Is that true that ‘the younger the better’?
Is that true that ‘the younger the better’?
Main Second Language Acquisition influence factors
According to Diane Larsen-Freeman (1997) SLA is a dynamic, complex and
nonlinear system, just as other sciences. Each learner’s pathway is unique
according to a high number of interacting factors: There are many factors that
affect Second Language Acquisition:
- - Motivation and the willing
to learn make easier the learning. Affective factors.
- - Age
is a crucial factor, as the older the new speaker is, the most difficult it
would be because of the lack of brain plasticity.
- - The
access to the language also makes a difference. The amount of input has a
direct relationship with the speed of learning
- - Personality.
Extrovert people that is comfortable having social interaction are able to
engage conversation and have more access to the language. Nevertheless,
introvert people use a more correct language than extroverts one.
- - First Language development
is crucial.
- - The
quality of instruction and the way students are taught.
- - Cognitive
abilities as verbal memory, abilities solving problems, etc.
There is no agreement on a “complete” theory of second
language acquisition yet. This post results from the exhaustive reading of the article
‘A Literature-Based Approach on Age Factors in Second Language Acquisition:
Children, Adolescents, and Adults’ by Ozfidan and Burlbaw (2019), and
Brown’s tenth chapter from the book Towards a Theory of Second Language
Acquisition. The age factor is acknowledged to be one of the most
important debates concerning Second Language acquisition studies. In this regard, the present paper post is
going to focus in how age affects adults’ language learners. In order to
achieve that purpose, we are going to 1) study how children, adolescent and
adult learning differ and 2) present what teaching methods and kind of
instructions have a highest success for each group.
Critical
Period Hypothesis
The theory defending that
children are more successful than adults as language learner is based on the
Critical Period Hypothesis. This thesis studies the brain plasticity, which decrease
after puberty. Brain plasticity has a direct influence on phonology. In turn,
children, being able to acquire a native-like pronunciation, are said to outperform
adults in pronunciation (Zafar and Meenakshi 2012; Munoz et al. ,2010 and Shakouri;
and Saligheh, 2012)[1]
According to this theory, children have advantages regarding vocabulary
growth (Andrews, 2017). What is more, given that motivation is also a so
important factor in SLA, although children face as many difficulties during the
learning process as adults, they manage with “emotional barriers” -stress,
frustration, anxiety, etc- much better than the older. In turn, children do not
really learn faster. The fact is that the knowledge (lexicon and structures)
that they require to engage in a conversation is simpler than that required by adults.
(McLaughlin, 1992)
As children lesson plans are designed according to motivation -maintenance
colourful and game like activities – they learn language in a less anxious and
more natural way than adults and adolescents. In this regard successful SL
children lesson tend to include object picture naming, word naming or reading
aloud, visual lexicon etc. Children at
the age of 10, is highly influenced by imitation, and because of that they are
usually taught drills.
https://cdn.pixabay.com/photo/2018/10/22/18/02/teacher-3765909_1280.jpg
Adults can outperform the
younger in SLA too.
In opposition to the commonly
accepted quote
‘the younger, the better’ Vygotsky (1986) observed that the lack of
cognitive maturity posse children a difficulty when understanding language
learning instructions. In other words, because of adult’s higher experience of
the world, they have cognitive maturity enough to understand successfully
language learning instructions. Thou, older learners are going to outperform the
younger in academic achievements. What is more, adults are more conscious of
their responsibilities and need for organization so they are also
self-motivated (instrumental purpose)
Regarding those cognitive disadvantages of the younger, as children do
not really internalized rules until 6/7 years old, adults outperform the younger
in deductive grammar teaching, in which explicit rules and examples on their
use are demonstrated. Children under 6 have no cognitive abilities enough to
develop readiness (Nikolov and Djigunovic, 2006)
‘All in all, children outperform the other two other age category
learners in terms of pronunciation and morphosyntax. Adolescents outperform
children and adults in syntax and listening skills, and adults excel in reading
and writing’ (Barac & Bialystok, 2011).
In conclusion, Singleton (2001) states that `young and older learners
differ in their experience, cognitive abilities, and maturity. Learners at
different ages have different types of brain organization’. In consequence, the
age factor must be taken into account by teachers when preparing lessons. In
this regard, ‘young learners acquire language through intuitive capacities’ so
even if it is never to late to learn a new language, the younger, the better
(Stern, 1986).
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Ozfidan and Burlbaw (2019).‘A Literature-Based Approach on Age
Factors in Second Language Acquisition: Children, Adolescents, and Adults’
Brown (2000) Towards a Theory of Second Language Acquisition, 10.
Secondary Sources.
Andrews, K. (2017). Culture, Curriculum, and Identity in Education [Book
Review]. Journal of Ethnic and Cultural Studies, 4(2), 99-101.
Aydin, H., & Ozfidan, B. (2014). Perceptions on Mother Tongue Based
Multicultural and Bilingual Education in Turkey. Multicultural Education Review
(MER), 6(1), 51-78. https://doi.org/10.1080/2005615X.2014.11102906
Barac, R., & Bialystok, E.
(2011). Cognitive development of bilingual children. Language Teaching, 44(1), 36-54. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444810000339
Mclaughlin, B. (1992). Myths and misconceptions about second language
learning: What every teacher needs to unlearn. National Center for Research on
Cultural Diversity and Second Language Learning. University of California,
Santa Cruz. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED352806.pdf
Munoz, C. (2010). On how age affects foreign language learning. Advances
in Research on Language Acquisition and Teaching: Selected Papers, Gala,
University of Barcelona. Retrieved from http://www.enl.auth.gr/gala/14th/Papers/Invited%20Speakers/Munoz.pdf
Nikolov, M., & Djigunovic, J. M. (2006). Recent
research on age, second language acquisition, and early foreign language
learning. Annual
Review of Applied Linguistics, 26, 234-260. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190506000122
Singleton, D. (2001). Age and second language acquisition. Annual Review
of Applied Linguistics, 21, 77-89. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0267190501000058
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society. Cambridge, MA: Harvard
University Press. Vygotsky, L. S. (1986). Thought and Language (A. Kozulin,
Trans. & Ed.). Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.
[1] According to Archila-Suerte
et al. (2012), children with a predominance of L1 would have a reduced exposure
to L2 and thou would present a foreign-like
accent.
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