The Critical Period Hypothesis : Is It Valid?

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

Purpose: To highlight the difficulties students have at school and at home when it comes down to learning a language which they aren’t acquainted to and the consequences of such, depending on their social background.

The critical period hypothesis is a controversy in linguistics and acquiring language, in the extent if the language acquisition is related to age. Which this hypothesis states that there is a certain age which is the ideal time to acquire a fully command of language, and after this time it becomes much more harder and needs a lot of effort to acquire language whether it’s first or second language. In other words the childhood period is the perfect time to acquire language, which in adulthood it becomes more difficult to acquire language. This hypothesis raised the question if there is a real period for language acquisition. And this is what motivates the scholars to do studies and experiments on the critical period hypothesis. Moreover that most scholars

In 1781 the Articles of Confederation became the government of United States of America, a fragile new nation. This new government was just enough to hold the Country together in that period of time. Although, the effectiveness of these Articles can be debated. These Articles were in effective in the that it got the United States through a very Critical Period of time, but were also ineffective enough they had to eventually be replaced for the good of Country.

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

According to oncology nurse, Suzanne Robin in her article “Why Is It Easier for a Child to Learn a New Language Than an Adult,” “Young children are hard-wired to learn language in the first few years of life. When frequently exposed to two languages, they unconsciously acquire the second language naturally, applying the same skills they use to acquire their native language. Older children and adults have to learn the language consciously by studying it.” (2014, para. 2).

I would watch Dora the Explorer episodes and try to learn as many words and numbers as I could, but I never got a substantial education on a second language. Now that I am a highschooler I aspire to be able to speak in the languages of others around the world. From personal experience of taking multiple Spanish classes, I know it can be difficult to learn a new language later in life and wish I had started to learn it earlier as a child. The younger a learner is when they begin to be taught a new language, the easier it is for them to understand and remember. This is simply because the younger a child is, the better they are at mimicking new sounds and pronunciation, making it easier to learn new words. (Catherine Ford. ‘Children should start learning languages at three,’ The Telegraph. 10 October

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

The older the learner begins to acquire a second language, the less likely he or she is to achieve native-like proficiency. Several other factors might influence ultimate attainment post-puberty, such as motivation, learning style, and aptitude. However, age is the most reliable predictor of success or failure in second language acquisition.

Acquiring the first language is much easier than acquiring any second language as it comes “naturally” after birth. The child passes through different stages before acquiring the language till he masters it. Children follow a predictive language development through their language acquisition but it can vary from a child to another according to the external surroundings especially in the early stages.

Although motivation is one of the variables to learn a second language saying that “all you need to learn another langue is motivation,” is a misconception. In Brown (2014, p. 158) states that motivation is one of the most powerful effective variables in accounting for the success or failure of any task. Brown (2014) also mentions other factors that play an important role in the second language acquisition are: self-esteem, risk taking, anxiety, empathy among others. Students who have high self-esteem believe in their capabilities of second language production. Therefore, speaking and writing improves faster than the students who low self-esteem. Successful second language learners also are willing to take risk. That may be one of the reasons children are better learning a second language. They are not afraid to make a wrong guess, but some adults are inhibited, they try so hard to protect their ego. Consequently, they do not practice speaking in the foreign language classroom. Anxiety in the low level or in the high level also affects the second language acquisition. In order to acquire a language it is necessary to be in stage of relaxation. Learners of the second language who have the ability to feel empathy for native speakers of the L2 they are learning will be able to establish a better communication with native speakers. As a result, their speaking skills will improve.

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).

There are a number of pre-existing methods that have been used before, and approach second language (L2) learning in a multitude of ways. However, in the wake of a new way of approaching the issue of L2 learning, that of the postmethod approach, it is appropriate to address the validity of these older approaches and whether their prescriptive nature still hold any weight in a modern L2 learning setting, specifically in the classroom.

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.