Help me if I can't: Social interaction effects in adult contextual word learning

Interbrain coupling during language learning contributes to learning outcomes

While knowledge and skill acquisition frequently occur in social interactions, the predominant focus of existing research remains centred on individual learning. Here, we investigate whether social interaction enhances language learning, and whether interbrain coupling changes across learning sessions. We utilized functional near-infrared spectroscopy to assess teacher-learner dyads engaging in a two-session training on a set of words and their plural inflections in a novel language. We compared a group trained with mutual communication with a noninteractive group, in which the learner could see and hear the teacher, but the teacher was unable to see or hear the learner (one-way mirror). Results revealed that compared to the No-interaction group, the Interaction group exhibited faster reaction times for vocabulary recognition and morphological inflections for the first session. The neuroimaging data revealed that interbrain coupling between the left inferior frontal gyrus (IFG) of the learner and the right IFG of the teacher positively predicted vocabulary accuracy in the first but not in the second session. The results collectively suggest that IFG interbrain coupling plays an essential role in the initial stages of learning, highlighting the significant impact of social interaction in enhancing learning, especially during the early phases of learning.

The Unforgettable "Mel": Pragmatic Inferences Affect How Children Acquire and Remember Word Meanings

Children can acquire novel word meanings by using pragmatic cues. However, previous literature has frequently focused on in-the-moment word-to-meaning mappings, not delayed retention of novel vocabulary. Here, we examine how children use pragmatics as they learn and retain novel words. Thirty-three younger children (mean age: 5.0, range: 4.0-6.0, 21 girls; 85% White) and 33 older children (mean age: 7.5, range: 6.1-9.2, 16 girls, 66% White) participated. During learning, the sound-meaning mapping was either readily available (Direct Mapping condition) or required pragmatic inference (Inference condition). Children's word retention was tested immediately after learning and after 10-15 min of delay. Across both conditions, children performed similarly during learning. There were no significant differences between conditions for either immediate recall or retention in younger children. Importantly, retention (but not immediate recall) in older children demonstrated a significant advantage for the Inference over the Direct Mapping condition. Word retention in the Inference condition was predicted by age and mediated by children's ToM ability. We conclude that children can successfully acquire and retain meanings via pragmatic inference; moreover, the effects of active pragmatic computation on meaning retention grow with development. Such a developmental difference in meaning consolidation is possibly mediated by children's developing ToM skills.

Contextual cueing in co-active visual search: Joint action allows acquisition of task-irrelevant context

Repeatedly presenting a target within a stable search array facilitates visual search, an effect termed contextual cueing. Previous solo-performance studies have shown that successful acquisition of contextual memories requires explicit allocation of attentional resources to the task-relevant repeated contexts. By contrast, repeated but task-irrelevant contexts could not be learned when presented together with repeated task-relevant contexts due to a blocking effect. Here we investigated if such blocking of context learning could be diminished in a social context, when the task-irrelevant context is task-relevant for a co-actor in a joint action search mode. We adopted the contextual cueing paradigm and extended this to the co-active search mode. Participants learned a context-cued subset of the search displays (color-defined) in the training phase, and their search performance was tested in the transfer phase, where previously irrelevant and relevant subsets were swapped. The experiments were conducted either in a solo search mode (Experiments 1 and 3) or in a co-active search mode (Experiment 2). Consistent with the classical contextual cueing studies, contextual cueing was observed in the training phase of all three experiments. Importantly, however, in the "swapped" test session, a significant contextual cueing effect was manifested only in the co-active search mode, not in the solo search mode. Our findings suggest that social context may widen the scope of attention, thus facilitating the acquisition of task-irrelevant contexts.

The social brain of language: grounding second language learning in social interaction

For centuries, adults may have relied on pedagogies that promote rote memory for the learning of foreign languages through word associations and grammar rules. This contrasts sharply with child language learning which unfolds in socially interactive contexts. In this paper, we advocate an approach to study the social brain of language by grounding second language learning in social interaction. Evidence has accumulated from research in child language, education, and cognitive science pointing to the efficacy and significance of social learning. Work from several recent L2 studies also suggests positive brain changes along with enhanced behavioral outcomes as a result of social learning. Here we provide a blueprint for the brain network underlying social L2 learning, enabling the integration of neurocognitive bases with social cognition of second language while combining theories of language and memory with practical implications for the learning and teaching of a new language in adulthood.

Comparative Effectiveness Between Game-Enhanced and Pencil-and-Paper English Vocabulary Learning Approaches

Numerous studies were devoted to use of games in vocabulary learning in English as a foreign language (EFL) tertiary courses, which reported significant improvements of vocabulary learning when using computer games. This study used a mixed-design research method comparing the effectiveness in EFL vocabulary acquisition. Data was collected from randomly selected participants who were randomly assigned to the interactivity-prone computer game (Group 1), the less interactive-prone computer game (Group 2) and the pencil-and-paper (Group 3) assisted EFL vocabulary learning approaches. The first group learned EFL vocabulary through interactivity-prone computer game Hujiang Fun Vocabulary, the second group learned EFL vocabulary assisted with less interactive computer game Baicizhan, and the third group learned EFL vocabulary via the traditional pencil-and-paper approach. It was concluded that (1) The interactivity-prone computer game was more effective than the less interactivity-prone computer game in EFL vocabulary learning; (2) The computer game-assisted EFL vocabulary learning was significantly more effective than the traditional pencil-and-paper approach; (3) Males outperformed females in computer game-assisted EFL vocabulary learning. It was suggested that future research focuses on both design features of educational computer games and cross-disciplinary research into computer game assisted EFL vocabulary acquisition.