The critical period hypothesis: A diamond in the rough

A strong decline in learning capacity with age has been shown in numerous studies with ASL as L1, and the age range for this critical period ... Skiptomaincontent Accessibilityhelp Weusecookiestodistinguishyoufromotherusersandtoprovideyouwithabetterexperienceonourwebsites.Closethismessagetoacceptcookiesorfindouthowtomanageyourcookiesettings. Cancel Login × × Home OnlysearchcontentIhaveaccessto Hostname:page-component-ffbbcc459-2vc98 Totalloadingtime:0.373 Renderdate:2022-03-26T20:52:49.208Z Hasdataissue:true FeatureFlags:{ "shouldUseShareProductTool":true, "shouldUseHypothesis":true, "isUnsiloEnabled":true, "useRatesEcommerce":false, "useNewApi":true } Home>Journals>Bilingualism:LanguageandCognition>Volume21Issue5>Thecriticalperiodhypothesis:AdiamondintheroughEnglish Français Bilingualism:LanguageandCognitionArticlecontentsExtractReferencesThecriticalperiodhypothesis:Adiamondintherough PublishedonlinebyCambridgeUniversityPress:  17April2018ROBERTDEKEYSERShowauthordetailsROBERTDEKEYSER*Affiliation:SchoolofLanguages,Literatures,andCulturesUniversityofMaryland,CollegePark * Addressforcorrespondence:RobertDeKeyser,SchoolofLanguages,Literature,andCultures,3215JimenezHall,UniversityofMaryland,CollegePark,CollegeParkMD20742,[email protected] Metrics ArticlecontentsExtractReferencesSavePDFSavePDF(0.04mb)ViewPDF[Opensinanewwindow]SavetoDropboxSavetoGoogleDriveSavetoKindleShareCiteRights&Permissions[Opensinanewwindow]ExtractForseveraldecadesnow,researchontheacquisitionofASLandothersignedlanguageshascontributedtoourunderstandingoflanguageacquisitionandofageeffectsinparticular.AstrongdeclineinlearningcapacitywithagehasbeenshowninnumerousstudieswithASLasL1,andtheagerangeforthiscriticalperiodphenomenonappearstobeverysimilartowhathasbeenobservedinevenmorestudiesinL2(forbothspokenandsignedlanguages).MayberryandKluender(Mayberry&Kluender)arguethatthetwophenomenaarequitedifferent,however,tosuchanextentthattheconceptofacriticalperiodisnotapplicabletoL2.TheirtwomainargumentsarethatL2learnersarelessaffectedbylateacquisitionthanL1learnersandthatsomeL2studieshavenotshownthekindofdiscontinuityintheage-proficiencyfunctionthatispredictedbytheconceptofacriticalperiod.Asspaceisverylimited,Iwilllimitmycommentstothesetwoissues. Type PeerCommentaries Information Bilingualism:LanguageandCognition , Volume21 , Issue5,November2018,pp.915-916DOI:https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728918000147[Opensinanewwindow] Copyright Copyright©CambridgeUniversityPress2018  Forseveraldecadesnow,researchontheacquisitionofASLandothersignedlanguageshascontributedtoourunderstandingoflanguageacquisitionandofageeffectsinparticular.AstrongdeclineinlearningcapacitywithagehasbeenshowninnumerousstudieswithASLasL1,andtheagerangeforthiscriticalperiodphenomenonappearstobeverysimilartowhathasbeenobservedinevenmorestudiesinL2(forbothspokenandsignedlanguages).MayberryandKluender(Mayberry&Kluender)arguethatthetwophenomenaarequitedifferent,however,tosuchanextentthattheconceptofacriticalperiodisnotapplicabletoL