The Age Factor In Second Language Acquisition

The authors examine the evidence relative to the idea that there is an age factor in first & second language acquisition & goes on to explore the various explanations that have been advanced to account for such evidence. Finally, it looks at educational ramifications of the age question.

This book takes a hard look at some of the assumptions that are customarily made concerning the role of age in second language acquisition. The evidence and arguments the contributors present run counter to the notion that an early start in second language learning is of itself either absolutely sufficient or necessary for the attainment of native-like mastery of a second language. Another theme of the book is a doubt that there is a particular stage of maturity beyond which language learning is no longer fully possible. In short, the book presents a challenge to those who take it as given that second language learning is inevitably different in its essential nature from language acquisition in the childhood years and that second language knowledge acquired beyond the critical period is in all circumstances and in all respects doomed to fossilize at a non-native-like level.

Offers readers chapters on the age factor in different educational contexts across three continents. The book documents the development in research methods into early language learning and teaching. It includes papers that discuss curriculum and assessment, individual differences, innovation in teacher education, and the role of target language.

Seminar paper from the year 2008 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 1,3, University of Cologne (Englisch), course: Problems in Second Language Acquisition, language: English, abstract: This term paper will focus on the discussion of the putative maturational constraints for second language acquisition. The age factor is an aspect of first and second language acquisition research which has engendered very much controversy. In the discussion about age-related effects on language acquisition, one can find disagreements as to both the facts and to their possible explanations. The different points of view range from the notion that young learners are in all aspects of language learning more efficient and achieve better results, to the contrary position that older learners are the better learners. In this paper, four of the positions concerning the age factor, which have been listed by Singleton, will be presented because they provide a good overview of the different views on this topic and the respective evidence belonging to them. Many of the differences in the results of various studies are due to the differences in how the results are elicited. The experimental design plays an important role for the outcomes.

This work critically addresses the age debate in second language acquisition studies, presenting an in-depth study of factors that predict foreign accent. Quantitative and qualitative analyses confirm that cognitive, social, and psychological factors contribute to attainment, and that biological influences must therefore be considered alongside these essential aspects of learner experience.

Seminar paper from the year 2010 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Linguistics, grade: 1,3, Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald, course: Language Acquisition, language: English, abstract: Human beings have the capacity to acquire not only a mother tongue, but also second or third languages. Consequently it is not unusual that we find much more bilingual and multilingual individuals than monolingual in our world today. Broad levels of population deal with different languages in addition to their mother tongue and this knowledge is more and more seen as normal in nearly every area of life. The potential for acquiring second languages seems to last throughout one’s lifetime but depends on many variables. According to Muriel Saville-Troike individual learners acquire second languages differently in consequence of influencing factors like age, sex, aptitude, motivation, cognitive style, personality or learning strategies. Age as an effective factor in second language acquisition is thereby one of the most controversy variables and recurring themes. The question of whether, and how, age affects this acquiring process has been a major issue in second language research since its establishment. This paper should examine the relationship of the age to second language acquisition. Therefore a number of several studies provide different point of views and some of them will be specified in this paper. The structure is based on the book ‘Language Acquisition: The Age Factor’ by David Singleton and Lisa Ryan (2004) which was also used as main source. In conclusion a critical review on the several positions will be carried out to see whether there is an optimal age to start acquiring a second language or not and whether a critical period hypothesis in second language acquisition exists or not.

This book provides an overview of current research on the age factor in foreign language learning, addressing issues, which are critical for language planning. It presents new research on foreign language learning within bilingual communities in formal instruction settings focussing on syntax, phonology, writing, oral skills and learning strategies.