Running head: ESL, SPECIAL EDUCATION, READING, AND NEUROSCIENCE 1 A Literature Review on The Multifaceted, Complex Relationship Between English as a Second Language, Special Education and L2 Reading Disability Potential Risk Factors And Neuroscience

The multifaceted, complex relationship between English as a Second Language, special education, and neuroscience is of utmost significance in U.S. schools. This literature review explores these relationships and also addresses concerns around formal and informal assessment, professional support and training/certification for educators and specialists, and effective strategies and interventions for struggling English learners. Neurological imaging illuminates the brain regions impacted in elementary and adolescent English learners who demonstrate typical and atypical language development. Educators, particularly special education and English as a Second Language teachers, and specialists can use this information as a guide to determine why the English learner is struggling and create appropriate intervention in order for the student to achieve success in the least restrictive environment. Special education and English as a Second Language teachers are at the forefront of providing direct services to K-12 English learners who demonstrate struggle with second language acquisition. A critical issue is determining whether the English learner is struggling due to a language difference or a learning disability. However, they need professional support, training, and knowledge of effective strategies in order to support struggling English learners. Thirty-four articles that meet the criteria are analyzed; results of the identified studies and limitations are reported. The interrelationships between English as a Second Language, special education, and neuroscience, are significantly important in order for all English learners to be effectively supported in the general education classroom setting. Key Terms: English as a second language, neurological imaging studies, brain hemispheric involvement and impact on second language learning, monolingual vs. bilingual adolescent and adult learners, age of second language acquisition, proficiency, socioeconomic status, elementary English learners, reading disability in English, supporting educators and English learners, language difference vs. learning disability ESL, SPECIAL EDUCATION, READING, AND NEUROSCIENCE 3 A Literature Review on The Multifaceted, Complex Relationship Between English as a Second Language, Special Education and L2 Reading Disability Potential Risk Factors And Neuroscience Second language acquisition from childhood through adulthood is significantly impacted by structures in both the right and left hemispheres in the brain that process language. An individual’s degree of proficiency in his or her first language (L1) greatly determines one’s ability to learn and demonstrate proficiency in the second language (L2). When the English learner struggles with reading, written, and comprehension skills in English, the discrepancy between knowledge of L1 and L2 is significantly increased. Neurological, medical imaging such as functional magnetic resonance imaging provides insight into the hemispheric changes in the brain’s language processing regions; as a result, imaging reveals the typical process of learning a second language and also what happens when the English learner is struggling to learn L2. Educators, specialists, clinicians, and parents/guardians can use the information provided in medical imaging studies to enhance their practice when working with elementary English learners; understanding that both the right and left hemispheres are involved during language processing, educators, specialists, and clinicians can utilize this information when determining if the English learner has a language difference or a learning disability. In addition, these professionals will be better equipped to provide strategies that will best meet their students’ needs during L2 development. Administrators can use this information to better support special education and English as a Second Language personnel through focused professional ESL, SPECIAL EDUCATION, READING, AND NEUROSCIENCE 4 development designed to enhance their knowledge of research-based effective strategies when working with struggling elementary English learners. Understanding the multifaceted, complex relationship between English as a second language and neuroscience is integral to understanding the neurological and educational factors that lead to elementary and adolescent English learners’ challenges to acquiring and developing proficiency in English (L2). In the following, I provide: v A rationale for focusing on elementary English learners, define terminology specific to neuroscience/medical imaging, and explain the integral connection between Phases I and II of the research. v Discussion of the methodology used to present and analyze the current research for Phase II. v Provision of in depth insight into the neurological imaging that details information about the brain’s structures and the specific region(s) in the right and left hemispheres that are impacted and activated during second language acquisition (Phase I) and also when the English learner demonstrates struggle learning English (Phase II). v Integration of the clinical neurological imaging and information and the implications of this research for educators, specialists, clinicians, and parents who work with elementary English learners both those who struggle to learn English and typical development for second language acquisition. A positive, correlative relationship is seen between clinical neuroscience and second language acquisition. The language processing centers in both the right and left hemispheres in the brain have proven to be activated during an individual’s study of a second language. Therefore, second language acquisition is a highly complex process that involves several critical features that must align in order for successful learning of and ultimately mastering, a second