the other hand, is a top-down approach in that it starts with the presentation of a whole text that incorporates many instances of the target grammar. Students interact first with the text by exploring the meaning of the text in various passes (presentation). The teacher then calls students’ attention to the specific target grammar in the text (attention) and then tries to elicit the rule from students, with the help of the teacher only if necessary (co-construction). Finally, students do activities using the newly learned grammar (extension). 

It appears that the gap between the co-construction and extension phases is too great for learners to jump by themselves. The swift move from the discovery of the target grammar to its production does not allow learners to properly process the rule, nor to incorporate it into their developing linguistic systems. To bridge this gap, S-PACE is suggested as an alternative that encompasses the teaching of linguistic form from both a whole-language perspective and a more discrete-form one, both integrated in a fluid procedure that does not deviate from the communicative nature of the lesson. The combination consists of inserting the structured input and output exercises suggested by PI between the last two phases of the PACE model, co-construction and extension. This way, after having co-constructed the target grammatical rule, learners are given the opportunity to practice that grammar in a structured way (thus the “S” added to the original acronym), ensuring the incorporation of the new rule into their developing linguistic systems before moving to the open-ended activities. 

Pilot Study

To test this technique, a pilot study was conducted with a small group of Spanish learners. After receiving a pretest on their ability to use Spanish formal commands, they were taught the target grammar using three different treatments: One group was taught in a traditional way, that is, a teacher’s lecture on the target grammar providing some examples, followed by output exercises taken from the textbook. Another group was taught using Adair-Hauck’s and Donato’s (2002) PACE model. And a third group was taught using the S-PACE model. Surprisingly, the results showed that all three groups improved at the post-test. The second group (PACE) showed better results than the two others in the post-test. However, only the third group (S-PACE) did better than the other two in the delayed test.

The fact that all three groups improved in the post-test can be attributed to the role of awareness. The post-test was given soon after the intervention, so the new structure was fresh in the mind of participants from all three groups. But because learners in the third group (S-PACE) got the opportunity to incorporate the new structure into their abstract linguistic system, they were able to retrieve it more easily during the delayed test.

In conclusion, the pilot study seems to corroborate the presumption that any type of explicit instruction that makes learners aware of a foreign language grammar structure is better than no instruction at all. The PACE model might be effective in the short term, but according to the results of this pilot study, the S-PACE model seems to allow learners to integrate the newly learned grammatical structure in their implicit linguistic systems, therefore making it easily retrievable in the long term.

Although the S-PACE model seems promising, in order to demonstrate its effectiveness in teaching foreign language grammar and pronunciation, it still requires testing on a larger scale. 

References

Adair-Hauck, B., and R. Donato (2002). “The PACE Model: A story-based approach to meaning and form for standards-based language learning.” French Review, 265–276.

Gonzalez-Bueno, M. and M. Quintana-Lara (2011). “The Teaching of L2 Pronunciation through Processing Instruction.” Applied Language Learning, 21 (1 and 2), 57–38.

Gonzalez-Bueno, M. (2018). “Issues Related to the Teaching of Spanish Voiced Stops /b, d, g/ and Their Lenited Allophones.” In Rao, R. (ed.) The Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation. Routledge series in Advances in Spanish Language Teaching.

VanPatten, B. (1996). Input Processing and Grammar Instruction in Second Language Acquisition. Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Co. 

VanPatten, B. (2002) “Processing Instruction: An update.” Language Learning, 52(4), 755–803.

Dr. Manuela Gonzalez-Bueno obtained a PhD in Spanish at the Pennsylvania State University in 1994 in the field of Spanish applied linguistics/second-language acquisition. She is a foreign language teacher educator at the University of Kansas and a contributor to the book Key Issues in the Teaching of Spanish Pronunciation (Routledge), https://www.routledge.com/Key-Issues-in-the-Teaching-of-Spanish-Pronunciation-From-Description/Rao/p/book/9781138954618.

Coding Bills Threaten Language Requirement

The U.S. House and Senate have both introduced bills that encourage the replacement of math, science, and foreign language courses with computer coding in high schools.

