Executive Functions and Conversational Competence: Didactical Implications for Spoken Language

Executive Functions And Language

Alexander R. Luria (1966, 1973, 1978) pointed out the relationship between language development and executive functions skills when described the functional organitation of the brain. According to this author, the brain uses different processing blocks depending on the demands of the task. Thus, in a conversational or communicative exchange, attentional processes would be involved in the first instance, otherwise the receiver would not attend to the sender and vice versa. Furthermore, it is necessary to pay attention to both the form and the content of the message in order to compose an appropriate response to the communicative context. Secondly, information is encoded and thirdly, planning, self-monitoring and organisation of cognitive activities come into play.