What is the best way to learn a new language?A small study of foreign language learningin adults compared two methods.One is known as the explicit or classroom method.This is the kind of traditional classroom teachingwhere students are taught a lot of informationabout grammar rules.The other method is known as the implicitor immersion method.The idea here is to learn much the way children dowhen they learn a native language.That is, by being with native speakersand absorbing the language that surrounds them,generally without a lot of explanation.Teachers may combine these two methodsinto what Professor Michael Ullmancalls immersion-style classroom teaching.But is that necessarily a better way to learn a language?Mr. Ullman was the senior investigator for the new study.He is a professor of neuroscienceat Georgetown University Medical Center in Washington.He says he was surprised to findthat combining the two methods might not help the brainin processing the new language.MICHAEL ULLMAN: "You know, if my life were on the line,and I had to learn a language, what would I do? I'm not sure.One possibility would be that,to start with explicit and then go to immersion, right?Start with classroom and then go to immersion.But there is this possibility that classroomcould hurt later immersion. That's what, you know,one possibility of interpreting our data."The Public Library of Science published the study earlier this year.The twenty-one adults in the experiment learned Brocanto2,a thirteen-word language created for the study.The words and grammar rules relate to a computer gamesimilar to chess that the learners played.For example, "Blom neimo lu neep li praz" means"The square blom-piece switches with the neep-piece."The researchers tested the people three to six monthsafter they had learned the language,to see how well they could remember it.The study found that those who had learned itwith the immersion method had brain wavessimilar to those of native speakers of a languagewhen speaking that language.Professor Ullman says thosewho trained with the classroom methodalso became more native-like in their brain processing.But only the immersion group showedfull native-like processing of the grammar.Still, he says teachers should be carefulhow they use the results of his study.MICHAEL ULLMAN: "You know I would not makeany curriculum changes based on this.Nevertheless, it is suggestive,and I think it warrants further research to seewhether in fact what kind of training might in fact be bestnot just for reaching the native brain bases but also foryou know, maximum proficiency in different aspects of language,like grammar, you know, syntax and lexicon.So I think further research is warranted.And it may be, for example,that a combination of classroom and immersion might be best. But we don't know that."And that's the VOA Special English Education Report,written by Christopher Cruise.You can find a link to the study at 51voa.com.