Autonomic Factors of Successful Foreign Language Acquisition by Students and Schoolchildren

The aim of the study was to identify autonomic factors of successful acquisition of a foreign language by students and schoolchildren and find the optimal modes of autonomic regulation of the learning processes.

Materials and Methods. 16 children in grade 4, 37 pupils in grades 5–11 studying at school with in-depth English language learning, and 10 second-year linguistics university students participated in the study.

The data on the functional state dynamics of the university students and schoolchildren during English lessons were collected using event-related telemetry technology, which continuously recorded the heart rate. A specially designed protocol and a standard 5-point grading scale were used to assess the language progress.

Results. The analysis of heart rate variability data in different contexts revealed a similarity in autonomic regulation modes for the schoolchildren and university students who studied English successfully. Consequently, similar functional states are typical for performing different language-related tasks. For all age groups, high activity of the autonomic nervous system was optimal for English learning. The difference was in the sympathetic and parasympathetic activity ratio: the contribution of the sympathetic circuit is more important for the university students, whereas the parasympathetic one — at school stage.

Conclusion. The study of a foreign language acquisition by the Russian students and schoolchildren showed that from the standpoint of psychophysiology, the main factor of success for the students was a high autonomic nervous system activity with a prominent dominance of the sympathetic activation. For the schoolchildren, a coordinated activation of both sympathetic and parasympathetic regulation modes was the most optimal state for language learning.

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Demareva V.A., Bovykina D.V., Edeleva Yu.A. Autonomic Factors of Successful Foreign Language Acquisition by Students and Schoolchildren. Sovremennye tehnologii v medicine 2019; 11(1): 177, https://doi.org/10.17691/stm2019.11.1.21