CRITICAL PERIOD FOR LANGUAGE ACQUISITION The Critical Period Theory of Language Acquisition is proposed by Eric Lenneberg.

According to Lenneberg, the ability to learn a first language develops within a fixed period, from birth to puberty. This is manifested in the case of Genie Wiley, also known as a feral child, who was isolated from the age of 18 mos to 14 years old. Despite of the efforts of Susan Curtiss to teach Genie to acquire language through linguistic teachings, Genie did not successfully mastered nor developed morphological and syntactic rules which supports the critical period hypothesis. INNATENESS HYPOTHESIS AND FIRST LANGUAGE ACQUISITION According to Innateness Hypothesis, language is innately determined behaviour for humans. This refers to the idea that humans are genetically predisposed to acquire and use language. This claim states that infants are born with the knowledge that languages have patterns and with the ability to seek out and identify those patterns. Characteristics of innately determined behaviours: (BAEDMC) 1. It emerges before it is necessary 2. Appearance is not the result of conscious decision 3. The emergence is not triggered by external events 4. Direct teaching and intensive practice have relatively little effect 5. A regular series of milestones as the behavior develops 6. Critical period