age and SLA.docx

age and SLA.docx

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ageandSLA

Abstract

SinceLennebergputforwardtheCriticalPeriodHypothesis（CPH）inFirstLanguageAcquisition（FLA）,suggestingthatpubertywasthestop-pointofageforcompletelysuccessfullanguageacquisition,manylinguistsafterhimwentonwithhiscareerandpostulatedCPHinSecondLanguageAcquisition（SLA）.Andthereseemstobeawidely-heldbeliefthatchildrenarebetterL2learnersthanadults.However,uptonow,linguistsandresearchersarenotinagreementconcerningwhetherchildrenhaveabsoluteadvantagesoveradultsinsecondlanguagelearning.Stillacontroversialissueasitis,thisessaywillnotfocusonprovingtheCPHinSLA,butonanalysingandexplainingtheadvantagesanddisadvantagesoflearnersatdifferentageonsets.Atthemeantime,itbringsforwardsomesuggestionswhichseekstobenefitforeignlanguageteachingandlearningaswellasthepolicy-makingforforeignlanguageteachinginChina.

KeyWords:

SecondLanguageAcquisition,CriticalPeriodHypothesis,agedifferences

摘要

Lenneberg提出母语习得的关键期假说。

它认为：

青春期以前，学习着由于年龄小，生理和心理处于发育期，大脑的可塑性强，因而比较容易学会地道的第二语言；而成人发育完全成熟，大脑逐渐失去可塑性，过了学习第二语言的最佳年龄，因而较难学会第二语言。

人们普遍认为儿童习得第二语言比成人快得多、容易得多。

但是关于二语习得是否有关键期，语言研究者和外语教学届长期以来看法不一。

所以本文研究的重点不在于找寻学习外语的最佳年龄，而在于了解不同年龄的人学习外语的特点，扬长避短。

同时，作者也希望这样的研究能对我国外语教学、外语学习以及外语政策的制定带来一些有益的启示。

关键词：

二语习得；年龄因素；教学

Ⅰ.Introduction

TheeffectofagedifferenceshasalwaysbeenoneofthemostcontroversialissuesandthestudyfocusoflinguistsinSecondLanguageAquistition.Thewidespreadacceptancethattheyoungerthebettertobeginstudyingasecondlanguagehasinspiredagreatmanyscholars,tryingtofindtheoptimalageofSLA.acquisitionofthatlanguageinanyway.Someofthemclaimthatsecondlanguageacquisitionisthesameprocessandjustassuccessfulwhetherthelearnerbeginsasachildoranadultand/orthatadultsarereallybetterlearnersbecausetheystartofffaster.Othersthinkthedataambiguousand/orthatadultsareatadisadvantageonly

inafewareas,especiallyphonology.Stillothersareconvincedthatyoungerlearnersareatanadvantage,particularlywhereultimatelevelsofattainment,suchasaccent-freeSLperformance,areconcerned.

Amongthetheoriesandhypothesis,averycontroversialoneaboutsecondlanguageacquisitionistheCriticalPeriodHypothesisbyLenneberg（1967）,whostatesthatthereisaperiodwhenlanguageacquisitioncantakeplacenaturallyandeffortlessly,butafteracertainage,thebrainisnolongerabletoprocesslanguageinputinthisway.

InChinatoday,thereisacommonbeliefthatchildrenshouldstarttolearnaforeignlanguageasearlyaspossible.Asaresult,manyparentssendtheirchildrentolanguageschoolswiththehopethattheirchildrenwillbegoodEnglishlearners.Atthesametime,Englishtrainingcoursesforkidsmushroomalloverthecountry,andmanyEnglishtextbooksandtapesforkidsbecomebest-sellers.Allthisaddstotheconfusionoftherealmofeducationanddrawstheattentionofparentsandsociety.ThisessaywillnotfocusonprovingtheCPHinSLA,butonanalysingandexplainingtheadvantagesanddisadvantagesoflearnersatdifferentageonsets.Atthemeantime,itbringsforwardsomesuggestionswhichseekstobenefitforeignlanguageteachingandlearningaswellasthepolicy-makingforforeignlanguageteachinginChina.

Ⅱ.TheEffectsofAgeonSecondLanguageAcquisition

A.TheEffectsofAgeonRateofSecondLanguageLearning

Krashen,Long,andScarcella（1979）drewaconclusionconcerningtheeffectsofageonrageofSLA:

（1）adultsaresuperiortochildreninrateofacquisition,and

（2）olderchildrenlearnmorerapidlythanyoungerchildren（Krashen,etal,1979）.ThisissupportedbySnowandHoefnagel-hohle（1978）’sresearch.TheystudiedDutchlearningof51AmericansinHollandin1978.Thesubjectsweredividedintofiveagegroups:

ten3-to-5-year-olds,eight6-to-7-year-olds,thirteen8-to-10-year-olds,nine12-to-15-year-olds,andelevenadults.Theresultsofthestudyimpliedthat3一to-5-year-oldsscoredlowerthantheoldergroupsonallthetestsandthe12-to-15-year-oldsshowedthemostrapidacquisitionofalltheskillstested.AnnFathmanalsomadeastudyin1982toexaminetherelationshipbetweencertainaspectsofthesecondlanguageacquisitionprocessandagethroughanoralproductiontest.Thesubjectswere200children（aged6to15）fromdiverselanguagebackgroundswhowerelearningEnglishasasecondlanguageinpublicschools.TheresultsindicatedthattheolderchildrenperformedbetterintheproductionofcorrectmorphologicalandsyntacticstructureswhereastheyoungerchildrenweresuperiorintheuseofcorrectEnglishpronunciation.Therearesomeothershort-termstudiesbyfamousscholarsthatcomparesecondlanguagelearnersatdifferentage-onsets,theresultsofwhichareinconsistencewiththehypothesisthatadolescentsandadultshavemanyadvantagesinsecondlanguageacquisition,suchasfasterspeedinlanguageacquisitionandstrongabilitytoacquiresyntaxandmorphologywhilechildrenperformmuchbetterinphonology.

