About this Research Topic
Traditional philosophy of language was originated based on a disembodied view. In contrast, recent research with behavioral and neuroimaging methodologies emphasizes language embodiment, which claims for the central role of the body and brain in shaping language acquisition, learning, comprehension, and production. The embodiment view of language is supported by a body of empirical research covering the principles and mechanism of body-mind integration from interdisciplinary perspectives, including cognitive linguistics, educational psychology, artificial intelligence, and physiological neuroscience.
This Research Topic aims to collect papers covering (1) learning principles (e.g., total physical responses, handwriting-facilitated meaning and orthography learning, gesture-bootstrap learning, body-based linguistic constructions, to learning-by-doing, experience and action-based language instruction), (2) cognitive processes (that recruit conceptual-metaphor, sensory, motor and affective processes for lower-level and higher level of linguistic construction), and (3) the underpinning theories and mechanisms (that involve visual-auditory integration, simulation semantics, embodied construction of orthography and grammar, and the neural theory of language and the mind). The target population could range from typical and atypical readers, who are learning their native or a second/foreign language with and without disabilities. The suggested analytical approach could consider mixed-linear modeling (Guan & Fraundorf, 2020), and the methodological design principles could follow (Guan et al., 2021a;2021b).
We welcome researchers who are in the field of cognitive linguistics, learning sciences, artificial intelligence, and educational psychology, and related areas to contribute to this special topic. The themes of the paper could cover the following topics, but not limited to these suggested areas and approaches:
- Experience and exposure for L1 & L2 language learning
- Perception and action in second language and foreign language development
- Action and body-related teaching and learning principles
- The role of gesture in L1 & L2 language learning
- Sign language in typical and atypical learners
- Handwriting bootstrap for language acquisition
- Meta-analyses for the role of embodiment in language learning
- Qualitative synthesis on the role of embodiment in language learning
- Comparative studies on the role of embodiment between typical and atypical readers
- Neuroimaging experiments related to the above-mentioned topics
This Research Topic aims to collect papers covering (1) learning principles (e.g., total physical responses, handwriting-facilitated meaning and orthography learning, gesture-bootstrap learning, body-based linguistic constructions, to learning-by-doing, experience and action-based language instruction), (2) cognitive processes (that recruit conceptual-metaphor, sensory, motor and affective processes for lower-level and higher level of linguistic construction), and (3) the underpinning theories and mechanisms (that involve visual-auditory integration, simulation semantics, embodied construction of orthography and grammar, and the neural theory of language and the mind). The target population could range from typical and atypical readers, who are learning their native or a second/foreign language with and without disabilities. The suggested analytical approach could consider mixed-linear modeling (Guan & Fraundorf, 2020), and the methodological design principles could follow (Guan et al., 2021a;2021b).
We welcome researchers who are in the field of cognitive linguistics, learning sciences, artificial intelligence, and educational psychology, and related areas to contribute to this special topic. The themes of the paper could cover the following topics, but not limited to these suggested areas and approaches:
- Experience and exposure for L1 & L2 language learning
- Perception and action in second language and foreign language development
- Action and body-related teaching and learning principles
- The role of gesture in L1 & L2 language learning
- Sign language in typical and atypical learners
- Handwriting bootstrap for language acquisition
- Meta-analyses for the role of embodiment in language learning
- Qualitative synthesis on the role of embodiment in language learning
- Comparative studies on the role of embodiment between typical and atypical readers
- Neuroimaging experiments related to the above-mentioned topics
Keywords: Language embodiment, Language acquisition, Body-mind integration, Cognitive linguistics, Artificial intelligence, Physiological neuroscience, Neuroimaging, Typical and atypical readers
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
