Cognitive Neural Mechanism in Second Language Learning

Cognitive Benefits of Bilingualism/Second Language Learning

Neural signatures of second language learning and control.

Experience with multiple languages has unique effects on cortical structure and information processing. Differences in gray matter density and patterns of cortical activation are observed in lifelong bilinguals compared to monolinguals as a result of their experience managing interference across languages. Monolinguals who acquire a second language later in life begin to encounter the same type...

Mnemotechnics in Second-Language Learning

For some time I have been involved in efforts to develop computer-controlled systems for instruction. One such effort has been a computer-assistedinstruction (CAI) program for teaching reading in the primary grades (Atkinson, 1974) and another for teaching computer science at the college level (Atkinson, in press). The goal has been to use psychological theory to devise optimal instructional pr...

Learning in Second-Language Searching

In this paper we describe learning that happens when searchers look for information in a foreign language. A strong disparity exists between the language distribution of Web content and the representation of speakers of different languages among Web users. The proportion of Web content available in English is much larger than the proportion of native-English-speaking Web users. This disparity o...

Learning a Second Language

We present a system, called IMMIGRANT, which learns rules about the grammar of a second language from instructions. We explore the implications of this task on the representation of linguistic knowledge in a natural language understanding system. We conclude that the internal representation of linguistic knowledge used in IMMIGRANT, which is unification-based, is more amenable to language learn...