Effects Of Age On Foreign / 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 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 learned. The avenue of socialization is crucial in learning a second language. When natural conversations occur with native and non-native speakers, a natural

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.

I have heard people say the age of learning a new language can be one of the main factors for people can not be succeed with

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,

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

The ted talk “The Linguistic Genius of Babies” by Kuhl (2010) tells about babies are genius on language learning, and shows some results of research as proof of this idea. The article “Learning a Language as an Adult” by Pakenham, McEntire, and Williams (2013) shows an idea about the “critical period hypothesis”, children during this period learn much better than people older than this age, especially in pronunciation, because their brain activities are different than adults during this time. Personally, I totally believe the idea of children younger learn better, because the scientific research and data are shown to audiences, and they are persuasive enough. And I do see proof in my life, like four of my Korean friends who came China around

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

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

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?

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.

Besides, age of acquiring the language is also one of the criteria that serves in defining the native speaker. To further explain this point, the first language acquired by a person is considered as the native language for him or her. Additionally, the process of acquiring the language usually takes place in the early years of their life; as early as infant years until they reach puberty. That is when the critical period of acquiring language ends. The language acquired during the critical period will automatically become the person’s first language. Hence, make him or her the native speaker of the

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.