This paper is submitted for English for Foreign Language

1. “Left Brain Acquisition and Right Brain Learning” on Adult and Children
This Paper is submitted for English for Foreign Language
The Lecturer: Win Listyaningrum, M. A
At Fifth semester
Arranged by:
Novi Dyah Arisanti
113-14-037
ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT
TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY
STATE INSTITUTE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES
SALATIGA
2016/2017

2. CHAPTER I
Introduction
A. Background
Language becomes the most important thing in the communication. Everyday all people
connect each other by communication. It is important to learn and increase our ability in the
communication way. Communication’s ability is such an obligatory especially in this
globalization era.
All part of our bodies is connected each other and has a centre which is at our brain. In
the brain all information is processed to produce a respond. There are two hemispheres in our
brain, left hemisphere and right hemisphere. We need to consider and learn each hemisphere
so we can improve our skills by the appropriate part. Related to communication, the left
hemisphere of our brain is like a tool. It is the best tool than the others. If any problem in our
brain, especially in the left brain it will be big problems.
However, language especially English is not the mother tongue for some countries.
English becomes second language also foreign language. It will be different to master English
for people who used English as first language with English as second or foreign language. To
master English for second and foreign language, for example Indonesian, it needs extra
preparation and more understanding.
As brain in human is growing, the ability of communication also increase. The capacity
and capability of our brain when we were young is different with the time of us in adult. There
are acquisition and learning process, which mechanism has relation with development of our
brain related to master language.
What will be different and what is the relation of our brain with communication will be
our topic in this paper. What is difference between acquisition and learning that give the best
impact, and will it the same among children and adults who try to master language are become
our discussion later.
B. Method
In this paper, the writer uses “theoretical research” by collecting some information from
books, journal, website and makes some summarize.

3. CHAPTER II
Contents
There is an interesting case for all people among second and foreign language about
mastering language and the relation with the brain. There are two hemispheres of brain, left
and right, which have their own function. By understanding their function it will be easy to
enhance their effectiveness. Sometimes we forget that communication also happen in written
form. Actually both spoken and written form has same standard although has different applied.
Every people has their own characters and different styles which are related to their left
and right brain’s dominance. The dominance of the brain will give a great impact during the
learning process. Recent findings indicate that the specialized functions of specific regions of
the brain are not fixed at birth but are shaped by experience and learning.
Some researches today has told us that our brain is such a software. When we keep in
touch with our brain, our skills in all aspects will be develop also. There is an old opinion that
our brain just develop in the young age. Actually, there is a difference style of process related
to our skills in the young age and adult periods. Both of them are learning and acquisition.
A. Learning and Acquisition
Language is a way to learn new world, share experiences, needs, and analysis. When we
talk about language, we can see from different perspectives. It depends on who sees the context
of the language. We can discuss language in social, politic, education, and others. Every
language also has context with the time, it could be about past, present, or future.
Krashen states that: Learning is an aware process. It is conscious knowledge of second
language, knowing the rules, being aware and talk about them. Learning is knowing about a
language, known to most people as rule or grammar. Formal knowledge of language or explicit
meaning are some synonyms from learning.
The result of language acquisition is subconscious. We are not consciously aware the rules
because we often apply it in a long-term period. We feel right, the sounds seem right, and errors
feel wrong, all things above even we don’t know the rules but we prove about it. Language
acquisition does not require extensive use of grammatical rules, and meaningful target of
language is needed in acquisition.

4. There are some factors that influence the process of learning. The external factors and
internal factors. The external factors are: relationship with parent, organizations, reward and
punishment, facilities, and environments. Meanwhile the internal process are attitude,
perception, motivation, level of ability, and personality. Professional learning requires some
knowledge to be fluently by several process, and more practices in formal and informal
situations.
According to Dr. Paul Thompson, neurology professor at UCLA. After age 11, centres in
the brain responsible for language acquisition stop growing rapidly and language acquisition
becomes more difficult.1
B. Among Left Hemisphere and Right Hemisphere
The human brain shows a number of physiological and structural characteristics that must
be understood. The cerebrum, consisting of a cortex (the outer layer) and a sub cortex, which
divides into two hemispheres joined by a membrane called the corpus callosum.
There are a few points which must be made about the functioning of these two cerebral
hemispheres. ‘Hemispheric specialization means that one side of the brain is more adept than
the other. It does not necessarily mean that the other side cannot perform a function at all or is
not routinely involved in a particular activity. Virtually all behaviours and modes of thinking
require both hemispheres working together.’ (Hampson, 1994)
Human’s brain is a complex organs with much of function in all part of bodies. From
picture below, we see some parts of brain like frontal lobe, temporal lobe, occipital lobe,
cerebellum, brain system, and others. It all connected, where the functions are responsible with
intelligence, sense, humour, movement, behaviour, and it connected by nerves.
Researchers are in broad agreement that there are differences between the information-
processing biases of the brain’s hemispheres, but that these exist at the micro-level, and not at
macro-levels such as language or spatial processing.
The right brain controls movements and functions part of left bodies, meanwhile the left
brain in the opposite. We ever hear a person who calls their friends by the dominance’s use of
the brain. Knowing an individual’s brain dominance can help you understand his/her “ways”
of thinking, behaving, speaking, and functioning.
1 Easier for Child Learn New Language than Adult in Our Daily Life

