The Age Effect in Second Language Acquisition and Its Study Design Method

Authors

  • Liang Xu

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.54097/ehss.v8i.4454

Keywords:

Second Language Acquisition, Age Effect, Critical Period Hypothesis, Study Design.

Abstract

The focus of this paper was the effect of age on second language acquisition. The effect of the critical stage of second language acquisition is introduced. A retrospective discussion on the influence of age on second language acquisition, this paper tackles the conventional empirical methods of age-effect studies and analyses and summarizes some of the key questions in related research. The different testing methods used in these studies are the main reason for the research's contradictory results on the effects of age in second languages, including subject selection, content study content and time for comparison. Because of these issues, reference principles for research design on the influence of second language acquisition age are proposed: appropriate criteria for selecting subjects and number of subjects. Extensively sampled subjects, tools for testing and uniform implementation of assessment criteria, and a dynamic and comprehensive examination of the effects of age. The implication of the study on the influence of age on second language teaching and learning is that different teaching methods for students of different ages and different language characteristics should be applied in second language teaching.

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

References

T Scovel. A critical review of the critical period research[J]. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, (20) 2000 213-223.

R M Dekeyser. The robustness of critical period effects in second language acquisition [J]. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 22(4) 2003 499-533.

E.H. Lenneberg. Biological Foundations of Language [M]. New York: John Wiley and Sons,1967.

Penfield, W., & Roberts, L. Speech and brain mechanisms [M]. New York: Atheneum Press,1959.

W L Liu. An Analysis of Age Factors and Second Language Acquisition [J]. Journal of Qinzhou Teachers College. 2003(9).

J S Ma. Some Problems in the Hypothesis of the Critical Period of Language Acquisition and Foreign Language Teaching [J]. Henan Social Sciences, 2006(9).

S M Gass, L Selinker. Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course[M]. New York: Routledge, 2008.

J E Flege, G H Yeni-Komshian, S Liu. Age constraints on second-language acquisition[J]. Journal of Memory and Language, (41) 1999 78-104.

T Piske, I R A MacKay, J E Flege. Factors affecting degree of foreign accent in an L2: A review[J]. Journal of Phonetics, (29) 2001 191-215.

B H Huang. The effects of age on second language grammar and speech production [J]. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 43(4) 2014 397-420.

R Slabakova. Is there a critical period for semantics? [J]. Second Language Research, 22(3), 2006,302-338.

C Muñoz. On how age affects foreign language learning [EB/OL]. Retrieved December 10, 2015, from http://www.enl.auth.gr/gala/14th/Papers/Invited%20Speakers/Muñoz.pdf.

R Domínguez, S Pessoa. Early versus late start in foreign language education: documenting achievements [J]. Foreign Language Annals, 38(4), 2005,473-480.

C Burstall, M Jamieson, S Cohen, et al. Primary French in the Balance [M]. Windsor: NFER Publishing Company,1974.

M N Goikoetxea. Gaitasunkomunikatiboa eta hizkuntzenartekoelkareraginaeae-kohezkuntzaeleanitzean. Unpublished doctoral dissertation[D]. University of the Basque Country, 2006.

R Dwaik, A Shehadeh. The starting age and ultimate attainment of English learning in the Palestinian context[J]. English Language Teaching, 8(10) 2015 45-51.

J Oller, N Nagato. The long-term effect of FLES: an experiment[J]. Modern Language Journal, (58) 1974 15-19.

S Liu. The optimal age for second language acquisition through the "age effect". Journal of Hubei Correspondence University. 2019

Z Ma. Common memory in second language acquisition age effect research: content, problems and implications. Foreign Language Research, 33(5) 2016 6.

D. M Singleton. Critical period or general age factor(s)? In M.P. Garcia Mayo & M. L. Garcia Lecumberri (Eds.), Age and the Acquisition of English as a Foreign Language 2003, (pp. 3-22). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.

J Vollmer. Evaluation of the effect of foreign language study in the elementary school upon achievement in the high school U.S. Office of Education Contract SAE 9516. Sornerville: Public Schools, 1962.

C Burstall. Factors affecting foreign-language learning: A consideration of some recent research findings. Language Teaching and Linguistics Abstracts, 8, 1975, 105-125.

J L Pan, & H Li. A Meta-Analysis of the Relationship between Starting Age and Second Language Grammar Learning Effectiveness. Modern Foreign Languages, 43(1) 2020, 13.

H F Huang. Research on the age effect of the second language acquisition performance of native Chinese speakers [M]. Xiamen: Xiamen University Press, 2011.

E. Kellerman, Age before beauty. In L. Eubank, L. Selinker, & M. Sharwood Smith (Eds.), The Current State of Interlanguage: Studies in Honor of William E. Rutherford 1995, (pp. 219-231). Amsterdam: Benjamins

Downloads

Published

07-02-2023

How to Cite

Xu, L. (2023). The Age Effect in Second Language Acquisition and Its Study Design Method . Journal of Education, Humanities and Social Sciences, 8, 1215-1222. https://doi.org/10.54097/ehss.v8i.4454