In June, U.S. senators Bill Cassidy, MD (R-Louisiana), and Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) introduced the Coding Opportunities and Development for Equitable Students (CODES) Act, a new competitive grant program for local education agencies (LEAs) that would be housed within the National Activities Fund (NAF) at the U.S. Department of Education. The proposal has the stated goal of “boosting high school coding programs,” but grants are awarded to schools that allow students to replace a required course in “mathematics, science, or foreign language” with computer coding.

On July 12, representatives Tony Cárdenas (D-California) and Pete Olson (R-Texas) introduced H.R. 6334 in the House, identical to the Senate version. According to a statement released by the Joint National Committee for Languages/National Council for Languages and International Studies (JNCL-NCLIS), “S.3122 has been referred to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions; it currently lacks a companion bill in the House. The bill comes late in the legislative session, making its introduction a purely perfunctory measure with slim prospects for passage. However, the significance of this action cannot be understated. S.3122 signals, for the first time, that the federal government is interested in entering the debate to elevate the status of computer coding at the secondary level, perhaps with the ultimate intention of making coding a graduation requirement across the U.S. It is highly likely that we will see this bill reintroduced in upcoming legislative sessions.”

JNCL-NCLIS, the American Council for the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL), and others from the world language community oppose this legislation, arguing that “these bills represent an existential threat to the world language teaching community, already suffering from a teacher shortage in over 44 states, and severely undercut the progress made to expand world language study for elementary school and secondary school students.”

Most linguists argue that coding should not be considered a true language as it lacks the ambiguity and redundancy of a natural language.

Decoding Versus Cognitive Ability

Terrie L. Noland believes we need to understand the automaticity of executing lower-level reading processes in order to master higher-level comprehension

Automaticity is necessary in everything we do to enable us to move to higher-order thinking skills and perform tasks flawlessly. 

When we first learn to drive a car, we expend our brainpower on technical skills such as speed, turn signals, and road signs. We use both hands on the steering wheel. It takes significant cognitive capacity to remember to look in the mirrors to change lanes. At this stage of our learning process, we have not mastered the “automaticity” of the skills needed to drive a car, but with practice and confidence, our lower-level processing becomes automatic as we drive. 

Reading for Meaning—Multifaceted Reading Definitions

This is true in the classroom. If we cannot easily perform lower-level reading processes like phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding with automaticity, we will find it more difficult to free up our mental capacity to concentrate on the task. 

When our cognitive load becomes too intense to comprehend, there is more likelihood that gaps in our learning process will exist and thus affect reading achievement and give us a feeling of failure. 

This scenario happens for a great many English learners, as well as learners who are socioeconomically disadvantaged, struggling readers, and students with learning disabilities, like dyslexia. 

Research suggests that the act of reading is multifaceted: 

1) An explicit skill-building activity necessary to access print.

2) An ability to comprehend text that comes from accurate word decoding. 

While researchers debate the definition of finite reading skills such as fluency (Rasinski et al., 2011), there is a consensus that reading does involve understanding written text and constructing meaning from that text (Afflerbach et al., 2011). 

What happens if teachers only pay attention to one reading definition? Let’s test this.

Reading Test 

Read the following excerpt from Diary of a Wimpy Kid, a popular series for ages 7–13, with a Lexile level of 950: 

“Today is the first day of school, and right now we’re just waiting around for the teacher to hurry up and finish the seating chart. So I figured I might as well write in this book to pass the time. By the way, let me give you some good advice. On the first day of school, you got to be real careful where you sit. You walk into the classroom and just plunk your stuff down on any old desk and the next thing you know the teacher is saying—‘I hope you all like where you’re sitting, because these are your permanent seats’”(Kinney, 2007).

If you have mastered the skills of decoding and fluency, pulling words from the page by attaching sounds to letters and reading with correct rate (automaticity and prosody), then you are likely to make sense of the text. Your brain met the automaticity of the lower-level processes (Kendeou, 2014). 

