Search

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) has the potential to help language learners; however, it has received scant attention. Collingwood (2001), NLP is a technique to investigate the relationship between how our mind works (Neuro), how we communicant verbally and nonverbally (linguistic), and our patterns of behavior and feeling(program). The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of NLP techniques on the writing ability of English as a Foreign Language. To achieve this goal, two intact classes of students were selected to form an experimental group (n=15) and a control group (n=15). A writing ability pre-test (based on the course content) was given to all participants. The participants in the experimental group were familiarized with NLP techniques to be able to implement these techniques in their writing. In the control group, the conventional approach to teaching was used. Comparing the results of the post-test results through ANCOVA, it was found that implementation of NLP techniques can significantly affect EFL learners' writing ability. Therefore, NLP can improve writing ability by improving various processes such as communication and information processing. Teachers, trainers and syllabus design can use it.

Concrete symbols (e.g., "sun," "run") can be learned in the context of objects and actions, thereby grounding their meaning in the world. However, it is controversial whether a comparable avenue to semantic learning exists for abstract symbols (e.g., "democracy"). When we simulated the putative brain mechanisms of conceptual/semantic grounding using brain-constrained deep neural networks, the learning of instances of concrete concepts outside of language contexts led to robust neural circuits generating substantial and prolonged activations. In contrast, the learning of instances of abstract concepts yielded much reduced and only short-lived activity. Crucially, when conceptual instances were learned in the context of wordforms, circuit activations became robust and long-lasting for both concrete and abstract meanings. These results indicate that, although the neural correlates of concrete conceptual representations can be built from grounding experiences alone, abstract concept formation at the neurobiological level is enabled by and requires the correlated presence of linguistic forms.

This study investigated the impact of home literacy environment (HLE) on the acquisition of English as a second language (L2) and reading skills in Chinese-speaking kindergarten children. The sample was 354 kindergarten children (mean age: 60.37 months, SD = 7.25; 186 boys, 52.5%) in Hong Kong, China. Mothers completed a questionnaire measuring family socioeconomic status (SES), parent-directed HLE, and child-initiated HLE in learning English. Children were assessed on their English language and reading skills: phonological awareness, letter knowledge, vocabulary, word reading, and rapid naming. After the role of family SES was controlled, child-initiated HLE instead of parent-directed HLE was found to uniquely predict phonological awareness, letter knowledge, and rapid naming, which jointly contributed to English word reading. Family SES was also a significant correlate of cognitive-linguistic skills and English language skills. The findings highlighted the importance of child-initiated HLE in promoting children's English language learning as L2.

The present study is an attempt to examine the applicability of NLP techniques in English Language Teaching (ELT), an under-investigated topic in the literature on EFL contexts. The researcher also attempts to examine the extent to which Iranian EFL instructors in language schools implement NLP techniques in their classrooms. In an effort to achieve the research aims, a sixteen-hour NLP training workshop for 20 conveniently chosen inservice EFL instructors was designed and held by the author. The workshop aimed at helping the participants to achieve a working knowledge of the concept of NLP. Prior to conducting the workshop, in order to gain a better understanding of the participants' needs and the benefits of the implementation of the training program in teachers' instructional practices, 60 class sessions of the 20 teachers were observed using a researcher-made observation checklist. To identify any changes in the teachers' pedagogical skills and to assess any perceived learning outcomes from participating in the workshop, the researcher repeated the observations almost seven months after the last session of the workshop. Subsequently, in-depth semi-structured interviews were carried out to explore the teachers' perceptions of the topic under investigation. According to the findings of the thematic analysis, almost all the EFL teachers used NLP techniques to varying degrees in their language classes. The results of this study, provided at the end of the article, offer some valuable suggestions for different stakeholders in the field.

This paper aims to discuss old and contemporary perspectives in understanding language acquisition taking into account the neural theory of language. Discussing a recent theory by Kuhl (2010), neural substrates of first language learning will be put forward (Berwick et al., 2013). Neural substrates of phonetic learning, word learning, sentence processing, and syntax development are separately discussed. As a novel window to look into language learning in a greater detail, second language learning in relation to the theories of language acquisition is further discussed. Second language learning and dual vs. single coding structure relating to language acquisition are discussed in relation to the theories that have previously been explained. Finally, a discussion of contemporary issues in understanding both first and second language acquisition in relation to bilingualism is presented. In sum, investigating language acquisition requires a multi-disciplinary approach taking psychology, linguistics, and cognitive neuroscience of language into account is necessary.

