Up, Down, Right or Left – Which Way Do You Read?
If the first platform for language is speaking (making audible sounds) and listening (making meaning of those sounds) then the second platform is writing (making a physical representation of the spoken sounds) and reading (understanding those representations). These 2 platforms contain the two functions of language: expressive (speaking/writing) and receptive (listening/reading). In the last blog we explored the first platform and its impact on brain development and how the ability in oral language appears to be a natural development for the human being. Here will investigate the second platform that we refer to as ‘learning to read and write’. Acquiring the skill and knowledge to interpret the written form of a language appears to be much less biologically determined and ‘natural’ to the human experience. Indeed it is here that we find a great deal of research and discourse on the question of dyslexia and why significant barriers arise for some children in accessing the written form of language.
All written representations of language have their roots in the early pictographs that eventually evolved into the ability to represent the flow of verbal utterances. The next stage of this evolution produced visual representations that took the form of logographic systems (commonly exampled by Chinese which can read in multiple directions on the horizontal or vertical axis) to alphabetical ones that read left to right or right to left. Others utilize combinations, blends and variations of these two. Chinese logographic writing is comprised of characters drawn with a number of strokes that fit into a defined space and its form does not provide clues to the pronunciation. Whereas alphabetical languages string letters together in a horizontal line and the organization of the symbols provide clues as to the sounds contained in the word.
So given this rather awe inspiring array of written languages – how does the brain respond to the stimuli that the different languages trigger? And do the logographic and alphabetical representations access or stimulate different regions of the brain in retrieving comprehension ? These are complex questions that have been afforded a greater clarity with the recent neurological studies of the brain.
The choice of Mandarin as a second or third language is founded in the benefits to the developing brain as it experiences the written forms of logographic and alphabetical systems. During processing the visual spatial aspect of Chinese written language tends to stimulate more dominant activity in the right hemisphere of the brain. Whereas the alphabetical systems seem to more dominantly activate the left hemisphere. The specifics of the brain’s activity is far more complex than set out above but suffice it to say that the cognitive benefits of the exposure to both systems develops a child who perceives, understands and experiences the world around them in a significantly different manner than the child exposed to one form of written language.
About Kemp Rickett Consulting: My business is founded on enabling clients to ignite the passion for learning in individuals and groups. I provide strategic planning services, curriculum development and professional development and training for school administrators and program co-ordinators.