Language Acquisition and the Neurosciences: Towards a More Integrative Perspective

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Abstract
As researchers explore the cognitive processes underlying language acquisition, an understanding of the brain becomes more important. This paper has four goals: (1) to clarify selected neurobiological terminology; (2) to highlight basic neurobiological information of relevance to language acquisition research; (3) to discuss the neural plausibility of cognitive models of language acquisition; and (4) to illustrate the difference between abstract characterizations of learner behavior (i.e. rules, strategies, principles) and the mechanisms that cause that behavior. It is suggested that language acquisition researchers must begin to incorporate a degree of neurobiological reality into their perception of the language acquisition process. Such a neurally inspired view helps to provide a common ground for evaluating and integrating various language acquisition perspectives.

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