Critical Evidence: A Test of the Critical-Period Hypothesis for Second-Language Acquisition

Foreign language classes are often put off until high school due to the fact that this is when people believe students are most ready to learn another language. This belief is widely accepted despite the fact children are able to learn to speak like natives in foreign languages, whereas teenagers and adults usually are not able to learn how to do this. Speaking “like a native” entails being able to think in a foreign language without having to translate (Nadia 1). The ability to speak like a native in a foreign language can be easier to obtain when taught the foreign language during elementary school. Once a student passes the prime learning stages, learning a foreign language can be extremely difficult. Adults starting to learn a language have to work through an established first-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.

However, there is a critical period of learning a second language, “Many linguists believe there is a 'critical period ' (lasting roughly from birth until puberty) during which a child can easily acquire any language that he or she is regularly exposed to. Under this view, the structure of the brain changes at puberty, and after that it becomes

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.

When its comes to language it shows that in our childhood our brains are more flexible in adapting to new types of information. When we're younger it's easier to pick up than we get older. Even when we get older learning a new language may not be easy but it's not impossible. It just interference between the new and old languages. Which makes it take time to learn a new language. Age has a part in learning a language the older we get the harder it is to remembering things. So critical period of language is when you are

In the book Why Tesol?, it states that the major tenets of Cummins’ model of second language acquisition is the framework that focuses on the “distinction between social language and academic language.”Cummins suggests that academic language takes longer to acquire and social language is easier because it is in the “here and now”. Cummins’ Quadrant Model consists of 4 quadrants: Quadrant 1 - Social language; Quadrant 2 - Target language; Quadrant 3 - Target language; Quadrant 4 - Academic language. (p. 152). Although, there are many models of second language acquisition, I felt that Cummin’s model was a great representative of where Carlos’ second language acquisition has fallen behind. When beginning remediation with Carlos’ my first priority is to provide him with a solid foundation of academic vocabulary that will assist him throughout his learning experience. This process is beneficial when teaching content area. In order for Carlos to succeed in the classroom he will need to become familiar and be able to comprehend the content area. Before beginning each lesson I would have Carlos share his knowledge of the vocabulary words and academic language that is beneficial to the lesson. This will provide insight to see which areas I need to review and which areas he has a strong foundation in. Next, I would provide Carlos with various opportunities to obtain the vocabulary needed in each content area. To develop his vocabulary I would provide him with a guide prior to

In contrast, “some adults have been known to acquire an authentic accent in a second language after the age of puberty, but such individuals are few and far between” (Brown, p.61, 2007). A study conducted by an anthropologist named Sorenson in the 1960’s conflicts with the Critical Period Hypothesis by proving that adults can in fact attain a perfect fluent second language acquisition just like a native speaker. This became evident when Sorenson studied the Tukano culture in South America in which people have to marry outside their ethnic group. Therefore, they marry someone who speaks another language. Once they marry into their spouse’s ethnic community they immediately start learning that specific language. Sorenson reported, “during adolescence,

They were primarily concerned with establishing how demographics affect language assimilation as well as how time of residency would influence bilingualism. In addition, it also touched upon the idea of parental status and its effect on English acquisition. In order to acquire this data, questionnaires were sent to various immigrant dense areas of Florida with 2,843 being returned. In addition, spots where there was less of an immigrant community were also polled in order to test a variety of different variables. Using the data acquired through this method, they were able to ascertain that the longer a second generation child had lived in America, the less likely they were to speak their parents’ language. Regardless of social status of the parent, the overwhelming English environment was enough to cause most kids to be mostly monolingual.

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

Numerous theories try to explain the process of language acquisition. These theories fall into one of two camps. The environmentalist (or connectionist) theory of language acquisition asserts that language is acquired through environmental factors (Halvaei et al. 811). Theorists in this camp believe that a child learns language by gaining information from the outside world and then forming associations between words and objects. The nativist (or rationalist) approach, on the other hand, asserts that it is innate factors that determine language acquisition. Noam Chomsky, often described as “the father of modern linguistics”, falls into this camp as he believes that speech is the result of hidden rules of language that are hidden somewhere in the brain (Rahmani and Abdolmanafi 2111). Steven Pinker, a colleague of Chomsky, is a renowned psychologist, cognitive scientist and linguist who discusses his own theories on language acquisition in his book Words and Rules.

When discussing about “In other words”, Bialystok and Hakuta state that there is some thought that children who may appear to be learning a second languge very quickly at a vey young age (before the age of 5). They further state that accompanied by the loss of their first language, have really replaced the first language with the second language.

There has been a long debate about whether a critical period for language acquisition truly exists in humans. It may be true that children have an easier time obtaining fluency when it comes to acquiring a new language, but this does not mean that it is impossible for adults to also acquire a new language with the same level of control even in late adulthood(Snow). So can it really be said that there is a critical period through which children have an easier time to learn a language? And if so, is there a limit to how many languages that a child can learn before this critical period is over?

Sociologists typically assume that immigrants' acquisition of English as a second language follows the opportunities and motivations to become proficient in English, while many linguists argue that second language acquisition may be governed by maturational constraints, possibly biologically based, that are tied to the age at onset of language learning. In this article, I use U.S. census data to investigate the relationship between age at onset of second language learning and levels of English language proficiency among foreign-born adults in the United States. The overarching conclusion is that proficiency in a second language among adults is strongly related to age at immigration. Part of that relationship is attributable to social and demo-graphic considerations tied to age at entry into a new country, and part may be attributable to maturational constraints.( Age at immigration acquisition of language, English as second language, second language proficiency)* When investigating second language (L2) acquisition among immigrants, sociologists and economists often rely on "exposure" or "human capital" frame-works, in which L2 learning is prompted by opportunities and motivations to become proficient in English. Much of this research shows that social and demo-graphic factors, such as length of residence in the U.S. and educational attainment, strongly predict levels of proficiency in English among foreign-born adults. Linguists, by contrast, start from the premise that

An older starter’s exposure to a second language will likely be mostly classroom based and acquired in a more structured and explicit way, e.g. night classes, language courses etc. In this case, then, their L2 input will be a lot more limited than that of a younger immigrant and it will probably take them longer to become proficient. There is also the idea that some individuals may have access to more natural input than others depending on their area of work. What this means is that some individuals may be employed in jobs that require a lot more interaction in their target language than other fields of work. Compare, for example, the exposure an immigrant whose job involves working as a personal assistant will have access to, versus the input of L2 work as a cleaner may entail. The two jobs provide different levels of interaction, and as such, some individuals may progress in their second language at a faster rate than other depending on their field of work. This idea is supported by the statement that immigrants are ‘exposed to qualitatively and quantitatively different samples of the new language’ (Hakuta, Bialystok and Wiley, 2003:31).

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.