6.2.5 Neurolinguistics and the neurobiology of language
There has been a significant growth in the number of studies using various
neuro-imaging techniques. Jean-Marc Dewaele sees as a trend:“The realiza-
tion that neuro-imaging is fascinating but doesn’toffer easy answers–only
more questions on how to interpret thefindings.”According to Barbara
Seidlhofer,“there is always the danger that approaches to language and
multilingualism claim to be linked to neuroscience without being sufficiently
well informed. This sometimes leads to claims being made that go well
beyond the data”. According to John Schumann the main aim of neuro-
linguistics has been to show that there is a neural correlate of the language
acquisition device in the brain. So the approach has been to present subjects
with specific stimuli that represented certain linguistic phenomena or rules
and see how specific parts of the brain show activity. The view on the brain
is essentially modular: there are parts of the brain that are dedicated to cer-
tain tasks. Researchers in the neurobiology of language, of which John
Schumann is likely to be the only one who would also call himself an AL,
take another perspective:“The brain is degenerate, not modular. Through
use, parts of the brain become functional, and areas can do various things
and they are colonized and reused according to need.”As he mentions, the
entry fee to do proper research in the area of neurobiology is high, and it is
not clear whether the investment is worthwhile.“The neurobiology of lan-
guage isn’t going to make a breakthrough in AL. On the other hand, do we
really want a brainless AL?”
6.2.6 The role of technology
Technological developments made it possible to deal with big data, such as large
corpora for corpus analysis. While in the 1980s working with corpora demanded
advanced computer skills, new technological developments have made these
corpora much easier to handle. According to Diane Larsen-Freeman:
The impact of technology has been slower to come than expected, but it
is growing. With technology, a different way of engaging with informa-
tion can be envisioned, a more dynamic and nonlinear one. We also can
appreciate the potential affordances of social media that learners can
take advantage of and how they reduce distance among their contemporaries
around the world. We need to know more about how the multitasking
and computer use of the younger generation influence their learning.
Then, too, technology has allowed us to compile and search databases
for recurrent lexicogrammatical sequences with which to inform teaching
materials.For Ben Rampton globalization and new media“have changed the world
around us, undermining conceptual frameworks built on‘methodological
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