5. Some language skills involves analytical, sequential, and left braining process. Guessing,
associating, and getting the main idea are function of right brain. The good learners use both
of left and right brain depending on what works for the best.
(Picture from Google.com)
To know someone who used right brain, they are creative, see patterns, spatial awareness,
and understanding different things relate each other in different way. They are good at
recognizing faces, places, and objects.2 For people who used the left brain, they will good on
language, mathematical concepts like time and sequence. They are good on letters, numbers,
and words.
Here the table shows the distinction function part of the brain from Krashen,
Left hemisphere Right hemisphere
1 Language, spoken and written Spatial relations
2 Time related functions “Gestalt” perception
3 “Propositional” thought “Apposition” thought
2 Sousa, 1995, p. 88.

6. 4 Number skills Insight, three dimensional, visual
5 Reasoning Art, and images, imagination
6 Scientific thought Music
C. Adult and Children Periods
Some researchers have found that adults can be better at language learning under
conditions control. Adults know how to create a good sentence by construct such elements of
subject, conjunction, verbs and the part of complement. They also used sense of the punctuation
and good grammar.
Children or young learners are focused on their pronunciation rather than a good sentence.
We can say that children develop their language by their own way. They adopting new sounds
of pre-adolescence and create their own atmosphere of peer communications. Because children
use smaller vocabularies and simple standard syntax than adults, the standard of the fluency is
lower for them. For children, the important thing just they understand each other’s and they
feel happy with what they do.
When parents, teachers and policy makers, try to identify the right timing for teaching a
foreign language to children, an “informed decision” might well be based on a comparison of
the experiences and performance of students who started learning a foreign language at
different ages.
We can find a complex way of communication in adult periods. In this periods, they are
able to talk more complicated things, such as politics, social, science, technology, and
globalization. Of course they will be use different word to picture same thing, although it has
same meaning in the adult emotions it can give “sense” higher level of educations.
D. Effectiveness of Language
To master language is not easy. We should learn new words or vocabularies, which it
needed. Linguistic knowledge like words must not only be newly acquired, but also be
consolidated through repetitive use in daily life.
There are optimal or sensitive periods which particular types of learning most effective.
Speech sound, some certain emotional, and cognitive experience like language exposure are
early sensitive periods. However, vocabularies can grow every time as long as the learners try
to get new vocabularies.

7. People who like used right brain particularly like visual like picture to understand a concept.
Like to sing and some activities like group discussion, shared experiments, and role plays.
Nevertheless, left brain dominance like to provide information in sequences, like make a list
what must they do, and do their job step by step. They like analysis, do research, and work in
worksheets.
E. Bloom Taxonomy
Benjamin Bloom is known in learning by his “taxonomy”, a way of organizing how we
look at learning. There are six stages in learning process. We know these stages as a part of
syllabus. These six stages are: knowledge, comprehension, application, analysis, synthesis, and
evaluation. These are some information,
1. Knowledge: arrange, define, duplicate, label, list, memorize, name, order, recognize, relate,
recall, repeat, reproduce, and state.
2. Comprehension: classify, describe, discuss, explain, express, identify, indicate, locate,
recognize, report, restate, review, select, and translate.
3. Application: apply, choose, demonstrate, dramatize, employ, illustrate, interpret, operate,
practice, schedule, sketch, solve, use, and write.
4. Analysis: analyse, appraise, calculate, categorize, compare, contrast, criticize, differentiate,
discriminate, distinguish, examine, experiment, question, and test.
5. Synthesis: arrange, assemble, collect, compose, construct, create, design, develop,
formulate, manage, organize, plan, prepare, propose, set up, and write.
6. Evaluation: appraise, argue, assess, attach, choose, compare, defend, estimate, judge,
predict, rate, core, select, support, value, and evaluate. The information is taken from:
Handbook for Second Language Acquisition by Dr. Catherine Collier.
(Bloom’s Taxonomy)

