Effects of L2 Immersion Experiences on Translation Task Performance through a Brain-imaging Technique of Functional Near-Infrared Spectroscopy

The present study aims to explore, using fNIRS, (1) whether L2 immersion experiences impact brain activation in lexical translation processing when compared to L2 learners without immersion, and (2) what regions of the frontal lobe is most affected by such experiences. 24 Japanese learners of L2 English participated in the timed L1/L2 translation tasks. The results show (1) that overall activation is lowered in all of the three regions in the E-J condition, (2) that as one's L2 improves, the level of activation in Broca's area stays the same but the middle region becomes less activated and more activation takes place in the right region in the J-E condition, and (3) the order of oxy-Hb flow level follows these patterns; [Broca < Right < Middle] in the E-J task, but this order changes from [Middle < Broca = Right] to [Middle < Broca < Right] as one's L2 progresses. ∗ Hideyuki Taura : Professor, Graduate School of Language Education and Information Science Aoi Nasu, Daisuke Abe, Sayaka Hirai, Maiya Inoue, Asami Nakagawa, Takashi Nakamura, Mayumi Oga, Ryoko Takamura : Graduate students, Graduate School of Language Education and