The traditional linear regression in applied linguistics (AL) suffers from the drawbacks arising from the strict assumptions namely: linearity, and normality, etc. More advanced methods are needed to overcome the shortcomings of the traditional method and grapple with intricate linguistic problems. However, there is no previous review on the applications of machine learning (ML) in AL, the introduction of interpretable ML, and related practical software. This paper addresses these gaps by reviewing the representative algorithms of ML in AL. The result shows that ML is applicable in AL and enjoys a promising future. It goes further to discuss the applications of interpretable ML for reporting the results in AL. Finally, it ends with the recommendations of the practical programming languages, software, and platforms to implement ML for researchers in AL to foster the interdisciplinary studies between AL and ML.

How do early bilingual experiences influence children's neural architecture for word processing? Dual language acquisition can yield common influences that may be shared across different bilingual groups, as well as language-specific influences stemming from a given language pairing. To investigate these effects, we examined bilingual English speakers of Chinese or Spanish, and English monolinguals, all raised in the US (N = 152, ages 5-10). Children completed an English morphological word processing task during fNIRS neuroimaging. The findings revealed both language-specific and shared bilingual effects. The language-specific effects were that Chinese and Spanish bilinguals showed principled differences in their neural organization for English lexical morphology. The common bilingual effects shared by the two groups were that in both bilingual groups, increased home language proficiency was associated with stronger left superior temporal gyrus (STG) activation when processing the English word structures that are most dissimilar from the home language. The findings inform theories of language and brain development during the key periods of neural reorganization for learning to read by illuminating experience-based plasticity in linguistically diverse learners.

Studies on predicative metaphors like "The rumor flew through the office" have not received due attention until recently. Through a behavioural experiment, this study investigates the cognitive mechanisms as well as the effects of familiarity on Chinese EFL learners' comprehension of English predicative metaphors, adopting a two factors within-subject design: 2 (degree of familiarity: high-familiarity, low-familiarity) x 3 (priming condition: matching priming condition (MP), mismatching priming condition (MMP) and, no priming condition (NP)). Forty-five third-year Chinese undergraduate students participated in the experiment by completing a metaphor semantic comprehension test. Their reaction times (RTs) and accuracy rate of comprehension were recorded and a two-way ANOVA analysis of the results reveals that: Embodied simulation mechanism plays an important role in English predicative metaphor processing, especially when the metaphors being processed are unfamiliar. Yet its role diminishes when the metaphors being processed are highly familiar, which encourages the use of the language processing mechanism. To conclude, Chinese EFL learners make use of either the embodied simulation mechanism or the language processing mechanism in comprehending predicative metaphors, depending on their varying degrees of familiarity. These findings shed light on predicative metaphor instruction in L2 English teaching.

Introduction and theme actuality: this study is part of a larger work, which involves increasing sporting performance by applying mental training techniques, special techniques of neurolinguistic programming (NLP). Purpose of study and hypothesis: if ideomotor representations of athletes are completed with multiple sensations of all sensory sub-modalities such as visual, auditory, kinaesthetic, olfactory and gustatory, the possibility of applying the techniques of NLP will have more effective results. We have studied the relationship between sensory sub-modalities, in accordance with the Bandler and Thomson (2012) and application of Jacobson (2011). Methods and material: two records were made by using two tests, test 1 and test 2, on master students of the 'Babes-Bolyai' University Cluj-Napoca, from the Faculty of Physical Education and Sport. The statistical indicators were calculated on elements of descriptive statistics and the data are presented using indicators of centrality, location and distribution. Statistical analysis of the non-parametric Wilcoxon test was used for sample pairs. Discussions and findings: to pinpoint the correlation between the two variables, we used the Spearman rank correlation coefficient (?). Statistical analysis was performed using the correlation coefficients of Colton's rule. No statistically significant differences were found (p > 0.05) in the statistical analysis because of the short timeframe, but there are many good and very good correlations at both tests, between the values of the items studied. Conclusions and recommendations: we want to continue with this study because the time difference between T1 and T2 was 3 months and we want to extend this study to a minimum of 6 months. All sensory sub-modalities are particularly important in achieving ideomotor representations underlying mental training.

