Neurolinguistics: how a bilingual brain learns words

Authors

  • Haydee Carrasco Ortiz Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro
  • Flora Beatriz Hernández Carrillo Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.22201/codeic.16076079e.2020.v21n3.a6

Keywords:

neurolinguistics, second language teaching, cerebral neuroimaging, bilingualism

Abstract

Second language word learning is an extremely complex and fascinating mental process that can help us to understand how our brain incorporates new words into its lexicon. In general, neurolinguistics seeks to reveal the mental processes associated with learning and processing of a linguistic stimulus. One of the fundamental issues addressed in bilingual studies, under the neurolinguistic approach, is to determine how the bilingual brain stores and retrieves information related to words in each of its two languages. Specifically, how do we activate word meaning in both languages? Or how does our brain take a word and divide it (or not) into its different orthographic components? In this article we review the main findings regarding these questions as well as evidence of how the bilingual brain represents and organizes words in each of its two languages. Finally, we discuss some implications for the educational field.

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Author Biographies

Haydee Carrasco Ortiz, Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro

Docente-investigadora en la Facultad de Lenguas y Letras de la Universidad Autónoma de Querétaro. Realizó estudios de licenciatura en Psicología en la UNAM. Obtuvo su maestría y doctorado en Psicología Cognitiva en la Universidad Aix-Marsella, Francia y realizó estudios de postdoctorado en la Universidad de Tufts y en el Departamento de Brain and Cognitive Sciences en MIT (Instituto Tecnológico de Massachusetts) en Estados Unidos. Sus áreas de interés son la neurolingüística y el bilingüismo. Específicamente, se interesa en los mecanismos cerebrales y cognitivos involucrados en la comprensión de lenguaje y en el reconocimiento visual de palabras tanto de la lengua materna como de la segunda lengua.

Flora Beatriz Hernández Carrillo, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Doctorante en psicología educativa y del desarrollo (Facultad de Psicología, UNAM). Investigadora del proyecto “Aprendiendo Juntos” (https://bit.ly/2M39ZBb) y co-autora del capítulo Dialogical Interactions among peers in collaborative writing contexts. Ha trabajado en el sector educativo y empresarial desde hace 13 años. Investigadora en tópicos de psicopedagogía, desarrollo profesional e interacción sectores educativo-productivo. Actualmente, Coordinadora de Investigación Traslacional en Educación de la CODEIC, UNAM (http://www.codeic.unam.mx/).

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Published

2020-05-26

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 3 (2020): De certezas e incertidumbres. La tecnología como una manera de crear y transformar la educación y la sociedad

Section

Varietas

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