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