In this paper, we first introduce functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), followed by a review of three themes of neuroimaging research on the neural correlates of reading-related skills: (1) typical and struggling readers, including developmental dyslexics, (2) an inverted U-shaped function in second language reading that portrays an increased activation in the reading network during learning phases and a decrease in activation as participants were more familiar with the exercise, and (3) cognitive capacity and syntactic complexity. Our intent is to show that interdisciplinary work involving how language operates in the brain, including the neural basis of reading comprehension, can provide a deeper understanding of some of the mechanics, processes, and behavioral data associated with reading comprehension.

The purpose of this study was to explore whether or not Techniques of Change associated with Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP) could enhance engagement with learning for boys in the post-16 education setting. This was an action research case study that utilized a mixed methods approach. Participants were coached by a qualified NLP practitioner and used NLP workbooks to aid and enhance understanding of "Techniques of Change" associated with NLP. Participants also engaged with a pretest and posttest questionnaire and participated in semi-structured interviews. The study predominantly sits within the interpretivist paradigm. It is a single-site, multi-voice study. "Positions of Consensus" are presented in relation to Techniques of Change enhancing boys' engagement with learning. The outcome of this research provides some speculative evidence that Techniques of Change can enhance engagement with learning for Year 13 males. This study provides educationalists, managers, teachers and parents with an opportunity to consider how a specific form of coaching may encourage enhanced engagement and enriched learning outcomes for boys in post-16 education. This, in turn, may lead to greater positivity in their specific educational context and broader social interactions.

Fostering target language use in second language classrooms is a persistent challenge for teachers. A lack of specific guidelines in curriculum documents, inexperience with a wide variety of pedagogical approaches, and the tendency to default to English have been documented as reasons behind this challenge. Strategies from the neurolinguistic approach (NLA) show promise for fostering target language use in a variety of contexts in Canada and abroad. This study examined the use of NLA strategies in one German bilingual program in western Canada. The oral modelling sequence and literacy loop were implemented by six K-6 teachers during three sets of two intensive (German-only) weeks during a collaborative action research project over the course of one year. Nexus analysis served as a conceptual framework for analysis of interview data. Teachers reported that the strategies led to more structured, purposefully planned, collaborative learning opportunities. Students quickly picked up the NLA oral modelling sequence structure, which allowed teachers to promote meaningful communication. Teachers used the literacy loop to scaffold target language use in both oral and written modes. Teachers collaborated in planning and teaching in grade teams, with buddy classes, and as a German teaching team. These results suggest the applicability of these strategies for other dual-language programs to foster target language use.

Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) has potential to help language learners; however, it has received scant attention. The present study was an attempt to investigate the effect of NLP techniques on reading comprehension of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners at an English for Specific Purposes (ESP) course. To achieve this goal, two intact classes of students were selected to form an experimental group (n = 30) and a control group (n = 30). Areading pretest (based on the course content) was given to all participants. The sensory learning styles of the participants were diagnosed using Reid's (1987) leaning style questionnaire, and the participants in the experimental group were familiarized with NLP techniques to be able to implement these techniques in their reading. In the control group, the conventional approach to teach ESP reading was used. Considering the analysis of posttest results through ANCOVA, it was found that implementation of NLP techniques can have significant effect on reading comprehension of Iranian undergraduate EFL learners. Pedagogical implications are discussed.

