A supra-modal decoding mechanism: Evidence from Chinese speakers learning English

Abstract

Multimodal information interaction is a common way of communication involved in language teaching. The study on the neural mechanism in the process of language information processing will be helpful to make better use of the above way. This research investigated the supra-modal network when Chinese subjects processed English interpretation, and found that the recruited subjects capitalized on the occipital lobe and frontal lobe to achieve semantic processing for both visual and auditory modules. For these Chinese subjects, reading activation tended to be occipital-lobe focused, while in previous models (Models of Wernicke-Geschwind), subjects (native/nearly native with recruited languages) heavily relied on the temporal lobe. This research indicated that the recruited late bilingual subjects adopted a different network to decode language signals, opposed to models in the previous literature. Moreover, the occipital lobe remained crucial for the recruited Chinese bilinguals to process materials with high levels of difficulty. For learners of similar backgrounds, visualization shall be emphasized through multimodal information interactions during future language instructions, as well as in interpretation teaching.