English spoken word segmentation activates the prefrontal cortex and temporo-parietal junction in Chinese ESL learners: A functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRS) study.

•The first fNIRS study that tested neural activation patterns for Chinese university ESL (English as a Second Language) learners while they engaged in English spoken word segmentation.•There were different activation patterns in the PFC and TPJ depending on listening proficiency and task conditions.•Evidence from the PFC showed that cognitive inhibition might contribute to successful word segmentation. And the evidence is more robust under a difficult task condition.•High proficient English listeners used their classical auditory processing area TPJ in segmenting words more efficiently than did the less proficient participants.