A troublesome pronunciation issue for Spanish EFL learners is the past -ed ending of regular verbs. Neuro linguistic Programming (NLP) is a perspective integrating neurology, language and programming which are key for processing information and for responding to learners' styles with the potential to help EFL teachers address this pronunciation issue. This paper reports a study conducted in two subsequent terms with 43 students at a university language institute: two groups taught using standard pronunciation techniques and two using NLP techniques preceded by oral tasks in which they were encouraged to pronounce regular verbs in the past. Data collected included students self-recorded pronunciation tasks, a survey to elicit students' motivation and satisfaction and a teacher's log with insights about students' attitude and response to the strategy. Analysis of the data showed that after the first implementation, the NLP group improved their pronunciation a 30%, the standard one improved a 10%. During the second implementation, the NLP group showed an improvement of 23.7% pronunciation accuracy in task 1 and a 24.6% in task two compared to the standard group. The findings suggest that teacher's use of NLP techniques into their classroom instruction have a positive impact on students' pronunciation of the past ending of regular verbs.

The aim of this study is to determine the perceptions of English language teachers teaching at a preparatory school in relation to their knowing and applying contemporary language teaching techniques in their lessons. An investigation was conducted of 21 English language teachers at a preparatory school in North Cyprus. The SPSS statistical package was used for the data analysis. Frequency and percentages were used to analyse the English language teachers' knowledge, desire to learn, application of the innovative language techniques in their classrooms, experience of problems as well as teachers' frequency of technique usage and where they learned these techniques. This study shows that the most known contemporary technique is communicative and less known contemporary language teaching techniques are blended/hybrid.

The concept of teaching and learning has changed drastically over the past few years by the virtue of both research results carried out in the fields of second/foreign language learning and acquisition. Of all these researches, findings related to the brain structure and functions in cooperation with cognitive aspects of the education process, including the study of learning styles and intelligence have struck the language learning domain. A due understanding of learners' learning styles, emotional preferences as well as their memory functions help teachers to build their teaching practices to optimize students' learning. Brain Based Learning Approach (BBLA) is a natural, motivating, and a positive way that supports and maximizes learning and teaching. The current study implements Brain Based Learning Approach to improve listening skills of Business students, vocabulary retention and establish positive attitudes with regards to their brain dominance and learning styles. To achieve these aims, listening skills test, vocabulary retention test, adapted form of Robert Gardner Motivation Scale, were developed and used. The sample of the study consists of thirty-six Business majors. Findings show that Brain Based Learning is an effective approach for developing listening skills, consolidate vocabulary recalling and retention. It also helps maximize motivation towards learning language skills.

The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of using Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) techniques on English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teachers' reflective teaching. In order to do this, 30 Iranian female EFL teachers were selected. The group filled out a reflective teaching questionnaire as the pretest at the outset of the study and subsequently attended an NLP workshop. Following the end of the workshop, the teachers went back to their routine teaching program for 20 sessions and the researchers administered the same reflective teaching questionnaire as the posttest to the 30 teachers after those 20 sessions. In order to test the null hypothesis, that is to check any significant difference in the degree of the reflective teaching of the group prior to and after the treatment, a paired samples t-test was conducted. The results showed that there was a significant difference between the scores of the group at the pretest and posttest level (t=-6.976, p=0.001<0.05) meaning that NLP does significantly improve EFL teachers' reflective teaching.

Lexical knowledge is complex, multidimensional, and difficult to pin down to a set of defined components. The development, organization, and use of lexical knowledge in the first and additional languages are studied in a number of neighbouring disciplines beyond second language acquisition and applied linguistics, including psycholinguistics, neurolinguistics, computational linguistics, and language education. In this introduction, we highlight how the five articles in this special issue hone our understanding of different aspects of second language (L2) lexical knowledge, its acquisition, and use by adopting innovative research design, methods, and approaches to data collection and analysis from these distinct but related disciplines, affording new theoretical and empirical insights.

Standing for Neurolinguistic Programming, the acronym 'NLP' has become an emergent approach to communication and personal development which has gained worldwide interest. Containing a set of strategies that is highly claimed to be effective in enhancing oneself personally, NLP has also become progressively more recognisable in the education sector. Nevertheless, NLP is still considered to be virtually absent from the academic realm, particularly in relation with learning and pedagogy. This silence suggests a dire need to expand academic practices studying and discussing NLP. Hence, this paper depicts the current state of knowledge regarding NLP in both the philosophical and the pedagogical aspects. This review suggests that there exist the bridging links between NLP, its philosophical foundation and pedagogy through certain theories like Constructivism and Information Processing. Some pedagogical relevance of NLP is also discovered in catering to its widespread into the educational world at all levels. Besides offering practicable knowledge to the teaching and learning stakeholders, this article is anticipated to create a more dialogic discourse within the academia, especially to add to the dearth of the discussion pertaining to NLP in philosophy and pedagogy.

