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Age, Rate and Eventual Attainment in Second Language Acquisition

Decent Essays

Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL)

Age, Rate and Eventual Attainment in Second Language Acquisition Author(s): Stephen D. Krashen, Michael A. Long and Robin C. Scarcella Reviewed work(s): Source: TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 13, No. 4 (Dec., 1979), pp. 573-582 Published by: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL) Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/3586451 . Accessed: 09/01/2013 08:48
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Distinguishingrate in and attainment, then,resolvesthe apparent contradictions the literature. In order to provide support for these generalizations,we examined inof in in vestigations child-adultdifferences eventual attainment second language studieswhich compare childrenand adults acquiring and short-term acquisition as naturalenvironments, well as formal, classroom second languages in informal, environments. I. Investigationsof Eventual Attainment:Long Term Studies There have been surprisingly few studies investigating child-adultdifferences in eventual attainmentin second language acquisition. The available studies all concur,however,that age of arrival in the countrywhere the language is spoken is the best predictorof eventual attainment:1) those who and 2) arrive as children attain higher levels of second language proficiency, aftera certainperiod (see discussionbelow) lengthof residence (where length of residence taps linguisticinteraction/input) not a factor.(see Table 1)3 is 2. Investigationsof Rate: Short-term Studies 2.1. Comparisonsof Adult/ChildDifferences. The short-term studies comparing children and adults (see Table 2) show adults to be superior to childrenin rate. Treatmentor length of residencyin these studies

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