Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-28T04:38:04.173Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

SECOND-LANGUAGE TEACHING: A VIEW FROM THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2005

John H. Schumann
John H. Schumann
Affiliation:
UCLA
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

SECOND-LANGUAGE TEACHING: A VIEW FROM THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE BRAIN. Marcel Danesi. Dordrecht: Kluwer, 2003. Pp. xi + 172. $89.95 cloth, $49.95 paper.

Danesi proposes an understanding of second language (L2) teaching based on the characteristic differences between right hemisphere and left hemisphere processing. He argues that certain language teaching techniques are more compatible with one hemisphere or the other and suggests that successful L2 teaching involves techniques that engage initially the right hemisphere, then the left hemisphere, and finally both together. Based on the neurobiological literature, he argues that left hemisphere (L-Mode) functions are such things as pronunciation, grammar, literal meaning, sequential relations, verbal memory, and logical thinking. Right hemisphere (R-Mode) functions include prosodic systems, metaphorical and emotional meaning, spatial relations, nonverbal memory, intuitive reasoning, and associations and synthesis (see Table 1, p. 35).

Type
BOOK REVIEWS
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 27 , Issue 4 , December 2005 , pp. 623 - 624
Copyright
© 2005 Cambridge University Press

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)