The significance of the role of creativity as an essential component of giftedness has long been assumed by most of the experts in the field. The most fertile creations will often be those formed of elements drawn from domains which are far apart. It is assumed that creativity is a personality variable, and not an ability, and thus it is believed that all students have creative potential that can be identified and nurtured. Imagery, intuition and unconscious activity are found to be associated with the essence and the nurturance of creativity. Whereas conscious thought may be focused and convergent, unconscious thought may be more associative and divergent. Moreover, while a thought or answer is fully activated if it is both conscious and accessible, it is deeply activated if it is accessible but not currently conscious. Education tries to reach its goals by creating strategies of approach rather than by trying to understand, support and develop the child's enormously rich inner life. Based on all of the above insights, the article will focus on the introduction of NLP (Neurological-Linguistic Programming) which originated in the 1970' by Bandler and Grinder. Besides its general use as a means to modifying undesirable behaviors, NLP offers modeling tools by which the gifted student can identify specific, reproducible patterns in the language and behavior of effective role models, especially the most creative ones--like Albert Einstein.

Due to globalization and the formation of the global village, people worldwide interact in multiple languages frequently. Concurrently, there has been an increase in motivation to learn different languages for individual purposes. As well, we see that the importance of language education is also being promoted. Past language methods have merit, such as visual aids, but it is not a good idea nor appropriate for teachers to just follow suit without considering the language system of the learners, the country of origin of the learners, and the various background and culture of the learners. In view of these characteristics of immigrants as adult learners participating in Chinese language classes, which are different from adult learners of other languages, this paper tries to develop multi-integrated instructional strategies, which include supportive strategy, auxiliary strategy and core strategy. These strategies are based on theories of accelerated learning, whole brain learning, and situated learning. I propose that Chinese language teachers use these strategies in classes for immigrants. The strategies developed will have implications for immigrants, teacher educators, language program administrators, and other stakeholders in similar contexts.

The present study was an attempt to investigate the relationship between English Language Teachers' autonomy and their Neuro-linguistic Programming (NLP). To this end, a group of 200 experienced English language teachers at various language schools in Tehran, inter alia, Asre Zaban Language Academy, were given two questionnaires namely Teaching Autonomy Scale (Pearson & Moomaw, 2005); and Reza Pishghadam's Neuro-linguistic Programming Questionnaire (2011) among which 162 instruments were returned. After being verified, 129 questionnaires which had been thoroughly completed were selected and carefully examined. At the outset of the data analysis stage, the researcher was supposed to pick out the accurate correlational measure. In this effort, assumptions of linearity of the relationship between the variables and normality of the data were verified and, as a result, Spearman rho was employed. The findings of an in-depth data analysis revealed that the null hypothesis of the study was to a large extent supported. That is to say, exclusive of General autonomy which was positively and significantly related to NLP, other sub-categories of autonomy--Curriculum and Total, were not correlated significantly with NLP.

This state-of-the art paper focuses on the poorly explored issue of foreign language aptitude, attempting to present the latest developments in this field and reconceptualizations of the construct from the perspective of neuroscience. In accordance with this goal, it first discusses general directions in neurolinguistic research on foreign language aptitude, starting with the earliest attempts to define the neurological substrate for talent, sources of difficulties in the neurolinguistic research on foreign language aptitude and modern research methods. This is followed by the discussion of the research on the phonology of foreign language aptitude with emphasis on functional and structural studies as well as their consequences for the knowledge of the concept. The subsequent section presents the studies which focus on lexical and morphosyntactic aspects of foreign language aptitude. The paper ends with a discussion of the limitations of contemporary research, the future directions of such research and selected methodological issues.