2.TheirtwomainargumentsarethatL2learnersarelessaffectedbylateacquisitionthanL1learnersandthatsomeL2studieshavenotshownthekindofdiscontinuityintheage-proficiencyfunctionthatispredictedbytheconceptofacriticalperiod.Asspaceisverylimited,Iwilllimitmycommentstothesetwoissues.Howsimilaristheage-relateddeclineinL1andL2acquisition?Mayberry(ReferenceMayberry1993)showedthattheshapeoftheage-proficiencyfunctionwassimilarforL1andL2(eventhoughtheeffectwasstrongerforL1).Intheirkeynotehere,theystressthesecondpointandallbutignorethefirstone.ItmaybetruethattherearecoarseanatomicaldifferencesbetweenlateL1acquirersontheonehandandearlyL1orlateL2acquirersontheother,butthatdoesnotmeannofine-graineddifferencesexistbetweenearlyL1andlateL2acquirers.InDeKeyser(ReferenceDeKeyser,GassandMackey2012)Ishowedthat,evenamongthestudiescontrollingforproficiency,themajorityfounddifferencesbetweenearlyL2andlateL2withERPandneuroimaging.Theneurosciencedata,then,correspondwiththebehavioraldata:abiggerimpactoflateacquisitiononL1andasmalleroneonL2,butbothshowessentiallythesamecorrelationbetweenageandultimateattainment.Itismoreparsimonious,then,toattributebothcorrelationstothesamephenomenon,andtoattributethebiggerabsolutesizeoftheimpactinL1tothefactthat,touseJohnsonandNewport'sterminology,thecriticalperiodhasbothamaturationalaspect(unavoidablebecauseofage,inspiteofearliersuccessfulL1acquisition,demonstratedratherdramaticallyintheirstudy)andanexerciseaspect(whichonlyshowsupwhenthelanguagemakingcapacityhasbarelybeenusedearlyonforL1,demonstratedequallydramaticallyinseveralofMayberryandassociates’publications).LetusnotmakethemistakeagainthattheotherwisesoinsightfulLenneberg(ReferenceLenneberg1967)madebyequatingthecriticalperiodwithgrossanatomicalchangessuchaslateralization.OftentheageeffectsinL2showupinsomeaspectsofphonology,morphology,orsyntax,andnotinothers,soitwouldbesurprisingiftheycouldbeexplainedbymacro-leveldifferencessuchasdifferentlateralizationormoreactivationintheoccipital-parietallobeandlessinthetemporallobe.TheotherpointIwanttodiscussbrieflyistheshapeoftheage-ultimateattainmentfunction.WhileIagreethata“bendinthecurve”isrequiredifwewanttoclaimthereisacriticalperiod,Idisagreewiththeclaimthatthereisnosuchbend.AsMayberryandKluenderrightlypointout,thosewhohavecalculatedanage-proficiencycorrelationforageofacquisitionandultimateattainmentthroughthelifespanhavealwaysfoundastrongnegativecorrelation,butthiscorrelationismeaningless;itdoesnotmeanthatthereissometypeofdeclinethatcontinuesfrombirthtilldeath.Whenthesamedataaresubmittedtoaseparateanalysisfordifferentageranges,thecorrelationscanbequitedifferent,asshowne.g.inJohnsonandNewport(ReferenceJohnsonandNewport1989),DeKeyser(ReferenceDeKeyser2000),andDeKeyser,Alfi-ShabtayandRavid(ReferenceDeKeyser,Alfi-ShabtayandRavid2010).ThisissimplyanexampleofwhatisknownastheYule-Simpsoneffect:theglobalanalysiscaneasilyhidestarklydifferentlocalpatterns,evenoppositeones;thisiswhytheeffectisalsocalledtheSimpsonparadox(cf.Blyth,ReferenceBlyth1972).Inconnectionwiththispoint,IneedtorefuteaclaimMayberryandKluendermakeaboutDeKeyseretal.