Singleton, D and Pfenninger, S.E. (2018). L2 acquisition in childhood, adulthood and old age: Misreported and under-researched dimensions of the age factor
Penfield and Lenneberg
1950s and 1960s
Lennenberg
Penfield
early lg acquisition
CPH
after puberty, we cannot overcome accents
it has been proposed
our language learning capacity is programmed to undergo a sudden and serious decline at a particular point at the end of childhood
we do not know exactly when
after the age of 9, the brain starts to lose its plasticity
The critical period hypothesis
maturational approach
“the period during which a child can acquire
language easily, rapidly, perfectly, and without instruction”
neglected children
deprived of lg
they are able to learn lg
their lg is limited or unusual
deaf children
able to learn sign lg later, but it has deficits
immigrants
tendency: they can learn SL native-like
Birdsong
“nonnativelikeness will eventually be found”
Davies
it is difficult to define who is a native speaker
level of lg acquisition depends on the environment (how much they use the SL)
socio-affective factor
emotional experience
spouse speaks the target lg
higher lg proficiency
contact with native speakers
motivation
attitude
multi-competence is more important than age
The effects of early second language instruction at school
early starters don't manage their advance
study
at the beginning, early starters had wider vocabulary
after six months, late-starters caught up
early-starters did not maintain their advance
language competence depends critically on the intensity and quality of the learning environment
Language learning in older adulthood
human cognitive capacities decline across the lifespan
memory
attention
longer reaction time
the brain preserves large parts of its plasticity
even at an advanced age
there is no neurobiological
evidence for any declines in the processing capacities of healthy older adults
lg learning leads to happy and healthy ageing
relationship between participants’ L2 growth and verbal
fluency and working memory
even a short period of intensive language learning can modulate attentional functions
earlier starting experience proved beneficial for simultaneous bilinguals who were biliterate and had received substantial parental support