Aphasia as a multifaceted language disorder associated with the complicated links between language and brain has been and is of interest and significance to the stream of research in different disciplines including neurolinguistics, psycholinguistics, cognitive studies and language acquisition. Along with explorations into the manifestations of aphasia in monolingual speakers, bilingual aphasia has similarly become the most current form of this language disorder due to the rising number of bilingual speakers in recent decades all over the world and the probability of facing bilinguals suffering from this language deficit. To paint a picture of this multidimensional linguistic impairment and to get out of the labyrinth of aphasia and in particular bilingual aphasia, the present review study aims to provide a summary of aphasia-related studies in different contexts worldwide and run through the variables affecting the manifestations and language recovery patterns in bilingual aphasic speakers.

Neurolanguage Coaching™ is a new approach of diversified personalized language instruction utilizing modern insights of neuroscientific and pedagogic theories. This paper addresses the issue of profiling educational experts, who utilize these theories to coach language learners through their language acquisition journey, by means of setting and facilitating specific characteristics, common to those educationers. Findings of an on-line qualitative questionnaire are quantified to allow for the generalization of these characteristics in a case study of Certified Neurolanguage Coaches in order to establish an innovative descriptive tool for an upcoming professional group. Characteristics are formulated according to literature and statistical verification and a profile description of Neurolanguage Coaches is proposed.

There is substantial support for the general idea that a formalization of comprehenders' expectations about the likely next word in a sentence helps explaining data related to online sentence processing. While much research has focused on syntactic, semantic, and discourse expectations, the present event-related potentials (ERPs) study investigates neurolinguistic correlates of pragmatic expectations, which arise when comprehenders expect a sentence to conform to Gricean Maxims of Conversation. For predicting brain responses associated with pragmatic processing, we introduce a formal model of such Gricean pragmatic expectations, using an idealized incremental interpreter. We examine whether pragmatic expectancies derived from this model modulate the amplitude of the N400, a component that has been associated with predictive processing. As part of its parameterization, the model distinguishes genuine pragmatic interpreters, who expect maximally informative true utterances, from literal interpreters, who only expect truthfulness. We explore the model's non-trivial predictions for an experimental setup which uses picture-sentence verification with ERPs recorded at several critical positions in sentences containing the scalar implicature trigger "some." We find that Gricean expectations indeed affect the N400, largely in line with the predictions of our model, but also discuss discrepancies between model predictions and observations critically.

In this paper, we aim to highlight the characteristics of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) and suggest possible directions for future research and study. The majority of NLP studies argue for more rigorous empirical support and standardised regulatory governance, in order to overcome academic biases and general misunderstandings. However, its popular practice for just under half a century and its global usage, suggest there is grounding for NLP to be accepted into the "mainstream" of psychology. We compare NLP with more "accepted" approaches (cognitive behavioural therapy, mindfulness, and coaching), and explore its practice regulations. While its efficiency (thorough analysis and applicability) was identified as its strength, more rigorous research and universal regulations of practice are needed for NLP to move onto the next level of acceptance.

This paper draws from comparative rhetoric and contrastive stylistics and, by resorting to corpus linguistics methodologies, looks into possible quantitative descriptions of rhetorical deviations that are present in source texts within different language pairs and genres, in an attempt to map patterns of deviation, actual or expected, in translated texts, as a possible method to circumvent the epistemological limitations of one-to-one (language-to-language or text-to-text) comparisons. An experiment on the rhetorical use of metonymies and enthymemes within persuasive discourse in English and Spanish is discussed. Guidelines are proposed for the development of potentially comprehensive methodologies.

Over the last decades, the term 'literacy' has extended far beyond its original reference to learning to read and write. However, few data are available about its actual application in schools across Europe. This article, which is part of a larger project, tries to identify the common trends and difficulties teachers face when dealing with literacy in the Madrid area, one of the more successful regions in education. After focusing on the unresolved difficulty of finding a Spanish equivalent to the term 'literacy', the article analyses the answers to 116 questionnaires by primary school teachers. Responses suggest a relative lack of interest in literacy projects, as few schools seem to be developing one. Analysis of the five projects that allowed a follow-up indicates a minority trend away from teaching about the language towards using it in meaningful contexts and across languages, but mostly without a clear idea of what literacy means. This is especially true for three projects, two of which are loosely based on neurolinguistics. The fourth project is in its initial stages, and only the fifth shows a promising understanding of literacy, using language as a tool to learn and think, and working across languages around themes and genres.

