EDUCATIONAL NEUROSCIENCE FOR SECOND LANGUAGE CLASSROOMS

Abstract

Today’s classrooms, including second language classrooms, are created to be more engaging, effective and empowering for learners to develop their knowledge, interests and experiences. One effort is to consider how the brain learns in the classroom; what the brain is able to do, and what is not. Educational neuroscience is a transdisciplinary convergence of neurosciences to translate neuroscience research into classroom practice, including how a second language is learned. Therefore, every teacher, including second language teachers should know about neuroscience. Educational neuroscience is a wide field which still remains open for further investigation. Exploring the latest findings from neuroscience research, this paper proposes seven second language classroom principles. The principles are developed mostly based on research on declarative memory, instead of universal grammar, which is developed based on mentalistic philosophy.