CONTRIBUTIONS FROM SYMPOSIUM 1 AT J-SLA 2024
Social Brain Interaction: Theory and Practice
2025 Volume 24 Pages 39-50
Details
2025 Volume 24 Pages 39-50
Language acquisition or learning is inherently social, relying on the effective functioning of the social brain system. This article first focuses on three essential mechanisms of the social brain that facilitate second language learning: 1) Mentalizing, 2) Mirroring, and 3) Recognizing a Gaze and Constructing Joint Attention:
1) Mentalizing: This refers to interpreting others' mental states, such as viewpoints and intentions. This ability enhances communication by enabling learners to grasp intentions or implied meanings in conversation, which is crucial for mastering L2 communication. Tasks to develop mentalizing in language education (e.g., task-based learning) which challenge students to consider their peers' perspectives and viewpoints.
2) Human Mirroring System: The mirroring system supports the imitation of visual gestures as well as speech sounds, both fundamental for communicative fluency. Engaging this system through methods such as self-contained and interactive oral shadowing may help learners acquire segmental and prosodic speech sounds, potentially leading to neural coupling or entrainment between students.
3) Recognizing Gaze and Constructing Joint Attention: This mechanism is pivotal for learning through social interaction by activating the inferior frontal gyrus in the right hemisphere. It enables learners to follow another's gaze and jointly focus on third-party objects and events, linking verbal to non-verbal information. This skill is particularly important for L1 and L2 vocabulary acquisition. Activities that promote joint attention result in collaborative tasks requiring shared focus on external objects.
In this article, I propose the concept of Social Brain Interactional Competence (SBIC) in L2 acquisition and present an overall picture of how the learners' social brain systems are involved in its attainment. However, in order to acquire SBIC, it is essential to practice I.P.O.M., which represents the key points of L2 acquisition, and achieving the minimum level of cognitive automaticity of language control appears to be a prerequisite for effective social brain interaction.
