Neuroscience and Second Language Acquisition

Second-language (L2) learning seems to be a gradual process in which the learner absorbs more and more information about the L2 and, as a consequence, gradually gets better at producing and understanding it.  Our recent research suggests that L2 learning is a lot more interesting than that. In our lab, we record learners’ electrical brain activity over time, as they progress through introductory L2 classes. In our typical experiment we ask the learners to do nothing more than read L2 words or sentences for comprehension. I will describe studies showing that after just ~14 hours of French instruction, learners do no better than chance when deciding which word-like letter strings are actual French words; amazingly, however, the learners’ brains do this very well. At the same time, other seemingly simple aspects of the L2 turn out to be very difficult for the learner’s brain to learn. I will also describe neurobiological evidence that learners progress through distinct stages of learning, even when those stages are not at all obvious in the learners’ overt behavior.  I will conclude by suggesting that measurement of brain activity provides a much richer sense of L2 learning, with respect to exactly what has been learned, when it is learned, and what is resistant to learning.