(ReferenceDeKeyser,Alfi-ShabtayandRavid2010).Whenageattesting(confoundedsubstantiallywithAoA)waspartialedoutofthecorrelationbetweenAoAandproficiency,thecorrelationfortheAoA<18groupremainedstrong,butforthe18–40AoArangeitbecamefarfromsignificant(andifitwassignificantagainforthe>40group,i.e.,the>50groupforageattesting,thatisnotsurprising;itiswellknownthatmentalacuitydeclinesovertheyearsafterage50,andthisphenomenonhasnolighttoshedonwhetherthereisacriticalperiodinchildhoodornot).Researchoverthelastfewdecadeshaspeeledawaysomelayersofmisunderstandingaboutthecriticalperiodconstruct.Thecriticalperiodphenomenon,however,isnotlikeanonionwherenothingisleftafterpeelingofflayerbylayer,butratheradiamondintherough,whichsparklesmorebrightlyafteragoodconceptualcleaning.References Blyth,C.R.(1972).OnSimpson'sParadoxandtheSure-ThingPrinciple.JournaloftheAmericanStatisticalAssociation,67(338),364–366.CrossRefGoogleScholar DeKeyser,R.M.(2000).Therobustnessofcriticalperiodeffectsinsecondlanguageacquisition.StudiesinSecondLanguageAcquisition,22(4),499–533.GoogleScholar DeKeyser,R.M.(2012).Ageeffectsinsecondlanguagelearning.InGass,S.&Mackey,A.(Eds.),HandbookofSecondLanguageAcquisition(pp.442–460).London:Routledge.GoogleScholar DeKeyser,R.M.,Alfi-Shabtay,I.,&Ravid,D.(2010).Cross-linguisticevidenceforthenatureofageeffectsinsecondlanguageacquisition.AppliedPsycholinguistics,31(3),413–438.CrossRefGoogleScholar Johnson,J.S.,&Newport,E.L.(1989).Criticalperiodeffectsinsecondlanguagelearning:TheinfluenceofmaturationalstateontheacquisitionofEnglishasasecondlanguage.CognitivePsychology,21,60–99.CrossRefGoogleScholarPubMed Lenneberg,E.H.(1967).Biologicalfoundationsoflanguage.NewYork:Wiley.GoogleScholar 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CrossrefCitations Thisarticlehasbeencitedbythefollowingpublications.Thislistisgeneratedbasedondataprovidedby CrossRef. MAYBERRY,RACHELI. and KLUENDER,ROBERT 2018. Rethinkingthecriticalperiodforlanguage:NewinsightsintoanoldquestionfromAmericanSignLanguage. Bilingualism:LanguageandCognition, Vol.21, Issue.5, p. 938. CrossRef GoogleScholar ABUTALEBI,JUBIN and CLAHSEN,HARALD 2018. Criticalperiodsforlanguageacquisition:Newinsightswithparticularreferencetobilingualismresearch. Bilingualism:LanguageandCognition, Vol.21, Issue.5, p. 883. CrossRef GoogleScholar Abrams,ZsuzsannaI. 2020. InterculturalCommunicationandLanguagePedagogy. CrossRef GoogleScholar Ferman,Sara Shmuel,SapirAmira and Zaltz,Yael 2021. TheTypeofFeedbackProvidedCanAffectMorphologicalRuleLearningofYoungChildren. LanguageLearningandDevelopment, p. 1. CrossRef GoogleScholar KARANFİL,Ferhat and DEMİR,Serkan 2021. Multilingualidentitydevelopmentinatrilingualsetting:Acasestudyofrefugeeidentityandlanguageuse. DilveDilbilimiÇalışmalarıDergisi, Vol.17, Issue.2, p. 866. CrossRef GoogleScholar Hartshorne,JoshuaK. 2022. WhenDoChildrenLosetheLanguageInstinct?ACriticalReviewoftheCriticalPeriodsLiterature. AnnualReviewofLinguistics, Vol.8, Issue.1, p. 143. CrossRef GoogleScholar GoogleScholarCitations ViewallGoogleScholarcitations forthisarticle. × Cancel Confirm ×