P. Ya. Galperin’s Activity Theory and Language Consciousness Theory: Results of EEG-Based Research with Regard to ICT-Assisted Foreign Language

Abstract

This article presents the results of an EEG-based study of peculiarities of brain oscillatory activity in the process of language learner task performance (based on the German language). The aim of the study was to reveal neuro-physiological indicators making it possible to claim a significant difference between the ways of information input when considering language learner activity at the neurolinguistic level. The methodological approach in the experimental group was based on P. Ya. Galperin’s theory of stage-by-stage formation of mental activity and language consciousness, according to which the learner’s native language becomes a language model that helps him/her acquire general linguistic mechanisms and then transfer the skill formed to the process of mastering German, gradually making the rejection of the learner’s native language possible. The results obtained allow us to claim the existence of certain differences between the groups of subjects, consisting in smaller amplitude of the P300 peak and its smaller duration with the experimental group in comparison with the control one. Less activity in the alpha range for the experimental group was found. Taken together, these parameters may suggest less difficulty (compared to the control group) in completing language tasks by the learners. The results of the study will serve as a neuro- and psycho linguistic basis for the development of information and communication technologies in teaching German on the basis of the existing linguodidactic course leading to the language proficiency test in accordance with international requirements of EFRL. The effectiveness of P. Ya. Galperin’s activity theory, Type 3, confirmed by neuro- and psycholinguistic parameters, can constitute an alternative basis for the development of digital learning programs based so far in foreign and Russian applications on the Ebbinghaus curve.