Foreign
language pedagogy and the cognitive neuroscience
University of Pannonia,
Institute of English and American Studies, Department of Applied linguistics,
Institute of Educational Science, Hungary
Abstract:
Language pedagogy – as an interdisciplinary science
of teaching languages – may be considered as a basic principle in civic
education since it concerns all those standpoints that are essential for an
adequate training in political, social or citizenship education in our multi-
and intercultural Europe. There are certain cognitive features responsible for
the acquisition, use and loss of foreign languages that may be explored by an
interdisciplinary science, the cognitive neuroscience. The aims of cognitive
neuroscience are to understand the neurobiological bases of higher cognitive
functions (Cf. Pléh and co, 2003) and to become a multidisciplinary science
embracing all fields of sciences. In foreign language pedagogy it is inevitable
from this time on to discuss the processes in our brain to find solutions to
malfunctions avoiding us from using a foreign language in an inappropriate
level. The topic of my workshop is the exploration of the importance and the
possibilities of cognitive neuroscience in the field of foreign language
pedagogy in field of a successful “existence” in today’s multilingual and
multicultural Europe. It is also my aim to explore and present the research
methods of cognitive neuroscience as new techniques in the repertoire of modern
interdisciplinary pedagogical research.
Key words: civic education in the framework of
foreign language pedagogy, cognitive neuroscience, european identity vs.
national identity