Now, read the following excerpt from a medical journal about developmental dyslexia:

“Two female subjects showed multiple instances of focal myelinated conical infraction, with neuronal loss, gliosis, and myelination of the scars affecting perisylvian and cerebral arterial border-zone territories. The presence of myelin in the scars suggested that the injury preceded the second or third year of postnatal life. 

One of the males showed, in addition to microdysgenesis, a small number of these myelinated scars. The brain of the 20-year-old female had no scars in the cortex but did have a small number of ectopias distributed equally between the hemispheres. Other abnormalities included a bilobar hippocampal oligondendraglioma and a frontal arteriovenous anomaly in one female case; one male and another female case also showed arteriovenous anomalies and a male showed arthitectonic abnormalities in the lateralis posterior and medial geniculate nuclei of the thalamus” (Galaburda et al., 1985, p. 223).

Did you exhaust brainpower to decode all the technical words in this text? Did it slow you down? Did you try context clues or isolating root words and affixes to decipher the vocabulary? Did you feel less smart when you read the second passage compared to the first? 

Cognitive Load Theory

This is an example of cognitive load theory, suggesting that our working memory can only handle two or three pieces of infor

mation at a time. The limitations of working memory overload the finite skills of full comprehension (Rueda, 2011; Foorman et al., 2011). Cunningham et al. (2011) stated, “when word recognition is not yet automatized, the reader experiences significant cognitive demands while decoding text. As a reader matures, and the demands of conceptually more difficult texts require the use of complex thinking strategies, a reduction in conscious attention is necessary at the word recognition level to free up cognitive energy required for comprehension” (p. 260). During the time from reading the first passage to the second, your intelligence did not change. What changed was your ability to decode content and understand what you read. In the second passage, our brainpower had to drive into overload to use our lower-level processes.  

Bridge the Automaticity Reading Gap—Fluency

“Reading fluency helps to reduce the cognitive demand and thus makes text comprehension easier for the reader” (Rueda, 2011). 

Dr. Maryanne Wolf (2008), in her book Proust and the Squid, builds a visual story of what reading is about by uncovering the precepts of reading as defined by Marcel Proust: “Proust saw reading as a kind of intellectual sanctuary, where human beings have access to thousands of realities they might never encounter or understand otherwise” (p. 6). 

We need to help struggling readers and those with learning disabilities find a bridge to content while they are still learning the lower-level processes of reading. Many educators use an evidence-based structured literacy program, but this approach takes time, maybe one or two years.

Just as any young child can comprehend above his or her ability to read, so can a student who is struggling to read. These students require a tool to help them automatize the decoding process and to provide reinforcement of skill building in the lower-level processes of reading. Access to human-read audiobooks can serve as a reliable tool to keep both processes going simultaneously—comprehension and cognition.

Holistic Reading Approach

If we only allow students to rely on the explicit skills they are taught, their ability to catch up to grade level will be farther out of reach. As a community of researchers and education professionals, we must consider three questions:

Are the cognitive capacities and abilities of students, not just learning-disabled students, on par with grade-level content when the lower-level processes of reading are not automatized?

What are the tools and resources that teachers use to create a holistic environment and culture of reading and literacy when time and pacing of curriculum do not allow adequate time spent on explicit instruction?

Are classrooms that take a more holistic approach to reading instruction more effective?  

With further investigation into these questions and applying recommended tools such as human-read audiobooks, we can hope that the achievement gap will lessen over a shorter period of time and students who struggle with the finite processes of reading can keep pace with their peers.

Resources available at https://www.languagemagazine.com/decoding-versus-cognitive-ability-resources/  

Terrie Noland serves as the VP of Educator Initiatives for Learning Ally where she works to develop engagement programs, professional learning services and communities for educators. She has more than 25 years of experience as both a motivational leader and developer of content, and is certified as an Academic Language Practitioner. 

New Robots Learn Languages the Same Way Children Do

Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have created a tool called a “semantic parser” that mimics the experience of children learning a language. The semantic parses does what children typically do—observe their environments and listen to speakers, regardless of if they actually understand what the speakers are saying or not.  The system observes captioned videos and associates the words that speakers say with recorded objects and actions.

