chapter 3 age and acquisition

Principles of Language Learning

& Teaching

Chapter 3

Age and Acquisition

Implications of L1A research

Any differences between

childhood and adulthood?

=> The differences as a key to

language acquisition models and

theories?

Three possible comparisons

C1-C2: L1A and L2A in children

C2-A2: L2A in children and adults

C1-A2: L1A in children and L2A in adults

Neuro-biological (lateralization and accent),

cognitive, affective, and linguistic

differences should be accounted for.

Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)

a biologically determined period of life

when language can be acquired more

easily and beyond which time language

is increasingly difficult to acquire.

“There is such a biological timetable.”

Lenneberg(1967), Bickerton(1981)

HOMO FERUS

lack of speech due to social isolation

Amala and Kamala,

Genie

underdeveloped syntax and morphology,

lateralized to the right hemisphere

Chelsea: born deaf, wrongly diagnosed as retarded,

After intervention, unable to develop a grammar

an equal response to language in both

hemispheres

FERAL CHILDREN

"On November 4, 1970 a girl was discovered. She had been locked in a room alone for over ten years. She was tied to a potty chair and left to sit alone day after day. At night, she was tied into a sleeping bag or into an over-sized crib ... Often she was forgotten.

"The girls seemed to have no trace of humanness in the way they acted and thought. It was as if they had the minds of wolves. They tore off any clothes put on them and would only eat raw meat ..

Critical period: lateralization

The critical period is linked to brain

lateralization.

As the human brain matures, specific

functions are assigned to each hemisphere.

Lg functions controlled by the left hemisphere

90% of adults vs. children with brain damage

=> Split brain research shows NO ONE is

completely left or right brained.

Neurological considerations 1

-Hemispheric Lateralization

Left hemisphere: intellectual, logical,

analytic functions language functions

Right hemisphere: emotional, social

needs

When lateralization takes place, how the

lateralization process affects language

acquisition

Leneberg (1967)

Natural LG acquisition by mere exposure can

take place only during the critical period, btw

the ages of two and puberty, when the brain

functioning is in its ______________ process.

After puberty the brain has lost its cerebral

plasticity because of the completion of the

process of the lateralization of the lg function.

lateralization

Scovel (1969)

The _______ of the brain before puberty

enables children to acquire both L1 & L2.

After puberty, it’s difficult to reach L2

fluency easily or acquire an accent-free L2

Strong CPH for both L1A & L2A

plasticity

Neurological Considerations 2:

Biological Timetables

Scovel(1988): socio-biological critical period development of a socially bonding accent at puberty

Native/”foreign” accents after puberty as a genetic leftover


Biological Timetables

Walsh & Diller (1981): distinctive aspects of

optimal language acquisition at different ages

lower-order process (pronunciation)

early maturing,

less adaptive, difficult to overcome

higher-order process (semantic relations)

later maturing,

More adaptive

Right-Hemispheric Participation –

conflicting evidence

Obler (1981): right brain participation

during the early stages of SLA

Genesee (1982): bilinguals with right

brain involvement in informal contexts

Split brain research: The brain plasticity

helps children compensate the loss and

transfer


Anthropological Evidence

Hill (1970): Adult’s successful SLA in

multilingual communities due to the

influence of social/cultural roles

Sorenson (1967): Tukano culture of South

America (an exogamous unit)

Morris & Gerstman: motivation, affective

variables, social factors, quality of input

Accent Authentic control of the phonology of an

L2 supports the notion of a critical period

the gradual development of speech muscle in

process in the childhood

After puberty, acquisition of authentic/NS

pronunciation of the L2 is impossible

“Henry Kissinger effect”

Cook(1995): “multi-competence”

Cognitive Considerations 1

Piaget’s cognitive development

Sensori-motor(0-2)

Pre-operational(2-7)

Operational: concrete (7-11),formal(11-16)

connection between concrete/formal stage

transition and L2A: Critical Period

Hypothesis?

17

Piaget

Language is an instrument of thought

lg facilitate your ability to think about things

(Whorfian Hypothesis)

Human development

= interaction w/ environment +

= interaction between

cognitive capacities &

linguistic experience

Cognitive

development

LG

development

Piagetian notion of equilibration

Cognition develops in a cyclic process of

moving from states of doubt and

uncertainty ( ) to stages

of resolution and certainty ( )

Disequilibrium ends at age 14 or 15, when

formal operations are firmly organized

and reach equilibrium.

Disequilibrium spurs language acquisition:

language interacts with cognition to

achieve equilibrium

disequilibrium

equilibrium

CHILDREN VS. ADULTS

1) Children learn without the benefit of

formal operational thought

Ausubel: formal, abstract thought for adults

Rosansky: self-centered children > self-

conscious adults

a) initial LA takes place when the child is highly

“centered”

b) lack of flexibility and consciousness

c) free from societal values and attitudes

CHILDREN VS. ADULTS

2) the left hemisphere dominance in adults

-> a tendency to overanalyze and narrow-

focused in learning

3) Disequilibrium enables children to learn a

lg without much inhibition and great

tolerance of ambiguity

CHILDREN VS. ADULTS

Both children and adults benefit more from

meaningful learning than from rote

learning.

Child superiority via meaningful learning in

natural setting vs. adults’ rote method in

classroom setting.

AFFECTIVE Considerations

Empathy, self-esteem, extroversion, inhibition,

imitation, anxiety, attitudes

the language ego in children vs. adults

the language ego as the identity a person develops in

reference to the language one speaks

Inhibitions serve as a wall of defensive protection

around the ego

learning a second language equated with the

acquisition of a second identity

(Guiora et al., 1972)

AFFECTIVE Considerations

CHILD ADULT

Language ego

Dynamic, growing, flexible Confirmed, shaped, rigid

inhibition low Strong/high

adaptation easy difficult

learning Ego-centric/ unconscious Self-conscious

Attitudes Not developed enough Less affected

attitudes toward races, cultures, ethnic groups, classes of people & lg.

Peer pressure

Strong constraints to conform

Tolerate linguistic differences

LINGUISTIC Considerations

1. Bilingualism

1) Coordinate bilinguals: two meaning

systems: L2 is mediated through the

dominant L1

2) Compound bilinguals: one meaning

(fused) system from which both lgs

operate; Neither is dominant

LINGUISTIC Considerations

2. Interference between L1 and L2

1)Children: Similar strategies and linguistic

features are present in both L1A and L2A

2) Interference: Adults are more vulnerable

to the effect of the L1 on L2

- L1 used as a facilitating factor, to bridge

gaps between the two languages

3. Order of Acquisition

1) L1 order of children

Brown's(1973) longitudinal study with

Adam, Sarah, Eve in longitudinal study

DeVilliers & DeVilliers’s (1973) cross-

sectional study with children across lgs,

confirming Brown’s order


2) L2 order of children

Duray & Burt’s (1976) morpheme study

with children across lgs

a series of cross-sectional studies in

children SLA: confirm DeVillier's sequence

in FLA


3) L2 order of adults (Bailey, Madden &

Krashen)

.9 correlation between group A (Spanish)

and group B (mixed lgs)

=> similarity vs. differences; natural

sequence vs. variation

=> Where does the natural sequence come

from?

chapter 3 age and acquisition

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