Critical Period Hypothesis Revisited: The Impact of Age on Ultimate Attainment in the Pronunciation of a Foreign Languageedited by JEDYNAK, MALGORZATA

2011 ◽  
Vol 95 (1) ◽  
pp. 144-146
Author(s):  
IRMA ALARCÓN
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (5) ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Mosiur Rahman ◽  
Ambigapathy Pandian ◽  
Abdul Karim ◽  
Faheem Hasan Shahed

This article addresses the effect of age in Second Language Acquisition (SLA), posing the relative question that whether the Critical Period hypothesis (CPH) exists in Second Language (SL), and if existing, how it is associated duly with SLA. The justification of comparing the achievement of L1 and L2 learners on the basis of Ultimate Attainment (UA) in the establishment of Critical Period Hypothesis, is also discussed. In the methodology, secondary data analysis was used to answer of research questions. To achieve a reliable result from the wide range of secondary data primarily from journal articles, a systemic search has been adopted. In conclusion, compare and contrast was made with earlier studies to show the findings of the study and to scope future research. 


2012 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 187-214 ◽  
Author(s):  
Niclas Abrahamsson

Research has consistently shown there is a negative correlation between age of onset (AO) of acquisition and ultimate attainment (UA) of either pronunciation or grammar in a second language (L2). A few studies have indeed reported nativelike behavior in some postpuberty learners with respect to either phonetics/phonology or morphosyntax, a result that has sometimes been taken as evidence against the critical period hypothesis (CPH). However, in the few studies that have employed a wide range of linguistic tests and tasks, adult learners have not exhibited nativelike L2 proficiency across the board of measures, which, according to some, suggests that the hypothesis still holds. The present study investigated the relationship between AO and UA and the incidence of nativelikeness when measures of phonetic and grammatical intuition are combined. An additional aim was to investigate whether children and adults develop the L2 through fundamentally different brain mechanisms—namely, whether children acquire the language (more) implicitly as an interdependent whole, whereas adults learn it (more) explicitly as independent parts of a whole.


2021 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Paige Yi

This paper sets out to peruse the role of various theories or more precisely, hypotheses invoked in SLA research by surveying three empirical studies pertaining to the critical period hypothesis in the SLA of phonetics and phonology. In particular, the three studies which will be reviewed in the next section are titled in chronological order as (1) A critical period for learning to pronounce foreign languages? (Flege, 1987); (2) Reexamining the critical period hypothesis: A case study of successful adult SLA in a naturalistic environment. (Ioup et al., 1994); (3) Ultimate attainment in L2 Phonology: The Critical Factors of Age, Motivation, and Instruction (Moyer, 1999).


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Zakaria Bziker

This article is an attempt to examine the reliability of the Critical Period Hypothesis (Note 1) in light of subsequent studies. The high improbability of successful L2 acquisition among adults is the main point of strength that CPH enjoys. However, we have incidents of nativelikeness with individuals that began L2 acquisition years past the critical period (Note 2) in addition to supporting studies that show ultimate attainment among L2 learners is still possible. In this case do we still talk about a reliable hypothesis? This opens us to ponder whether CPH is purely biological or there are other social construct factors at play that help some L2 adult learners to attain nativelikness despite the high unlikelihood of its occurrence.


2010 ◽  
Vol 44 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carmen Muñoz ◽  
David Singleton

This article addresses age-related attainment effects in second language acquisition, posing the question of whether such effects are to be explained in terms of a Critical Period with a predictable and abrupt offset point or in terms of the impact of a wider range of factors. It attempts to explore this question by focusing on four discussion points in the current debate: (i) the wide use of native-speaker behaviour as the key L2 attainment yardstick; (ii) the degree of compatibility of prevailing views regarding the notion of a critical period for L2 acquisition; (iii) the relative narrowness of much research in this area, where age of L2 onset is often regarded as the crucial if not the only critical variable; and (iv) insights relative to maturational constraints on language acquisition offered by recent brain research. The article concludes that a loosening of the association between ultimate L2 attainment research and Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) issues would shed more light on L2 attainment in terms both of the comprehensiveness and of the acuity of the insights which would result.


2021 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 301-315
Author(s):  
Hanna Pułaczewska

Abstract In the article, we consider the impact of adolescence upon the usage of Polish in Polish-German bilinguals raised and living in Germany and demonstrate how adolescence surfaces as a socially based “critical period” in this usage using results from a survey and interviews conducted with 30 teenagers. In the quantitative part of the study, we seek to establish whether adolescents’ age affected the pattern and quantity of their usage of Polish in the media and contacts with age peers, whether the latter two facets of growing up with Polish were interrelated, and which other factors affected peer-relevant activities in Polish. Both age and peer contact turned out to significantly affect the use of the media in Polish, while peer contact in Polish was affected by the parental use of Polish in parent-child communication. The qualitative part presents the context and motivation for using Polish by the youths in peer-relevant activities. We integrate the results with insights provided by child development psychology from the perspective of language socialisation theory and interpret the age-related decline of interest in the Polish media as an effect of a diminishing role of parents and the increasing role of age peers as role models in personal development.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document