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Welcome to the

presentation
Does age affect L2 learning?
By Derek Cho

Reference
H. Douglas Brown. Principal of Language Learning
and Teaching. Pearson education
Julia Herschensohn. 1999 The Second time around
Minimalism and L2 Acquisition. University of
Washington. John Benjamins Publishing Company
Rod Ellis. 1997. The Study of Second Acquisition.
Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language publishing
company
Jacqueline S. Johnson and Elissa L.Newport. Critical
period Effects in Second Language Learning: The
influence of Maturational State on the Acquistion
of English as a Second Language. Cognitive
psychology 21: p.60-99

Critical period Hypothesis


Definition: There is a fix span of years during
which language learning can take place
naturally and effortlessly and after which
its not possible to be completely
successful (Ellis, 1997).
Definition: Childs brain has a specified
capacity for learning language a capacity
that decreases with the passages of years
(Penfield and Robert, 1959)

Puberty

Optimum Level
Language
Proficency

Puberty
12-13

Age

Neurological Development

As the human matures, certain functions are assigned or laternaliz


to either side of the brain.

Brain functions

Viewpoint for the critical period


hypothesis
Scovel,

Singleton: There is a
critical period not only for first
language but also second language
acquisition.

Implication:

Children are better


learners than adults.

Opposite Viewpoint for the


critical period hypothesis
Walsh and Diller Lower-order processes
such as pronunciation are
dependent on early
maturing, making the
foreign accents difficult to
overcome after the
childhood
Higher-order language
functions, such as
semantic relations are
more dependent on late

Levels of thinking skills


1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Identification
Extracting information
Sequencing
Comparison
Analysis
Application

Version 1

The exercise hypothesis: Early in life, humans


have a superior capacity for acquiring
languages. If he capacity is not exercised
during this time, it will disappear or decline
with maturation. If the capacity is exercised,
however, further language learning abilities
will remain intact throughout life.
Implication: Second language acquisition
should be equivalent in children and adults.

Version 2
The

maturational state hypothesis :


Early in life, humans have a superior
capacity for acquiring languages
abilities for acquiring languages. This
capacity disappears or declines with
maturation.

Implication:

Children will be better in


second language learning as well as
first.

Types of Comparison and


contrast
Child

Adult

C1

A1

C2

A2

L1

L2

Research
Subjects:

46 subjects

Early

arrivals 23 subjects, late


arrivals: 23 arrivals

23

native speakers

Rule Types Tested in the


Task
1. Past tense
2. Plural
3. Plural 4. Present Progressive
5. Determiners 6. Pronominalization
7. Particle movement 8.
Subcateogoration
9. Auxillaries 10. Yes/No questions
11. Wh-questions 12. Word order

Examples

The farmer bought two pigs at the market.


The farmer bought two pig at the market.
The little boy is speaking to a policeman
The little boy is speak to a policeman
Yesterday the hunter shot a deer.
Yesterday the hunter shoots a deer

The relationship between age


of arrival in the United States
and the total score correct on
the test of English grammar

Correlation between the age of


arrival and test score

Mean percentage of errors on


L2 types of English rules

Effects
1. Age of Acquisition and ultimate
performance
- Children have an advantage over
adults in acquiring a second language.
2. The effects of age of acquisition
before versus after puberty
- Subjects who arrived in the United
States after puberty performed more
poorly than those who arrived earlier

Effect
3.

Support the maturational state


hypothesis
- the age effect is present during time of
ongoing biological and cognitive
maturation and absent after the
maturation is complete
4. Age of acquisition and rule type
- unclear what part of sentence or
grammar she/he is having problems
with

Conclusion: Other factors


affecting second language
acquisition

1.

Levels of thinking skills


2. Intervention of L1
3. Motivational factors
4. Interlingual identification
(Weinreich,1953)
5. Storage of L2 information
6.Personality

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