Some new and envisioned technologies such as brain machine interfaces (BMI) that are being developed initially for people with disabilities, but whose use can also be expanded to the general public have the potential to change body ability expectations of disabled and non-disabled people beyond the species-typical. The ways in which this dynamic will impact students with disabilities in the domain of special education is explored. Data was drawn from six special education school teachers from one school in Calgary, Alberta. Five sub-themes (social acceptance, not adding to the impairment, fear of judgement by society, pursuing "normality" and meeting the demands of society) were identified that fit under the main identified theme of "fitting in by not standing out". Findings demonstrate a dichotomy in participant views of non- or socially acceptable communication devices. The perception of BMI technology was also explored among special education school teachers, revealing benefits and challenges with the uptake of this technology for students with disabilities. Perceptions of people with disabilities and ableism are presented as conceptual frameworks to interpret the influence and impact of the findings.

This paper explores the practicum experience of a group of bilingual student-teachers who taught Chinese using English to learners of Chinese as a foreign language (CFL) in Western Sydney schools. Specifically it explores how these student-teachers used English as the instructional language in class and what strengths and weaknesses they demonstrated compared to their host teachers. Data were collected through observing and audio-recording the participants' teaching, aiming to capture the actual features of their English use in class. The data were structurally-coded employing the ELM categories. Discourse analysis was employed to interpret and understand the language use of the bilingual student teachers and also their supervising teachers. The bilingual student-teachers in this research, whose English proficiency was at IELTS 7.5, and who had experienced six months of intensive teaching practicum, were found able to demonstrate grammatically and discursively acceptable expressions throughout their teaching. The difficulties experienced by this cohort were more due to their lack of skills and flexibilities in teaching and classroom management rather than their inappropriate use of instructional English. (Contains 3 tables.)

In his March 2011 AAHE Scholar presentation, the author suggested several possible innovations in school health education that, if initiated, may better meet the needs and interests of two youngest generations--Millenials and 2020s. In this article, the author assesses the status of health education in schools, enumerates the characteristics of the youngest generations of learners, and explores ideas scanned from eclectic fields such as the cognitive psychology; neuro-linguistics, brain chemistry and advertising; media literacy; business human resources; and video gaming. He also discusses some possibilities for changing school health education in order to better meet the needs of the 2020 generation. (Contains 4 figures.)

The psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic perspective of language acquisition requires some essential conditions in vocabulary acquisition: (a) repetitive practice, which allows for data to reach long-term memory, and thus become proceduralised and automatised; (b) how relevant the lexical items are regarding the communicative needs of the learners insofar as communicative relevance is linked to frequency in general linguistic usage; (c) the potential in vocabulary acquisition, which will necessarily relate to the amount of new lexical items introduced in each one of the units in textbook; (d) the way words are taught, i.e. whether aimed at explicit or incidental learning. In order to analyse and evaluate these issues, we will study the lexical items presented in a specific textbook from the point of view of frequency, distribution along the manual, opportunities for rehearsal and repetition (which will depend on frequency), and the nature of the activities centred on vocabulary. The results of this case study will allow us to check whether or not they may stand a comparison against the findings of psycholinguistic and neurolinguistic research on vocabulary acquisition. (Contains 5 tables, 6 graphics and 4 footnotes.)

Notwithstanding a surge of novel insights into the male/female variable on human behaviour and cognitive functions, the gender factor is still far from being well understood. Pursuing an interdisciplinary approach, informed by neuroscientific research, this study used linguistic and psychological measures to investigate gender differences in the realm of foreign language (L2) proficiency of late learners. The performance of 64 subjects (32 females), matched for age, education and linguistic background, was analysed regarding gender and personality/motivation differences. Results revealed a gender gap in two domains of L2 expertise and cast doubt on the idea of a general female language advantage: male subjects outperformed their female counterparts in phonetic speech imitation ability (pronunciation). An advantage of the women could be found for grammar learning. Results fit the current line of neurolinguistic research on the neural substrates of language. The study revealed that an open-minded, extravert and motivated personality is beneficial to language learning. A conscious and persistent approach can be favourable for grammar learning. We suggest that foreign language teaching should accommodate more to male/female differences and take into account effects of personality and motivation differences.

