Social foreign language learning: behavioral and electrophysiological studies (SoFoLe)

The project tests the use of social interaction and bodily learning methods in the study of Chinese in Finnish-speaking adults. The study measures different aspects of language skills as well as bodily reactions and brain responses during and after learning. If social interaction and bodily activation as learning methods prove to be effective, new research-based methods for learning a foreign language could be developed based on these.

Project duration

1.9.2022 - 31.8.2026

Core fields of research

Languages, culture and society

Learning, teaching and interaction

Research areas

Brain and psychophysiological research

Department

Department of Psychology

Faculty

Faculty of Education and Psychology

Funding

Research Council of Finland

Project description

The project is funded by the Academy of Finland (2022-2026, PI Piia Astikainen). It investigates whether foreign language learning in social interaction will facilitate learning in comparison to learning individually, and what are the underlying mechanisms for possible benefits of social learning. The research results can be used when developing effective teaching for foreign language learning.

Publication

2024

Neuropsychologia

Yang, Tiantian

Kurkela, Jari L.O.

Chen, Kecheng

Liu, Youyi

Shu, Hua

Cong, Fengyu

Hämäläinen, Jarmo A.

Astikainen, Piia

Participate

A participant is learning Mandarin Chinese tones through listening and repeating exercises with a Chinese tutor. The electrical brain responses of both the participant and the tutor are simultaneously recorded.

We are currently recruit Finnish speaking participants. For Finnish speaking participants, more information is found from our Finnish website.

Project team

Project leaders

Piia Astikainen

Professor

Project members

Research groups

Active Mind Lab

In the Active Mind Lab, we study how the brain processes information; in particular, we study communication through speech and facial expressions. The name of our group reflects our aim to produce information that can help promote effective learning and t

Ģ��ֱ��