Lera Boroditsky, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Stanford University, has done extensive work in the field of cognitive linguistics. She focuses on the interactions between language, perception and cognition.

Professor Boroditsky’s research has provided insight into the question of whether or not languages shape the way we think. She has discovered what is referred to as “cross-linguistic difference” in thought and perception in speakers of different languages.

The controversial questions raised above have been under debate for a number of years but up to recently, very little empirical evidence has been carried out. However, research carried out by Stanford University and MIT has demonstrated that people who speak different languages do perceive the world differently.

For example, in the case of languages where gender player a role (for example, Spanish, German, French) when asked to describe objects research showed that adjective use differed depending on the gender in the language in question. In one study, Boroditsky and her team asked German and Spanish speakers to describe objects which had opposite genders in the two languages. For example, the word “key” (masculine in German and feminine in Spanish) was described as “hard”, “heavy”, “metal”, “useful” by Germans whereas Spaniards used adjectives like “intricate”, “little”, “lovely”, “shiny”, “golden”. This pattern was observed with other sets of words even when testing was carried out in English.

The way people perceive time also differs between languages. In English, for example, time is usually seen as being horizontal and there tends to be a use of phrases such as “Good times lie ahead” and “The problems are behind us now”. On the other hand, Mandarin speakers use vertical metaphors for time, for example, next month is the “down month” and the last month is the “up month”.

Boroditsky points out that in order to use their language properly speakers of different languages must attend to and encode different aspects of the world.

Those who believe in the idea of these cross-linguistic differences point out that learning a language goes beyond simply learning vocabulary and structures but also implies paying attention to the right things in the world to include correct information in what you say.

What do you think?

Source:

http://www.edge.org/3rd_culture/boroditsky09/boroditsky09_index.html

Thanks to Marco Ferreira and Henrick Oprea for the link to this article:

http://www.stanfordalumni.org/news/magazine/2010/mayjun/features/boroditsky.html

http://www-psych.stanford.edu/~lera/papers/mandarin.pdf

Image: Flickr (Scarygami)

Language Support in CLIL Classes

When teaching content areas in English it is important to keep in mind that students will need a lot of language support in order to learn the subject matter being presented. Teachers need to anticipate language barriers that come up in class and be prepared to deal with them.

Reading Support

Before doing a reading text in class and in order to give students support, teacher can:

• check that they understand key vocabulary before reading the text
• provide pre-reading questions
• when possible, provide students with charts to fill in, spider diagrams, illustrations to label, etc.

Writing Support

There are a number of techniques that can be used to offer support to students when developing writing skills. Teachers can provide:

• glossaries or vocabulary lists
• outlines or writing frames
• sentence stems or ‘sentence machines’.

Listening Support

Teachers should also be aware that students might struggle when carrying out listening tasks on content area material. In order to help them, teachers can:

• pre-teach key vocabulary before doing the listening task
• provide visual support to aid understanding
• listen to the audio script bit by bit
• carry out pre-listening activities.

Speaking Support

It is important for students to be able to communicate in L2. Teachers can provide support during speaking activities by:

• prompting students when they are struggling
• providing students with useful phrases and vocabulary
• allowing some responses (or partial responses) in L1 if needed
• providing model dialogues or sentence stems.

When teaching content areas in L1 it is not as vital to anticipate language demands as it is when teaching in L2. Language support when carrying out CLIL programmes is extremely important as it provides students with the tools they need to understand the subject being taught.

Source: Based on ideas from John Clegg’s article: Planning CLIL Lessons

Image: Flickr (Ols Shoe Woman)

The Bilingual Learning Blog team wishes you all the best for the summer holidays! Don’t forget us while you are relaxing by the seaside… we’ll still be uploading weekly activities throughout the summer.

Now that you have some free time, feel free to let us know what you’d like to see in the upcoming months!

Enjoy the holidays!

Image: CNICE

A new study published in the Journal of Neurophysiology shows a clearer picture of how our brains produce and understand language. Neuroscientists have been aware for some time that certain regions of the brain are associated with language but, up to now, have found it difficult to use brain imagining technology to figure out what ‘language areas’ do.

The recently published study is based on research with patients who developed specific language difficulties following brain injuries. This led researchers to suggest that different aspects of language are processed in different parts of the brain.

Nancy Kanwisher who works in the Brain Research Department at MIT claims, “Some regions of the brain thought to be involved in language are also geographically close to regions that support other cognitive processes like music, arithmetic, or general working memory. By spatially averaging brain data across subjects you may see an activation ‘blob’ that looks like it supports both language and, say, arithmetic.” In this way, it’s tough to isolate where language ‘processing’ takes place.

According to Fedorenko, the only way to get around this problem is to define “regions of interest” in each subject and then investigate those regions by examining individual responses to a variety of new tasks.

The new, more sensitive and individualised method they are using allow researchers to investigate questions of specific functions between language and other cognitive functions and also allow for a means to investigate different aspects of language. As Fedorenko points out, “Understanding the relationship between language and the rest of condition is one of key questions in cognitive neuroscience.”

Source: http://www.physorg.com/news192218845.html

More information: Fedorenko E, Hsieh P, Nieto-Castañón A, Whitfield-Gabrieli S, Kanwisher N. A new method for fMRI investigations of language: defining ROIs functionally in individual subjects. J Neurophysiol (April 21, 2010).

Thanks to Teresa Gerdes for posting this article on Facebook.

Image: Flickr (Miracle Moms)

Two teachers from ‘Corazon de Maria’ in Zamora have written a textbook for the Physical Education section at bilingual schools.

An increasing number of schools are opting to teach part of their Physical Education curriculum through English. As of next year, a number of pupils throughout Spain will use a textbook created by two teachers from Zamora on this subject.

Estela Celador and Asier Perez who teach at Corazon de Maria School are the authors of this material that has been published by Edelvives. This project is based on clear, practical, age-appropriate ideas which tie in with the Spanish curriculum.

The authors compared the experience of writing the book to bearing a child. Nine months of e-mails, meetings, touch ups, changes and brainstorming ideas. They refer to the project as their ‘child’ and, even though it was a lot of work and effort, they feel it was well worth it. Estela Celador explained that the project had to be produced quickly because bilingual education is rapidly increasing and publishers need to get new material out as soon as possible.

Up to now, there has been very little material for Physical Education teachers but, as we can see, things are changing for the better. As Asier Pérez points out, “This is a book we would have like to have when we were at school”. The motivating methodology of the books appeals to children and the activities and suggestions are based on tasks carried out in class over the last couple of years.

The authors have placed special emphasis lightening teachers’ work loads while helping pupils learn more at the same time. The book also comes with CD that includes musical activities and different rhythms. Some of the song lyrics were written by the authors of the series. On top of this, there is a glossary, a list of materials for each lesson and suggested games for each lesson. The project is very visual and lots of fun. The idea is that pupils learn while enjoying themselves…no doubt they will!!

Source:

http://www.laopiniondezamora.es/zamora/2010/04/24/trabajo-sobresaliente/430760.html