8. Try to utilize higher order of questions. Higher questions improve our brain. Benjamin
Bloom identified three domains of educational activities: cognitive focuses on mental skills or
knowledge, affective on emotional area or attitude, and psychomotor relates to skills.
F. Aphasia
We know that left hemisphere is focused on language’s ability especially the production
and the process. The study of the patients who have had a damage in certain parts of the left
hemisphere cortex is called “aphasia” or speech impairment. British calls aphasia as dysphasia.
“Aphasiology” is a study about language loss in a normal brain. Aphasia divides in two kinds,
“Broca's aphasia” involves difficulty in speaking, also known as emissive aphasia. It has a
difficulty replying grammatical in coherent way. Meanwhile, “Wernicke's aphasia” involves
difficulty in comprehension, in extracting meaning from a context, it is also known as receptive
aphasia.
G. Importance of Right-Brain Learning for Foreign Language
Sometimes, learning is not fun. We feel bored, exhausted and frustrated, especially for
student, who learn foreign language. However, learn is not always awful. When we play a game
or learn to drive a car, we enjoy that moment. Actually, the right approach will make a different.
We know that the hemisphere of our brain is like a different person. They play different
roles in learning style. While people are divided fairly equally between left- and right-brain
dominance, schools tend to exclusively utilize left-brain learning techniques (textbooks,
lectures, exams, memorization, etc.). Therefore right-brain learners often struggle with many
subjects, especially subjects that benefit from right-brain teaching techniques utilizing sensory
stimulus and hands-on experience.
The left brain is responsible for learning the rules and structures of a language, and can
make sense out of what is heard, as well as formulate a response. The right brain is good on
memorizing the words and sounds, and making them rapidly available to the left brain when it
needs. The two sides work together to construct or deconstruct the language building blocks in
a meaningful way that follows the rules of the language. You simply cannot understand or
speak a language without both sides of the brain, and it’s important to teach each side in the
way that works best for it.

9. Language patterns don’t always make sense, and the left brain is going to have a hard time
because that. The patterns we learned in speaking our native language is different in a real life,
especially when they appear to be the same. For example when we see an “r” in a word, we
want to say the American English “r” sound, but the “r” sound is quite different in Spanish,
French or German. Our left brain will be constantly trying to find common ground between the
two different “r” sounds, resulting in an American English accent. Only by shutting out the left
brain, we can learn to pronounce the “r” like a native.
Fortunately the right brain is not so critical, and does not have problem with ambiguity or
novelty. Remember that the right side of the brain appreciates art. So when learning new sounds
or words in a foreign language, it’s best to direct the input to the right brain. With foreign
language vocabulary, the goal is to load up the brain with as many words and sounds as
possible, as well as their associated meanings. The right brain excels in this sort of thing. It
absorbs information subconsciously and in a non-linear fashion, so fragments of information
can be stored and recalled instantaneously and effortlessly. Compared to the left brain, it will
memorize words more quickly, more accurately, more easily, and more permanently. Learning
in this way can actually be quite fun.

10. CHAPTER III
Conclusion
Brain is the main part of human on processing the information. All parts of bodies connect
with the brain and connect by nerve. There are two hemisphere in the brain, left and right. Each
hemisphere of brain has their own function. However they work together to gain the best
information. Left hemisphere of brain relates to some languages’ skills and analytical process.
Meanwhile the right hemisphere relates to guess something and get the main idea.
By knowing dominance of brain for each student, and giving activities according to the
need, parent and teacher might also improve the efficiency of learning and acquisition process.
To increase the success rate and advise capacity of the students, learning strategies and
recalling activities should be balances. All information above will make sure that teacher and
parent appeal to all learners with different brain dominances and provide their learners much
experiences.
Teacher and parent should find a way to combine three aspect of educational domains:
cognitive, affective, and psychomotor, to create the right atmosphere, and make learning easier
and more enjoyable. All things before will help students reinforce their knowledge with
meaningful activities.

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