Neurobiological signatures of L2 proficiency: Evidence from a bi-directional cross-linguistic study

Publication date: Available online 12 November 2018Source: Journal of NeurolinguisticsAuthor(s): Henry Brice, William Einar Mencl, Stephen J. Frost, Atira Sara Bick, Jay G. Rueckl, Kenneth R. Pugh, Ram FrostAbstractRecent evidence has shown that convergence of print and speech processing across a network of primarily left-hemisphere regions of the brain is a predictor of future reading skills in children, and a marker of fluent reading ability in adults. The present study extends these findings into the domain of second-language (L2) literacy, through brain imaging data of English and Hebrew L2 learners. Participants received an fMRI brain scan, while performing a semantic judgement task on spoken and written words and pseudowords in both their L1 and L2, alongside a battery of L1 and L2 behavioural measures. Imaging results show, overall, a similar network of activation for reading across the two languages, alongside significant convergence of print and speech processing across a network of left-hemisphere regions in both L1 and L2 and in both cohorts. Importantly, convergence is greater for L1 in occipito-temporal regions tied to automatic skilled reading processes including the visual word-form area, but greater for L2 in frontal regions of the reading network, tied to more effortful, active processing. The main groupwise brain effects tell a similar story, with greater L2 than L1 activation across frontal, temporal and parietal regions, but greater L1 than L2 activation i...
Source: Journal of Neurolinguistics - Category: Speech-Language Pathology Source Type: research