Age Has An Effect On Second Language

Many popular theories of second language acquisition have been analyzed throughout history. The socialization of L2 learners, their present emotional state that is present at time of acquisition, as well as the comprehensible input and output with the use of scaffolding play a major role in second language acquisition. Let us also not forget the importance of written expression as well as reading comprehension with these L2 learners. Each play a role in language development. However, I believe that in acquiring a language, one must use a variety of techniques that work together to create a balance within the learning environment. Furthermore, all L2 learners learn differently and so a variety of resources will need to be used based on the ability of each student. There are many theories that have been developed by highly qualified experts in the field on linguistics. However, I will address those areas that I agree with as I present my personal theories on second language acquisition.

Judie Haynes’ article, “Stages of Second Language Acquisition”, clearly states five stages that a new learner of English may go through. In Haynes’ theory, there are five stages in total, and they are pre-production, early production, speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. According to Haynes, new learners of English acquire language by going through the same stages. However, how much time each student spends at a particular stage may be different. Despite the different time length, the stages of people acquiring new language are worth discussing.

Since, the second language is an additional language after we acquire the first language, the L2 learning process can be influenced by the L1 learning process This essay will demonstrate the similarities and differences in L1 and L2 acquisition by discussing various theories. Then, draw a conclusion based on the evidence provided and my own experience.

Many second language acquisition theories have been developed over the years. These theories examine the avenues in which second language is acquired and the avenues in which they are

There are several theories regarding language development. Work by Chomsky, Piaget and Kuhl are critical. Studies by Chomsky, as examined by Albery, Chandler, Field, Jones, Messer, Moore and Sterling (2009); Deloache, Eisenberg & Siegler (2003) argued for the innateness of language acquisition due to its complexity. Development is assisted by a language acquisition device (LAD) and universal grammar both of which holding the propensity for commonalities throughout all languages. LAD is the key to the Syntax rule. The knowledge to master the rules is held unconsciously. Chomsky concludes exposure through auditory channels as being the only requirement for learning. Arguably Kuhl (2010) writes infantile exposure to language through auditory channels only, does not contribute effectively to learning indicating the importance of human interaction. Piaget, as discussed by Ault (1977) postulated language as not being part of the earliest stages of development. Signifying within sensorimotor stage, between birth and two years, the child’s development is too reflexive. Gleitman, Fridlund and Reisberg (2004) discuss the critical period hypothesis and suggest the young brain being more suited to acquisition than the adult brain. Lenneberg (1967) (as cited in Gleitman et al 2004) advocates, brain maturation closes language acquisition capacity window. Kuhl (2010) identified, within the critical period babies develop

The first area of difference between first (L1) and second (L2) language learning is input – specifically the quality and quantity of input. It is the idea of the "connectionist model that implies... (that the) language learning process depends on the input frequency and regularity" (5).. It is here where one finds the greatest difference between L1 and L2 acquisition. The quantity of exposure to a target language a child gets is immense compared to the amount an adult receives. A child hears the language all day everyday, whereas an adult learner may only hear the target language in the classroom – which could be as little as three hours a week. Even if one looks at an adult in a total submersion situation the quantity is still less because the amount of one on one interaction that a child gets for example with a parent or other caregiver is still much greater then the adult is receiving.

Children acquire language since they were born. They communicate with their parents. Furthermore, children and parents interact with each other using a language that we often call the first language or mother tongue. At an early age, children are only learning one language that is the mother tongue. By age and speech development, children improve to acquire a second language from the school or the environment around them. In terms of speed of langgauge acquisition, children are factorized by both the child and the child’s learning environment. Therefore, it is important to understand how children acquire second language. This paper is provided

Other researchers of SLA interested in assessing phonological skills of learners suggest a common belief that younger learners acquire a native like accent in the target language. Dunkel and Pillet (reported in Singleton, 1989) compared the proficiency in French between elementary school pupils and beginning students of French from the university. They found that the younger learners’ pronunciation was better than that of the older ones.