B.TheEffectsofAgeontheAcquisitionofNative-LikeProficiency

Astotheeffectsofageontheacquisitionofnative-likeproficiency,somescholarscarriedoutempiricalstudiesandamajorityofthemholdtheassumptionthattheaccentofthosewhoarriveatanearlyageismorelikelytoapproachanative-likelevelthanisthatofolderarrivals.

Inastudyof71CubanimmigrantstotheUnitedStates,aged7-19,Asher&Garcia（1969）,foundthatmembersofagroupwhohadarrivedbetweenageoneandsixandhadlivedintheUnitedStatesforfivetoeightyearsweremostlikelytoberatedatthe"near-nativespeaker"level,thusingeneralupholdingtheprinciplethattheyoungerthechildonarrival,thehighertheprobabilityofapproachinganativeaccent.OyamafoundalinearrelationshipbetweenageofarrivalandtheabilitytomasterthephonologicalsystemofEnglishby60maleItalianimmigrantswhohadbeenintheUnitedStatesforatleastfiveyears.Inherstudy,subjectswererequiredtoreadapassagealoudandtotellananecdotefrompersonalexperience;therecordingswerethenratedbytwojudgesfordegreesofnon-nativeaccent.Oyamasummarizesherfindingsasfollows:

"Theyoungestarrivalsperformintherangesetbythecontrols,whereasthosearrivingafteraboutage12donot,andsubstantialaccentsstartappearingmuchearlier"（Oyama,1976:

272）.

However,counterevidencesarefoundbyotherstudies,theresultsofwhichfavorolderlearnersinacquiringnative-likeproficiency.TakeNeufeld’s（1978）studyasanexample.Inthisstudy,20adultnativespeakersofEnglishweregiven18hoursofintensiveinstructioninthepronunciationofChineseandJapanese.Totestthe"nativeness"oftheirpronunciation,thelearnerswerethengivenanimitationtestandtheirutterancesjudgedonafive-pointscalefrom`unmistakablynative'to`heavilyaccented',bynativespeakersofthetwolanguages.Nineandeightofthesubjectswereratedas`native'forJapaneseandChineserespectively.Thisstudysuggeststhatundertherightconditionsadultscanachievenativeabilityinpronunciation.

Thecontradictoryresultsaboveprovethatthisissueisstillarathercontroversialoneandtheverdictremainsopen.

C.TheEffectsofAgeonLearners'SecondLanguageAchievement

Theshort-termstudieswhichcompareolderandyoungerchildrenconsistentlyshowthatolderchildrenarefasterlearnersofsyntaxandmorphologywhenthedurationoftheexposuretothesecondlanguageissimilar.Thencomesthequestion:

Dolearnerswhobeginlearningaschildreningeneralreachhigherlevelsofsecondlanguageabilitythanthosewhostartasadolescentsoradults?

Toanswerthisquestion,somescholarshavedoneaseriesofresearchesandexperiments.

Burstalletal.（1974）,forexample,found,intheircomparisonofBritishchildrenwhostartedlearningFrenchinschoolateitherage8or11，thatbythetimebothgroupsreachedage16,therewasonlyonetestresultinfavouroftheearlylearners:

namely,alightlybetterperformanceinlisteningcomprehension.Theeight-year-oldbeginnerswerenolongeraheadinoralproductionastheyhadbeenwhencomparedafterthreeyearsofexposurewithanoldergroup.

Harley（1986）investigatedthelevelsofattainmentofchildreninFrenchbilingualprogrammesinCanada.Shefocusedonthelearners'acquisitionoftheFrenchverbsystem,obtainingdatafrominterviews,astoryrepetitiontask,andatranslationtask.Shecomparedearlyandlateimmersionstudentsafterbothhadreceived1,000hoursofinstruction.Neithergrouphadacquiredfullcontroloftheverbsystem,buttheolderstudentsdemonstratedgreateroverallcontrol.

Afterwehavereviewedtheabovestudiesdonebypreviousresearches,itcanbefoundoutthat,olderlearnershaveadvantagesinsecondlanguageachievement.

Ⅲ.ExplanationsfortheeffectsofageonSLA

ThedifferencesinthethreeagegroupsofL2learnersarousedalotofresearchers'interestsinsearchingforthecreditableexplanationforthephenomena.Atleastfourmaintypesofexplanationshavebeenofferedforagedifferences,whichincludeneurologicalconsiderations,cognitivedifference,affectivedifferenceandlinguisticdifference.

A.Neurologicaldifference

Neurologicaldifference,thatis,lateralizationcompletedattheageofpuberty,maywellexplaintheobserveddifferencesinlanguageproficiencyobtainedbylearnersatdifferentonsetage.Awell-knownhypothesisisthatthereareclearneurologicaldifferencesbetweenchildandadultbrains,andthatthesedifferencesaredirectlyresponsibleforchild-adultdifferencesinlanguageacqu