ABSTRACT
Learning a new language changes the mind and brain. Developmental cognitive neuroscience, a discipline that bridges the science of child cognitive and brain development (Johnson, 2005), offers us theoretical frameworks and neuroimaging tools to examine the mental and neural processes of child language development. In this chapter, we accomplish two goals. First, we review neuroimaging methods of developmental neuroscience and how they can be used to study child second language development. Second, we examine how information about the developing brain’s structure and function can advance our understanding of child second language and literacy development. We focus on phonological awareness as a window into the developing reading brain of second language learners. The neuroimaging tools and findings are discussed in relation to theoretical perspectives and educational practice in teaching literacy to young second language learners.
