A good working memory is possibly the brain's most important system when it comes to learning a new language. Memory now appears to be first and foremost determined by our genes. This was tested on approximately one hundred 10 year old elementary students in Norway by Mila Vulchanova, a professor at NTNU's Department of Modern Foreign Languages. "Our results show a clear statistical correlation between a high level of language competence and a good working memory in the students we tested," she says. The 10 year olds came from both rural schooling and urban schooling, but all had Norwegian as their first language. They were tested on their Norwegian and English language skills as well as working memory skills. All tests were administered orally to prevent affected test results from the variation of literacy skills.
These results contradict some conventional assumptions that children acquire languages regardless of cogitive abilities, like perception, spatial understanding, and working memory. Memory affects the ability to gather information like new words or grammatical concepts and put it together. Also, Vulchanova found that competence in one's native tongue correlates highly with skills in a foreign language. There is a link between language development and the capacity of our working memory.
NOS Themes:
- science is based on evidence
- science is subject to debate
- role of motivation
As you mentioned, "A good working memory is possibly the brain's most important system", I believe that is true too. Exercising our brain is very helpful for our brain to be stimulated and to be able to grow. They say that learning new languages when you are older is more difficult because areas in your brain is less active. As in younger children are able to learn it easier because their brains are still growing and developing.
ReplyDeletehttp://jackxsitepro.com/brain/Why-Learning-a-New-Language-is-a-Great-Way-to-make-your-Brain-Healthier.html
In a different article, researchers had found that bilingual children had a greater ability to control their behavior and focus their attention to a further degree then compared to a person who speaks one language. They also found that bilingual people were greater at recognizing if another being was capable of speaking more than one language by watching the speakers mouth. Their study also showed that they had a better understanding of what the other person was trying to communicate then compared to a person who spoke a single language.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120928125300.htm