The L and the R in my Japanese Students' Brain

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There are certain areas in the brain that are responsible for language development and processing, two of which are the Broca’s area and Wernicke’s area.

Based on my research, there are other more areas that affects the brain mechanism which is important in my current ESL classroom such as, the amygdala (emotional control), hippocampus (memory bank), occipital lobe (visual processing), and temporal lobe (listening comprehension), but I will cover only two that I first mentioned above.

According to Lumen Learning, without the brain, there would be no language. These specific areas of the brain are specific to language processing and development, damages or injuries in these areas affect speaking capabilities and understanding. These areas function together in order for a person to acquire a language. Damage to these areas results in a disorder called aphasia.

The Broca’s area located in the frontal lobe is responsible for speech production. It is the area that works on the learner’s speaking ability. When children are bilingual, both languages are processed in the same area, but when adults learn a second language, a separate area develops close to the first (Blackmore, n.d.). Some adults learn more quickly than others and one study showed differences in the brain areas that changed: the hippocampus and Broca’s area altered most in the fast learners and the motor cortex in slower students.

Some effects depend on the person’s first language. For example, native Japanese speakers, such as my students cannot readily distinguish ‘r’ and ‘l’ when learning English because in their brains both these sounds activate the same area (Blackmore, n.d.). When a person has aphasia, they can still understand a language but they will be unable to speak. So when my Japanese students are having difficulty in distinguishing which is correct, light or right?, I would tell them they are both correct and both are used as words in the English language. They do not suffer from aphasia but it is the hippocampus that developed primarily that registered the sound of the r in their brain first because, in Japan, there is no L in their reading and writing system. So my students would always interchange L to R or R to L. And not only my students do this but Japanese teachers of English too. Children start to learn and speak their native language at the critical age of 3 to 5. During this time, children’s brains develop most of their language capabilities, which is true for Japanese children.

Since the hippocampus is the area where fixed memory has been saved, I have reached this certain stage where I can recognize and accept this irregularity rather than treat it as a mistake or a weakness. This is an important aspect in my teaching pedagogy, to be able to grasp the learner's capacity. Their ability to instantly identify the correct spelling or pronunciation is something that is difficult to change.

But there is still a way to improve it, the Wernicke’s area which is responsible for understanding the written and spoken language. So when it is switched and dominant, a learner can develop the mechanism of identifying the proper placement of the sound in their brain, so that they will be able to produce the right sound (or write it correctly). It is located where the occipital, parietal, and temporal lobes intersect in the cortex’s left hemisphere, which allows learners to comprehend speech and to use proper syntax when speaking (Schunk, 2012). Damage to this area is so-called receptive aphasia which results in loss of comprehension. A person may still be able to speak but their language will be nonsensical and incomprehensible (Lumen Learning, n.d.). Wernicke’s area can help enhance a person’s language ability and also a natural process can also help if children grow in a language-rich environment where parents and others talk with them, such as English language teachers and friends that speaks English fluently.