Ideally, the system will help revolutionize how semantic parsers currently work. Typically children learn by observing people speaking, and interacting with their environment. Semantic Parsers, on the other hand, ‘learn’ from annotated sentences or direct answers to questions. With this new system, the semantic parser could use visual data to observe its environment to reinforce its understanding of a verbal command, even if the command wasn’t clear.

“People talk to each other in partial sentences, run-on thoughts, and jumbled language,” said Andrei Barbu, a researcher at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) and the Center for Brains, Minds, and Machines (CBMM) told ZDNet. “You want a robot in your home that will adapt to their particular way of speaking… and still figure out what they mean.”

The parser could also help give researchers insight on understanding how young children learn language. “A child has access to redundant, complementary information from different modalities, including hearing parents and siblings talk about the world, as well as tactile information and visual information, [which help him or her] to understand the world,” says co-author Boris Katz, a principal research scientist and head of the InfoLab Group at CSAIL. “It’s an amazing puzzle, to process all this simultaneous sensory input. This work is part of bigger piece to understand how this kind of learning happens in the world.”

The new parser is the first one to be trained using video. If the parser is unsure about what is being said to it, it can use visual cues to help figure out what is being said. Researchers compiled a collection of over 400 videos depicting people doing various activities like picking up an object, putting an object down, and walking towards an object just to give a few examples. The parser is then given the task to caption the video.

Similar to how children learn, the parser learns through passive observation. To determine if a caption is true of a video, the parser by necessity must identify the highest probability meaning of the caption. “The only way to figure out if the sentence is true of a video [is] to go through this intermediate step of, ‘What does the sentence mean?’ Otherwise, you have no idea how to connect the two,” Barbu explained to Science Daily. “We don’t give the system the meaning for the sentence. We say, ‘There’s a sentence and a video. The sentence has to be true of the video. Figure out some intermediate representation that makes it true of the video.'”

“Children interact with the environment as they’re learning. Our idea is to have a model that would also use perception to learn,” says co-author Candace Ross.

 

 

Global Language Games Worth $2.5 Billion By 2026

According to a new report by Zion Market Research, the global language learning games market, which was valued at about $377 million last year, is expected to be worth $2.45 billion by 2026.

The report’s full title is “Language Learning Games Market By Type (Multiple Language Choices and One Language Choice), By Language Type (English, German, French, Chinese, Japanese, Spanish, and Others), By Deployment (On-premise and Cloud-Based), By Application (Academic Learning, Corporate Learning, and Distance Learning), and By End-User (Kids and Adults): Global Industry Perspective, Comprehensive Analysis, And Forecast, 2018 – 2026.”

According to the report, “Growing use of smartphones by the people belonging to all age groups is expected to drive the global language learning games market growth. Prominent factors such as decreasing price of mobile data and availability of the free internet facility through Wi-Fi in many areas are increasing the number of internet users across the globe. Additionally, the rapid expansion of 3G and 4G coverage is further anticipated to boost smartphone sales across the world. Development of new teaching methodology is predicted to further propel the demand for language learning games across the globe. Moreover, increasing number of language learning game startups is anticipated to escalate the global language learning games market growth. There has been an increase in the number of start-ups entering in language learning platforms, attracting a new group of language learners globally. However, the high cost of implementation of language learning games in schools is restraining the language learning games market progression.”

Language learning games market is divided on the basis of type, language type, application, end-user, and region. On the basis of type, the market is divided into multiple language choices and one language choice. Language type segment includes English, German, French, Mandarin, Japanese, Spanish, and others. Deployment segment includes on-premise and cloud-based. Application wise, the market is divided into academic learning, corporate learning, and distance learning. Among applications, academic learning segment held the largest market share of around 51% in 2017. The end-user segment includes kids and adults. Kids segment is the fastest growing segment in the global language learning games market.

