Age and the critical period hypothesis | ELT Journal

The 'critical period hypothesis' (CPH) is a particularly relevant case in point. This is the claim that there is, indeed, an optimal period ... 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Ageandthecriticalperiodhypothesis ChristianAbello-Contesse ChristianAbello-Contesse DrChristianAbello-ContesseisanAssociateProfessorattheUniversityofSeville,Spain,whereheteachesundergraduatecoursesinELTmethodologyandpsycholinguisticsandgraduateseminarsinSLA,bilingualism,andbilingualeducation.HehaspublishednumerousjournalarticlesandbookchaptersonL2learningandteachingandhastaughtatseveraluniversitiesinChile,Spain,andtheUnitedStates Searchforotherworksbythisauthoron: OxfordAcademic GoogleScholar ELTJournal,Volume63,Issue2,April2009,Pages170–172,https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccn072 Published: 18December2008 PDF SplitView Views Articlecontents Figures&tables Video Audio SupplementaryData Cite Cite ChristianAbello-Contesse,Ageandthecriticalperiodhypothesis,ELTJournal,Volume63,Issue2,April2009,Pages170–172,https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccn072 SelectFormat Selectformat .ris(Mendeley,Papers,Zotero) .enw(EndNote) .bibtex(BibTex) .txt(Medlars,RefWorks) Downloadcitation Close PermissionsIcon Permissions Share Email Twitter Facebook More NavbarSearchFilter ThisissueAllELTJournal AllJournals MobileMicrositeSearchTerm Search SignIn Close searchfilter Thisissue AllELTJournal AllJournals searchinput Search AdvancedSearch SearchMenu Inthefieldofsecondlanguageacquisition(SLA),howspecificaspectsoflearninganon-nativelanguage(L2)maybeaffectedbywhentheprocessbeginsisreferredtoasthe‘agefactor’.Becauseofthewayageintersectswitharangeofsocial,affective,educational,andexperientialvariables,clarifyingitsrelationshipwithlearningrateand/orsuccessisamajorchallenge.ThereisapopularbeliefthatchildrenasL2learnersare‘superior’toadults(Scovel2000),thatis,theyoungerthelearner,thequickerthelearningprocessandthebettertheoutcomes.Nevertheless,acloserexaminationofthewaysinwhichagecombineswithothervariablesrevealsamorecomplexpicture,withbothfavourableandunfavourableage-relateddifferencesbeingassociatedwithearly-andlate-startingL2learners(Johnstone2002).The‘criticalperiodhypothesis’(CPH)isaparticularlyrelevantcaseinpoint.Thisistheclaimthatthereis,indeed,anoptimalperiodforlanguageacquisition,endingatpuberty.However,initsoriginalformulation(Lenneberg1967),evidenceforitsexistencewasbasedontherelearningofimpairedL1skills,ratherthanthelearningofasecondlanguageundernormalcircumstances.Furthermore,althoughtheagefactorisanuncontroversialresearchvariableextendingfrombirthtodeath(Cook1995),andtheCPHisanarrowlyfocusedproposalsubjecttorecurrentdebate,ironically,itisthelatterthattendstodominateSLAdiscussions(GarcíaLecumberriandGallardo2003),resultinginanumberofcompetingconceptualizations.Thus,inthecurrentliteratureonthesubject(Bialystok1997;RichardsandSchmidt2002;Abello-Contesseetal.2006),referencescanbefoundto(i)multiplecriticalperiods(eachbasedonaspecificlanguagecomponent,suchasagesixforL2phonology),(ii)thenon-existenceofoneormorecriticalperiodsforL2versusL1acquisition,(iii)a‘sensitive’yetnot‘critical’period,and(iv)agradualandcontinualdeclinefromchildhoodtoadulthood.ItthereforeneedstoberecognizedthatthereisamarkedcontrastbetweentheCPHasanissueofcontinuingdisputeinSLA,ontheonehand,and,ontheother,thepopularviewthatitisaninvariable‘law’,equallyapplicabletoanyL2acquisitioncontextorsituation.Infact,researchindicatesthatageeffectsofallkindsdependlargelyontheactualopportunitiesforlearningwhichareavailablewithinoverallcontextsofL2acquisitionandparticularlearningsituations,notablytheextenttowhichinitialexposureissubstantialandsustained(Lightbown2000).Thus,mostclassroom-basedstudieshaveshownnotonlyalackofdirectcorrelationbetweenanearlierstartandmoresuccessful/rapidL2developmentbutalsoastrongtendencyforolderchildrenandteenagerstobemoreefficientlearners.Forexample,inresearchconductedinthecontextofconventionalschoolprogrammes,Cenoz(2003)andMuñoz(2006)haveshownthatlearnerswhoseexposuretotheL2beganatage11consistentlydisplayedhigherlevelsofproficiencythanthoseforwhomitbeganat4or8.Furthermore,comparablelimitationshavebeenreportedforyounglearnersinschoolsettingsinvolvinginnovative,immersion-typeprogrammes,whereexposuretothetargetlanguageissignificantlyincreasedthroughsubject-matterteachingintheL2(Genesee1992;Abello-Contesse2006).Insum,asHarleyandWang(1997)haveargued,morematurelearnersareusuallycapableofmakingfasterinitialprogressinacquiringthegrammaticalandlexicalcomponentsofanL2duetotheirhigherlevelofcognitivedevelopmentandgreateranalyticalabilities.Intermsoflanguagepedagogy,itcanthereforebeconcludedthat(i)thereisnosingle‘magic’ageforL2learning,(ii)botholderandyoungerlearnersareabletoachieveadvancedlevelsofproficiencyinanL2,and(iii)thegeneralandspecificcharacteristicsofthelearningenvironmentarealsolikelytobevariablesofequalorgreaterimportance.References Abello-ContesseC. Abello-ContesseC, etal. ‘DoesinteractionhelporhinderoralL2developmentinearlyEnglishimmersion?’, 2006GoogleScholarAbello-ContesseC, ChacónBeltránR, López-JiménezMD, Torreblanca-LópezMM. , AgeinL2AcquisitionandTeaching, 2006Bern,SwitzerlandPeterLangGoogleScholarGooglePreviewOpenURLPlaceholderTextWorldCatCOPAC BialystokE. ‘Thestructureofage:insearchofbarrierstosecondlanguageacquisition’, SecondLanguageResearch, 1997, vol. 13/2 (pg. 116-37)GoogleScholarCrossrefSearchADSWorldCat CenozJ. GarcíaMayoMP, GarcíaLecumberriML. ‘TheinfluenceofageontheacquisitionofEnglish:generalproficiency,attitudesandcode-mixing’, 2003GoogleScholarCookV. SingletonD, LengyelZ. ‘Multicompetenceandeffectsofage’, TheAgeFactorinSecondLanguageAcquisition, 1995Clevedon,UKMultilingualMattersLtdGoogleScholarGooglePreviewOpenURLPlaceholderTextWorldCatCOPAC GarcíaLecumberriML, GallardoF. GarcíaMayoMP, GarcíaLecumberriML. ‘EnglishFLsoundsinschoollearnersofdifferentages’, 2003GoogleScholarGarcíaMayoMP, GarcíaLecumberriML. , AgeandAcquisitionofEnglishasaForeignLanguage, 2003Clevedon,UKMultilingualMattersLtdGoogleScholarGooglePreviewOpenURLPlaceholderTextWorldCatCOPAC GeneseeF. EtxeberriaF, ArzamendiJ. ‘Pedagogicalimplicationsofsecondlanguageimmersion’, BilingüismoyAdquisicióndeSegundasLenguas, 1992Bilbao,SpainServicioEditorialdelaUniversidaddelPaísVascoGoogleScholarGooglePreviewOpenURLPlaceholderTextWorldCatCOPAC HarleyB, WangW. deGrootAMB, KrollJF. ‘Thecriticalperiodhypothesis:wherearewenow?’, TutorialsinBilingualism.PsycholinguisticPerspectives, 1997Mahwah,NJLawrenceErlbaumAssociatesGoogleScholarGooglePreviewOpenURLPlaceholderTextWorldCatCOPAC JohnstoneR. ‘Addressing“theagefactor”:someimplicationsforlanguagepolicy’, 2002 CouncilofEurope,Strasbourg:Availableat:http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/linguistic/source/JohnstoneEN.pdfGoogleScholarLennebergEH. , BiologicalFoundationsofLanguage, 1967NewYorkJohnWiley&Sons,IncGoogleScholarGooglePreviewOpenURLPlaceholderTextWorldCatCOPAC LightbownP. ‘ClassroomSLAresearchandsecondlanguageteaching’, AppliedLinguistics, 2000, vol. 21/4 (pg. 431-62)GoogleScholarCrossrefSearchADSWorldCat MuñozC. Abello-ContesseC, etal. ‘TheBAFproject:researchontheeffectsofageonforeignlanguageacquisition’, 2006GoogleScholarRichardsJC, SchmidtR. , LongmanDictionaryofLanguageTeachingandAppliedLinguistics, 2002LondonLongmanGoogleScholarGooglePreviewOpenURLPlaceholderTextWorldCatCOPAC ScovelT. GonzálezRD, MelisI. ‘“Theyounger,thebetter”mythandbilingualeducation’, LanguageIdeologies.CriticalPerspectivesontheOfficialEnglishMovement, 2000Mahwah,NJLawrenceErlbaumAssociatesGoogleScholarGooglePreviewOpenURLPlaceholderTextWorldCatCOPAC  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