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Age and Second Language Learning

There is an ongoing debate about whether there is a critical period for second language acquisition. While children may initially learn a second language faster than adults, adults often achieve a higher level of proficiency overall. Younger learners tend to develop more native-like pronunciation and grammar, while older learners learn faster initially and have advantages like better memory and analytical skills. Ultimately both younger and older learners can achieve high proficiency in a second language, but the path and outcome may differ depending on their starting age.

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178 views

Age and Second Language Learning

There is an ongoing debate about whether there is a critical period for second language acquisition. While children may initially learn a second language faster than adults, adults often achieve a higher level of proficiency overall. Younger learners tend to develop more native-like pronunciation and grammar, while older learners learn faster initially and have advantages like better memory and analytical skills. Ultimately both younger and older learners can achieve high proficiency in a second language, but the path and outcome may differ depending on their starting age.

Uploaded by

Aidan Donovan
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© Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
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Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Age and Second Language Learning

INITIAL RATE (OF LEARNING): The speed at which new L2 material is learned early in the L2 learning process, where, contrary to popular belief, older learners have an advantage over young children in SLA. ULTIMATE ACHIEVEMENT: The end result of L2 study. CRITICAL PERIOD: The limited number of years during which normal L1 acquisition is possible. PLASTICITY: The capacity of the brain to assume new functions. In early childhood, if one area of the brain is damaged, another area of the brain is able to assume the functions of the damaged area because it retains plasticity.

Age
It is a common belief that children are more successful L2 learners than adults, but the evidence for this is actually surprisingly equivocal. One reason for the apparent inconsistency in research findings is that some studies define relative success as initial rate of learning (where, contrary to popular belief, older learners have an advantage) while other studies define it as ultimate achievement (where learners who are introduced to the L2 in childhood indeed do appear to have an edge). Also, some studies define success in terms of how close the learners pronunciation is to a native speakers, others in terms of how closely a learner app roximates native grammaticality judgments, and still others in terms of fluency or functional competence. It is very important to keep evaluative criteria clearly in mind while judging conflicting claims. The question of whether, and how, age affects L2 outcomes has been a major issue in SLA for several decades, and a number of recent publications provide reviews from different points of view (e.g. Birdsong 1999; Scovel 2000; Singleton 2001). Some of the advantages which have been reported for both younger and older learners are listed in 4.3.

We noted [that] languages and the brain that there is a critical period for first language acquisition: children have only a limited number of years during which normal acquisition is possible. Beyond that, physiological changes cause the brain to lose its plasticity, or capacity to assume the new functions that learning language demands. Individuals who for some reason are deprived of the linguistic input which is needed to trigger first language acquisition during the critical period will never learn any language normally. One famous documented case which provides rare evidence for this point is that of Genie, an abused girl who was kept isolated from all language input and interaction until she was thirteen years old. In spite of years of intensive efforts at remediation, Genie never developed linguistic knowledge and skills for her L1 (English) that were comparable to those of speakers who began acquisition in early childhood (Curtiss 1977). Lenneberg (1967) speculated that the critical period applies to SLA as well as to first language acquisition, and that this accounts for why almost all L2 speakers have a foreign accent if they do not begin learning the language before the cut-off age. Seliger (1978) and Long (1990) argue instead that there are multiple periods which place constraints on different aspects of language: e.g. different periods relate to the acquisition of phonology versus the acquisition of syntax. They also suggest that these periods do not impose absolute cut-off points; it is just that L2 acquisition will more likely be complete if begun in childhood than if it does not start until a later age. This weaker claim seems warranted since some older learners can achieve native-like proficiency, although they definitely constitute a minority of second language learners. While most would agree that younger learners achieve ultimately higher levels of L2 proficiency, evidence is just as convincing that adolescents and adults learn faster in initial stages. While brain plasticity is listed as a younger learner advantage in 4.3, older learners are advantaged by greater learning capacity, including better memory for vocabulary. Greater analytic ability might also be an advantage for older learners, at least in the short run, since they are able to understand and apply explicit grammatical rules. On the other hand, Newport (1990) suggests that less is more in this respect: one reason younger learners develop more native-like grammatical intuitions is that they are in a non-analytic processing mode. This calls for another

qualification: younger learners are probably more successful in informal and naturalistic L2 learning contexts, and older learners in formal instructional settings. Other advantages that younger learners may have are being less inhibited than older learners, and having weaker feelings of identity with people (other than close family or caregivers) who speak the same native language. Children are also more likely to receive simplified language input from others, which might facilitate their learning Other advantages that older learners may have include higher levels of pragmatic skills and knowledge of L1, which may transfer positively to L2 use; more real-world knowledge enables older learners to perform tasks of much greater complexity, even when their linguistic resources are still limited.
Taken from Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Introducing Second Language Acquisition. UK: Cambridge University Press.

The Nativist View


Is it easier to learn a language as a child than as an adult? Is it ever too late to learn a language? If a child has not acquired a language by a certain age, is it possible that he or she will never master language? Do children learning a first language use different cognitive processes than adults do when they try to learn a second language? These questions are at the heart of the idea that there is a sensitive period for language acquisition that children must be exposed to language early in life if they are ever to master it. A sensitive period implies that the brains of children are specially suited to learning language any languagebut with time, experience, and brain maturation, they lose their special knack for language learning, making it more difficult to learn a first or second language. This contention is consistent with a nativist perspective of language acquisition. (Bjorklund, David F. & Blasi, Carlos Hernndez, 2010, p. 351) learning a second language is easiest when one is young and becomes progressively more difficult with age. (Bjorklund, David F. & Blasi, Carlos Hernndez, 2010, p. 354) Peoples proficiency in a second language [depends on] the age at which they were first exposed to it and not the number of years they had been using the language. (Bjorklund, David F. & Blasi, Carlos Hernndez, 2010, p. 354) EVIDENCES FOR A SENSITIVE PERIOD FOR LANGUAGE (LOCKE, 1993) 1. Children who experience prolonged social isolation rarely become proficient language users. 2. The older people are when they are first exposed to a second language, the less proficient they are in the grammar of that language, as well as in pronunciation. 3. Hearing-impaired children who are not exposed to sign language until later in life show less proficiency in American Sign Language than do hearing-impaired children who are exposed to sign language at an earlier age. 4. Recovery of language function as a result of brain damage is greater the earlier the brain damage occurs. It seems clear that learning a first or second language is easier for children than for adults, with childrens flexibility in learning a language beginning to decrease as they reach the school years and continuing to decrease into adolescence. In other words, childrens neuronal and cognitive systems appear to be especially geared for learning both a first and second language. This does not mean that a second language cannot be learned after early childhood, but the effort required is greater, and the results, especially in pronunciation and grammar, may not be as good compared to those who learned a second language in early childhood. (Bjorklund, David F. & Blasi, Carlos Hernndez, 2010, p. 355)
BIBLIOGRAPHY: Bjorklund, D. F. & Blasi, C. H. (2012). Is There a Sensitive Period for Acquiring Language? Child and Adolescent Development: An Integrated Approach (pp. 351-356). Canada: Wadsworth, Cengage Learning. Saville-Troike, M. (2006). Introducing Second Language Acquisition. UK: Cambridge University Press.

Prepared by: JOHN CARL S. RONATO MAED Major in English

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