This term paper aims at reviewing various stages of language development in human being early life in regards to language development. The paper also analyzes various theoretical issues and hypothesis that contributes to change of speech and how human beings corporate the changes in their daily development as far as language is concerned. Adult language and child language are quite different especially because adults have more exposure to the society norms than the children. It will also take in to consideration various processes of learning, how children acquire linguistic inputs such as forms meanings and word use during their talking processes. This term paper will focus on the child development in terms of language and gender. It is a paper on how children under the age of 10, learn language adaptation to their first language during their early developmental stages. It will identify theories for learning of a language, childhood development as well as look into the societal norms of gender socialization.

Phonics seems to play an essential role in pronunciation skills in young learners. The recognition of phonic sounds helps with language acquisition, pronunciation and development of other skills like reading, spelling and writing. Training the young learner’s ear to recognize the phonic sounds is the first step towards good pronunciation, comprehension, memory recall and fluency. “Therefore, there are really only two basic steps to learning a language: Master the perception and production of the sounds and attach meanings to these sounds” (Ness, 2012).

Healthy aging has become an important field of research of the 21st century. Today, people aged 85 and older are the fastest growing demographics in the United States (Lock & Belza, 2017). Aging has been associated with decline in cognitive performance such as executive functioning, episodic memory, and attention (Memel, Bourassa, Woolverton, and Sbarra, 2016) as well decline in volume of such brain structures as grey and white matters (Sowell, Peterson, Thompson, Welcome, Henkenius & Toga, 2003). Therefore, it is important to understand mechanisms and processes that influence decline in cognitive abilities and brain structures with age to reduce its occurrence or at least to reduce the speed of its decline (Ska et al., 2009). It is hypothesized that bilingualism promotes healthy cognitive aging by enhancing the executive control functions, preserving grey matter volume, and contributing to the cognitive reserve that can delay the onset of dementia in older age.

She notes that the role of prosody in language segmentation is to choose whether adjacent units of a communication fit to the same or different phonological unit. (Mora,2008) It also aids in location of words, clauses or phrases in a speech. That before a child acquires and comprehends grammar or utterances they hear, they must first be able to locate linguistically relevant units in the speech, and thus, prosody helps in the segmentation process of prosodic changes like pausing, pitch resetting that may occur at linguistic boundaries. (Mora,

While many previous studies have focused on the production and/or perception of the epenthesized consonant clusters of non-words either word initially or word finally as a measure to test how language phonotactics affect phonological processing regardless of the speaker’s familiarity with the target language (Davidson 2006, Davidson, 2010, Fleischhacker, 2001, Tily and Kuperman, 2010, Dupoux, 1998) , none have focused on the role that speaker’s experience might play in both perception and production together in relation to the epenthetic vowel word initially and word finally at the same time. These studies fall basically on four basic categories: The production and/or perception of the initial epenthesized consonant clusters ( e.g Silveira, 2000, e.g Broselow 1992; Kiparsky 2003; Watson 2007) and the production and/or perception of the final consonant clusters (Kuijpers and van Donselaar (1997), Awbery 1984, Clements 1986; Ní Chiosáin 1995; Bosch and de Jong 1998).

According to my mother's account, I started talking earlier than average. From my own thoughts of childhood, I suspect that compared with several children, my L1 learning was likely more from adults (parents and teachers) and less from colleagues. Later on, I became more dependent on reading and radio, the latter becoming significant as I had a lot of time off school because of my yearly bouts of bronchitis. At elementary school, my linguistic foundation was normally `ahead' of most of my schoolmates and friends. I had some issues with peer relationships as I concentrated more on listening to the teachers than following student norms.

Abstract: In second language acquisition, age factors has always been the study focus and one of the most controversial issues of linguistics. Based on the Brain Plasticity Theory and the Critical Period Hypothesis, the purpose is to prove such a hypothesis that the younger the leaner who begins to learn an second language,the greater the probability that he or she will achieve a native-like command of it.