Cerebral Dominance, English as a Second Language Methodologies, Theory, Learning, and Acquisition for the Adult ESL Student

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to affirm that the right cerebral hemisphere is dominant in the initial phase of English as a Second Language processing. This study compared a right cerebral hemispheric Whole Language (pictorial-oriented) teaching method with a left cerebral hemispheric oriented Competency Based approach. Subjects (n=136) represented diverse cultures and ranged from 18 to 80 years of age from different counties in Connecticut. Overall, the Whole Language group achieved higher test gainb with a mean of 2.91 and a S.D. of 9.19 than the Competency Based group with a mean of 0.08 and a S.D. of 8.77. The beginner's instructional level Whole Language group out-performed all groups with a mean of 4.18 and a S.D. of 8.98. There is) a borderline (P~.05) significant difference between the beginner's Whole Language group and the intermediate instructional level Whole Language group. There is a strong indication that there is an effect which actively demonstrates that the right cerebral hemispheric based Whole Language (pictorial-oriented) curriculum is superior to the left cerebral hemispheric competency based curriculum for the beginning level non English speaking adult student. This lends support to the hypothesis that there is greater right cerebral hemispheric involvement in the acquisition of English as a Second Language at the initial learning stage for non English speaking adults. In teaching practice, it would be advisable to incorporate the Whole Language (pictorial-oriented) approach in the instruction of ESL to beginning level non English speaking adult students. The researcher believes that blending both methods as well as utilizing other total English language immersion teaching methodologies in an eclectic manner is the optimal way of providing ESL instruction to adults.