In 2017, North America held the largest share of around 22.23% in overall language learning games market due to the presence of major market players in the U.S. There are many companies trying to expand their business in the U.S., including Duolingo, MindSnacks, GeekSLP, and JumpStart Games, Inc. These companies have different features in their gaming platform to help speed up learning. A recent study revealed that, 91% of children in the U.S. from the age group between 2 to 17 play video games. Therefore, schools are using learning games to drive deeper engagement with their students in the classroom.

Europe region has moderate growth in the global language learning games market. According to the recent study conducted by Eurostat, 96% of students in the European Union learned the English language in upper secondary education and around 60% of students in EU learned two or more foreign languages in upper secondary education in 2015. Schools and other educational institutions in the European Union provide a significant opportunity for the majority of people to learn languages, by providing advanced methods of learning regional as wells as a foreign language. Presently there are 24 official languages recognized in the European Union.

Asia Pacific language learning games market is expected to register a considerable growth over the coming years, owing to the increasing adoption of smartphones in the educational sector. According to the eMarketers, there are approximately 1.25 billion smartphone users in Asia Pacific region.

Reduction in the smartphone costs along with its easy availability is likely to open new horizons of growth for smartphone industry. This, in turn, is projected to favorably influence the language learning games market trends in the years ahead.

A free brochure based on the report is available at: https://www.zionmarketresearch.com/requestbrochure/language-learning-games-market

 

 

AB 2514 Dual Language Programs Grant Program Passes in California

AB 2514 Pupil Instruction: Dual Language Grant Program was moved to passed in the state Assembly. The bill has officially been moved to ‘enrolling’ status, meaning that it has passed and been signed by legislature, and only waits to be signed by the President. The grant program, called the Pathways to Success Grant Program, comes at the tail of Proposition 58, which was voted overwhelmingly at 73.5 percent of California voters, and calls for multilingual opportunities for all pupils and eliminates restrictions on instructing English learners and English-only classrooms. The grant program allows funding for these dual language schools that were made possible by Proposition 58.

The Pathways to Success Grant Program aims to provide students from preschool to high school developmental bilingual programs for English learners, dual language immersion programs, or early learning dual language programs that are consistent with the English Learner Roadmap

The purpose of the Pathways to Success Grant Program is to grow capacity for high-quality dual language learning by doing all of the following:

Establishing dual language immersion programs or developmental bilingual programs for English learners for pupils in elementary and secondary schools.

Establishing early learning dual language learners programs in state preschools operated by school districts and charter schools.

Expanding existing dual language immersion programs or developmental bilingual programs for English learners to new school sites.

Providing professional development modules to school districts, schools, county offices of education, or a consortium of these entities, with evidence-based, demonstrated professional development techniques on how to design and implement new, or to expand existing, dual language immersion programs or developmental bilingual programs for English learners and early learning dual language learners programs.

The Pathways to Success Grant Program will be a three-year grant program starting September 1, 2019. The department will grant a minimum of 10 one-time grants of up to $300,000 per grant for schools, districts and bilingual teacher programs.

Grant recipients will be allowed to use the grant for any of the following purposes:

School administrator, teacher, and staff training specific to the implementation and maintenance of a dual language immersion program, developmental bilingual program for English learners, or early learning dual language learners program.

Recruitment of bilingual preschool, elementary, and secondary school teachers and paraeducators.

Professional development for teachers after the initial establishment of the program.

Ongoing outreach to families of pupils, including strategies for family engagement.

Establishment and support of language learning professional learning communities for teachers.

Instructional coaches with demonstrated expertise and experience in implementing a dual language immersion program, developmental bilingual program for English learners, or early learning dual language learners program.

Standards-based instructional materials in target languages for proposed dual language immersion programs, developmental bilingual programs for English learners, or early learning dual language learners programs.

The grant gives resources for multilingualism and biliteracy to make the dual language dream of Proposition 58 a reality. “As our state becomes more diverse, the need to teach dual language immersion programs increases,” Thurmond said. “Almost a quarter of our public school students are English Learners. Pupils that are enrolled in dual language programs have positive outcomes. They perform better academically, gain more confidence, and possess greater cultural awareness.” The California Association for Bilingual Education and Californians Together were the co-sponsors of this bill. The California School Boards Association, California Language Teachers Association, and the AVID Center are also in support of this bill.

