PRACTICAL ASSIGNMENT 2

On the basis of the readings assigned for Unit 2, do the following activities.

PA2: ACTIVITY 1

Consider the chapter What Is Neurolinguistics (Ahlsn, 2006) and the video La
neurolingstica segn Lamb: Un video-reportaje a modo de introduccin (Garca, 2011). Then
tick the option that BEST COMPLETES each of the phrases below:

(a) Neurolinguistics is

A linguistic theory proposing that languages

determine how our brains are genetically structured.

An interdisciplinary science dealing with how the

brain represents and processes human languages.
A field of study that uses language to stimulate
brain-damaged patients.

(b) The main sources of evidence for neurolinguistics are

Patients with brain damage, neuroimaging studies,

and computer simulations.
Patients with brain damage, dictionaries, and
computer experiments.

Patients with brain damage, psychological

constructs, linguistic theories.

(c) Aphasia could be defined as

A psychological trauma leaving patients deaf and

numb.

A symptom of people with genetically-determined

difficulties to acquire languages.

An acquired neurological disorder in which a brain

lesion impairs a given system of language.

PA2: ACTIVITY 2
Consider the chapter Key concepts, framework, and clarifications (Paradis, 2009a) and link
each MODE OF APPROPRIATION (LEARNING, ACQUISITION) with its associated feature in each set
from the middle column.
PA2: ACTIVITY 3

Consider the paper Neurolinguistic Aspects of Bilingualism (Goral et al., 2006) and,
optionally, the chapter on neuroimaging techniques included in the Appendixes section (Rodden
& Stemmer, 2008).

(a) Which of the following techniques would be more adequate if you want to design a
neuroscientific experiment to determine WHICH PART OF THE BRAIN is involved in the
representation of L2 vocabulary?

functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging (fMRI).

Evoked-Response Potentials (ERPs).

(b) Which of the following techniques would be more adequate if you want to design a
neuroscientific experiment to compare the SPEED with which students access their mental
lexicon in L1 and L2?

Evoked-Response Potentials (ERPs).

Cortical Stimulation.
PA2: ACTIVITY 4

(a) Summarize the main claims set forth in Bilingismo: Mito y realidad (Gmez-Ruiz, 2010)
IN NO MORE THAN 300 WORDS.

The study of the relationship between bilingualism and brain has questioned
whether the neuroanatomical representation of two languages spoken in the same brain is
similar or different. The answer to this question has generated erroneous interpretations,
so this paper try to distinguish between myth or reality of the following statements:
Myth 1 Bilinguals brain is different from monolinguals: First of all, it could
be ensured that there are no qualitative but quantitative differences in the brain
organization of language in monolinguals and bilinguals. This is due to the degree
of participation of different neurophysiologic mechanisms in the usage of language,
including both the meta-linguistic knowledge and the implicit linguistic
competence.
Myth 2 - Bilinguals use the right hemisphere more than monolinguals: On the
one hand, the results of these studies are contradictory and inconsistent, as from the
same sample, a group of researchers found evidence for a different lateralization,
and others didnt. On the other hand, as far as injuries in the right hemisphere lead
to the appearance of disorders in the communicative or pragmatic competence, they
do not need to be dissimilar in monolinguals and bilinguals.
Alternatives to this view are found in the neurophysiological approach and the role
that declarative and procedural memory systems have in the representation and
processing of language. However, these hypotheses cannot explain all the cases of
non-parallel recovery.
In conclusion, bilingual or multilingual people do not have neither different brain
areas for each language, nor unique brain regions. Similarly, cognitive functions
traditionally associated with each cerebral hemisphere are the same in all individuals.
Paradis argues that there is no reason to believe that there are qualitative differences in
processing two or more languages, either between monolinguals and bilinguals, or
between different types of bilinguals. The differences are more quantitative, depending on
the usage of different brain mechanisms involved in the processing of verbal
communication. Consequently, the neuroanatomical system is not enough to explain such
a complex activity as language is.
(b) IN NO MORE THAN 300 WORDS, propose one possible pedagogical implication of the findings
presented in Gmez-Ruiz (2010) for the teacher of English as a foreign language.

Cortical stimulation, introduced in the 1950s, may be considered one of the

According to Paradis, declarative and procedural systems of memory are
involved in learning, representation and use of language in different
ways. This model argues that the declarative memory system is
associated with the lexicon and grammar rules learnt at school
(metalinguistic knowledge). A teacher of English could make students do
exercises using the grammar taught. However, the procedural memory
system would be important for the automatic application of these
grammar rules when speaking (implicit linguistic competence). In this
case, the strategy applied by the teacher would be role-play activities. In
bilingual, learning and using the grammar of L1 depend on the procedural
memory, while memorizing and using vocabulary would depend on the
declarative memory. In the case of an L2, the different participation of
one system or another depends on the age of acquisition. Therefore, the
teacher would use suitable vocabulary lists according to students
knowledge and age. While the ability to increase the vocabulary is
maintained over the years, the grammar of an L2 becomes more
independent on the declarative memory system, since it must be stored
and applied consciously while talking. That is to say, the weaker language
skills in L2 are, the more the student will rely on metalinguistic
knowledge and the pragmatic aspects of language in order to control the
production and interpretation of a statement.
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