It is proposed that research on neurological organization, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence can contribute to understanding the relationship between second language learning processes and academic achievement. Relevant research in these areas and in the field of neurolinguistics is reviewed, with several themes or topics highlighted: the threshold hypothesis of language proficiency; the search for alternatives to this theory; the "connectionist" approach to cognition; the link between learning and attention; the roles of information processing and the visual system in immersion second language learning; and interference effects of sociocultural factors. It is concluded that there are several advantages in trying to integrate emerging information from neuroscientific research, cognitive psychology, and artificial intelligence into educators' thinking about language learning problems: there is substantial research available; data are more precise than in most second language research; the perspective is physical, not behavioral, and information can be constructed from knowledge of the brain's inner workings; and artificially constructed ideas about learning processes can be de-constructed. Contains 55 references. (MSE)