Although the application of neuro-linguistic programming (NLP) has been reported worldwide, its scientific investigation is limited. Career consulting is one of the fields where NLP has been increasingly applied in Japan. This study explored why career consultants undertake NLP training, and what they find most useful to their practice. Thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with six career consultants, who had attended NLP certification training, revealed that they wanted to learn action-oriented NLP-based coaching skills in addition to their active-listening-based counselling skills. NLP provided frameworks to lead their clients' thoughts efficiently, deepened their understanding of the human mind, and developed their attitude to understand others and themselves. The NLP skills found most useful were reframing and the Disney strategy.

This special issue is a testament to the recent burgeoning interest by theoretical linguists, language acquisitionists and teaching practitioners in the neuroscience of language. It offers a highly valuable, state-of-the-art overview of the neurophysiological methods that are currently being applied to questions in the field of second language (L2) acquisition, teaching and processing. Research in the area of neurolinguistics has developed dramatically in the past 20 years, providing a wealth of exciting findings, many of which are discussed in the articles in this issue of the journal. The goal of this commentary is twofold. The first is to critically assess the current state of neurolinguistic data from the point of view of language acquisition and processing--informed by the articles that comprise this special issue and the literature as a whole--pondering how the neuroscience of language/processing might inform us with respect to linguistic and language acquisition theories. The second goal is to offer some links from implications of exploring the first goal towards informing language teachers and the creation of linguistically and neurolinguistically-informed evidence-based pedagogies for non-native language teaching.

The topic of this article is the link between research on the neurocognition of the teaching--acquisition interface and research on second language teaching. This recent scientific enterprise investigates whether and how different aspects of second language instruction may change both the anatomy and the functioning of an adult learner's brain even in a short period of time. In this article, I analyse how neurolinguists have operationalized three aspects specifically related to second language teaching: (1) learners' proficiency; (2) the between-groups experimental design; (3) the implicit vs. explicit teaching dichotomy. I suggest that the degree of replicability of such neurolinguistics studies can be increased by adopting non-circular operational definitions. Such definitions should not be based on psycholinguistic or neurolinguistic metrics, but on standards that are commonly discussed in the literature on instructed second language acquisition, second language teaching, and assessment. Finally, I suggest that for future research neurolinguists should consider the advantages of welcoming on board more developmental linguists and teachers.

There are close relationships between brain activities and educational technology. Brain is very important and so complicated part in our bodies. From long time scientists pay attention to that part and did many experiments, but they just reached little information like a drop in the sea. However from time to time they gave us some light to recognize the human brain, Franz Joseph Gall (1758-1828 ) for example put the based system or Phrenology map for the brain because he believed that the brain was made up of about 30 organs each responsible for a single trait, and his student Spurzheim (1776-1832) continue his work. But the scientists don't accept that system. Wilder Penfield mentioned that phrenology was wrong. New techniques showed us many brain activities during people doing action and thought that may be they will reach like that system in the future. Butterworth & Harris (1994) mentioned that there is a growth spurt of the brain between the age of 5 and 7 years, especially in the region of the frontal lobes. This part of the brain play an important role in planning and in the sequential origination of action and thought. So the techniques showed us many areas of brain activities, for example, (PET) scan illustrate the different areas of the brain that are activities during various tasks involving language such as hearing words; seeing words; speaking words; and generating words. In this case we need to study brain activities more and more in order to find these areas in our brain which is related to our actions. These techniques show that auditory stimulation resting state and language, music, and show various types of brain behavior. These areas used in various aspect of language activity; hearing, seeing, speaking, and thinking. Using techniques for recording brain activities by illuminating active parts of the brain, positron emotion tomography scan and uses radioactive injections; magnetic resonance imaging uses nuclear scanning techniques.