A study of similarity and/or dissimilarity of brain activation of Japanese learners during written tests and conversation

In modern-day language teaching, ensuring that there is a practical communicative proficiency is the first priority, rather than trying to enhance a learner's grammatical knowledge. This can be said to be true in a first language, as well as when somebody attempts to learn a second language. Researchers are now exploring ways that written tests can be used to assess a learner's speaking ability or communicative proficiency. Dr Yu Hirata is based within the Graduate School of Language Education and Information Science at Ritsumeikan University in Japan, and is heading up a study of the similarities and dissimilarities of brain activity in Japanese learners during written tests and conversation, which could provide significant benefits to those teaching and studying language courses.