Codeswitching Easier to Turn On

Research into the neurological activity required to switch between languages is providing new insights into the nature of bilingualism.

“A remarkable feature of multilingual individuals is their ability to quickly and accurately switch back and forth between their different languages,” explains Esti Blanco-Elorrieta, a New York University doctoral candidate and the lead author of the study, which appears in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. “Our findings help pinpoint what occurs in the brain in this process—specifically, what neural activity is exclusively associated with disengaging from one language and then engaging with a new one.”
“Specifically, this research unveils for the first time that while disengaging from one language requires some cognitive effort, activating a new language comes relatively cost-free from a neurobiological standpoint,” notes senior author Liina Pylkkänen, a professor in NYU’s Department of Linguistics and Department of Psychology.

Previous research has linked language switching with increased activity in areas associated with cognitive control (i.e., the prefrontal and anterior cingulate cortices). However, it was unknown whether it is disengaging from the previous language or engaging in the new language that drives this activity. This is largely because these two processes happen simultaneously when those who speak two languages switch from one to the other (i.e., when participants switch from speaking Spanish to speaking English, turning Spanish “off” and turning English “on” happen at the same time).

To untangle this dynamic, bilingual individuals fluent in English and American Sign Language (ASL) were studied. “The fact that they can do both at the same time offers a unique opportunity to disentangle engagement and disengagement processes—that is, how they turn languages on and off,” observes Blanco-Elorrieta.

Specifically, this meant the researchers could ask the participants to go from producing both languages to producing only one (thus isolating the process of turning a language off) or to switch from producing a single language to producing both (thus isolating the process of turning a language on). To capture this process, the scientists observed bilingual signers/speakers who viewed the same pictures and named them with semantically identical expressions. In order to gauge the study subjects’ brain activity during this experiment, the researchers deployed magnetoencephalography (MEG), a technique that maps neural activity by recording magnetic fields generated by the electrical currents produced by the brain.

The results showed that when bilinguals fluent in ASL and English switched languages, turning a language off led to increased activity in cognitive control areas, while turning a language on was no different than not switching.

In other words, the brain’s work was devoted to turning off a language, with little to no cognitive effort required in turning on a second language—regardless of whether it was spoken or signed language.

In fact, they also found that for such speakers, producing two words simultaneously (one sign and one spoken word) was not necessarily more cognitively costly than producing only one. Rather, producing both at the same time was easier than having to suppress the dominant language (in this case English) in order to name the picture on the screen only in ASL.

“In all, these results suggest that the burden of language switching lies in disengagement from the previous language as opposed to engaging a new language,” says Blanco-Elorrieta.

Bill in Congress Aims to Help ELL Teacher Shortage

The Reaching English Learners Act has been introduced in Congress in hopes of creating a solution to the national shortage of ELL teachers. The act would create a grant program under Title II of the Higher Education Act.
The grants will be awarded on a competitive basis to eligible teachers. The grants aim to ensure that teachers possess the knowledge necessary to effectively instruct English learners.
The grants will be awarded for up to five years and do the following:

develop or strengthen an undergraduate, postbaccalaureate, or master’s teacher preparation program by integrating strategies for teaching English learners into the education curriculum and academic content;
provide teacher candidates participating in a program with skills related to helping English learners achieve high levels in kindergarten, elementary schools and secondary schools;
help ELLs achieve English proficiency;
aid teachers in appropriately identifying and meeting the specific learning needs of children with disabilities who are English learners;
aid teachers in recognizing and addressing the social and emotional needs of English learners;
provide funds for teachers to promote parental, family, and community engagement in educational programs that serve English learners;
provide work-based learning opportunities for teacher candidates participating in the program;
provide teacher candidates with the required coursework to qualify for an English-as-a second-language endorsement or initial teaching credential
With at least 32 states in the U.S. suffering from ELL teaching shortages, the doors the grant would open could help struggling school districts find qualified bilingual teachers.

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