Age Differences in Second Language Acquisition - Coursework Example

Age Differences in Second Language Acquisition Introduction The age difference at which an individual is first exposed to a second language has an impact to the general learning experience of a particular second language. This knowledge that is brought about by age has been of the topics most frequently discussed in second language acquisition (SLA) research. The reasons behind this “age issue “relates both to theoretical and practical matters. There is a difference between how children comprehend a second language compared to adults. Most research about age differences suggest that learners of different second languages have access to the second language in the classroom setting but also in the actual world. Age of Acquisition The age of acquisition or the age of onset is the beginning of immersion or beginning of exposure to a second language environment. The age of acquisition, particularly in the natural setting can be sued as a good predictor in various age-related studies. This landmark is known by the age an individual was introduced to instructions of the target language in his/her home country before immersion or immigration. The age of first exposure to a second language through the means of instructions is not a good predictor of how fast a learner will capture a second language. According to research by Carrasquillo & Carrasquillo (2013), about the impact of age on learning foreign language, the primary learning age back in school is a very crucial variable. This is arrived at following a presumed parallelism between both settings. This point signifies the start of only significant exposure to a second language. In addition, it may be deducted that, in a foreign language learning environment, the age over which learning a language takes place should be considered because it may be a bit influential on the learning process and the final results than it may do on the primary age when the corresponding amount of exposure is minimal. In general, it can be stated that the primary age of learning does not play the same role in different individuals. Additionally, this is another significant difference about age effects when learning foreign language setting especially in naturalistic language learning environment. There is a belief that children are good at capturing second languages than adults. This, however, seems true. The age factor in second language acquisition has led to a series of researches since 1960s. This has resulted to crucial deductions and analysis in second language research. In an earlier study, one analyst claims that misinterpretation of facts when learning a second language, misattribution of neurobiological factors to the speed through which learning is made and lack of emphasis on adult learners who are unsuccessful creates a myth between age and success (Carrasquillo & Carrasquillo, 2013). There are various levels of achievement of adults who reject the homogeneous character of age. These adults stress that there are other variables that determine the success in second language acquisition (SLA). One of these variables is extraversion. Many other studies have been done where others compare college students to school children in different instructed learning environments. This research shows existence of differences in mental language ability levels. However, there are no different scientific explanations on different ways in which languages are acquired Macaro (2013), argues that age factor in second language acquisition is not necessarily the constraint in achieving native-like levels of language acquisition. There are generalized misconceptions about this issue including misattribution of age differences, misinterpretation of speech acquisition and lack of emphasis on older learners leading to poor second language learning results. Additionally, motivational factors of cognitive aptitude are also factors that contribute to proficiency in second language acquisition. McLaughlin (2013), claims that emotional communication parameters are a necessity in second language learning. Other variables such as extraversion are an accurate predictor used to foretell fluency in communication of a particular language. Competence in second language dramatically aids learners as a major socializing part in case of emotional vocabulary is to be introduced in instructed second language learning. In this way, learners are in a good position to acquire the content in second language and also have a vast socio-cultural lexicon that is mostly overlooked in modern methodologies. There are many biographical variables that are connected to second language acquisition outcomes. One of those factors is age. Acquisition age is the age at which learners get involved in the second language context. This might be due to immigration to another country or commencement of learning in children. The first landmark is different from the age of the first exposure. The formal landmark occurs in a formal schooling environment, extended contacts with relatives, schooling environments or frequent visits to the second language country. There is a relation between second language acquisition, post-adolescent second language acquisitions, and post-pubertal acquisition. They are operationalized as ages of acquisition of time spent in the second language settings (Macaro, 2013). Residence does not guarantee use and exposure to a second language, the actual number of contacts is quantified with the second language, both written and spoken. The relative use of the first language in comparison to the second language is noted to be different due to lack of proficiency in a second language. There are other experimental variables that affect the amount of acquisition of a second language. They include the amount of formal training when learning a second language and the amount of exposure to a second language in context courses. The nonnatives are mostly enrolled in high schools, colleges, and universities or vocational in the second language countries (McLaughlin, 2013). Length of Exposure In naturalistic language learning, the duration of time in which the learner is exposed to learning a foreign language is equated to the length of residence in the community of the target language. This duration extends from the age of immigration (or acquisition) to the age of testing. It is argued that comparisons have to be made after a duration that is long enough to make sure that the learner gets final attainment and not rate results being measured. A minimum of ten years is required to ascertain that it is the final attainment rather than picking up rate results. Equating time of immersion with time of instructions is very general. An estimation of time that a naturalistic language learner has accessed second language input after duration of ten years of residence is to be determined. In most cases, this duration exceeds 50,000 hours. If these hours are distributed into weeks, with four-one hour durations of instructions, this gives more than twenty years. This comparison is meant to show a big difference between input from naturalistic and instructed learners. In short, difference in both quality and quantity of input to which several learners have access in a natural and typical foreign language setting are very important. Age of Acquisition and Ultimate Attainment It is widely known that age of acquisition is predictive on second language acquisition results. In other terms, age of acquisition negatively relates to attained second language proficiency in the end. The areas of language that are most commonly investigated to give the results include pronunciation and morph syntax. Typically, most errors that arise as a result of morph syntax in grammaticality judgments or production are said to increase with advanced age of acquisition, as the degree of nonnative accent does. Relating to several studies that have been made relating to age of acquisition and other factors that might be connected to the success of second language acquisition, age of acquisition emerges as the best predictor of second language attainment. However, this does not mean that there are no other factors that can be used to determine second language attainment, but rather, other factors related to age of acquisition are not predictive. The Age Function A linear function captures the connection between age of acquisition and various results over the span of age of acquisition. This means that when comparing both early and late age of acquisition, there emerges a significant difference in level of acquisition. In addition, it is also not surprising to find out that given what is already known about learning together with cognitive performance over a given lifespan, there is minimal inter-subject variation in results among early arrivals compared to late arrivals. When data obtained from both early and late age of acquisition subjects are disaggregated, they give inconsistent results. They give a clouded picture of geometry and timing of the age function. For instance, a study done to 57 Hungarians living in USA is used to portray this. Hungarian is used as the first language while English is used as a second language. Their age of acquisition was between one and 40 years, each having lived at least ten years in USA. On a grammatical judgment test with some novel items, there was obtained a significant correlation between their ages of acquisition. Their correlation was found to be (r=−.63, p < .001). However, when the data is broken out into late and early arriving subjects, all sets of data did not yield a significant correlation with age of acquisition (late arrivals n = 42, r = −.04, ns; early arrivals n = 15, r = −.24, ns). Age significantly affects how an individual learns a second language. The age at which a learner is first exposed to a second language affects his/her general comprehension of the language. Children are known to capture a second language faster than adults do. Therefore, learners prefer introducing themselves to this language at early stages of their growth to avoid spending much time if learning is done at later stages in life. Age, thus, is a good predictor of second language attainment. References Carrasquillo, A. L., & Carrasquillo, A. L. (2013). Teaching English as a Second Language a Resource Guide.. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Macaro, E. (2013). The Bloomsbury Companion to Second Language Acquisition. London: Bloomsbury Pub.. McLaughlin, B. (2013). Second Language Acquisition in Childhood Volume 2: School-age Children.. Hoboken: Taylor and Francis. Snow, C. E., & Hoefnagel-Höhle, M. (1975). Age Differences in Second Language Acquisition. New York: Macmillan. Read More