Hostname: page-component-7b7567c8c-kwt9d Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2026-11-13T23:18:38.569Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The Effects of Age on the Rate of Learning a Second Language

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 November 2008

Georgina R. Slavoff and
Jacqueline S. Johnson
Georgina R. Slavoff
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Jacqueline S. Johnson
Affiliation:
University of Virginia
Get accessRights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The present study evaluates the role of age on the rate of acquiring English as a second language in an immersion setting. Subjects were children with native languages typologically very different from English. The children arrived in the United States between the ages of 7 and 12 years and were tested on their knowledge of English grammatical morphology and syntax at different lengths of stay in the United States, ranging from 6 months to 3 years. Subjects' performance was predicted by the length of their stay in the United States and by gender, with females outperforming males. Age of arrival played no role in predicting subjects' rate of acquisition. Performance was very similar between two age groups examined (7–9– and 10–12-year-old arrivals) throughout the 3 years measured. The present results suggest that, on certain aspects of grammar, different-aged children acquire a second language during the first 3 years of acquisition at similar rates when their native language is very different in typology from the target language.

Information

Type
Articles
Information
Studies in Second Language Acquisition , Volume 17 , Issue 1 , March 1995, pp. 1 - 16
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1995

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Albert, M. L., & Obler, L. K. (1978). The bilingual brain: Neuropsychological aspects of bilingualism. New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Asher, J., & Price, B. (1969). The learning strategy of total physical response: Some age differences. Child Development, 38, 1219–1227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berko, Gleason J. (1978). The child's learning of English morphology. In Bloom, L. (Ed.), Readings in language development (pp. 39–59). New York: Wiley & Sons. (Reprinted from Word, 1958, 14, 150–177.)Google Scholar
Bley-Vroman, R., Felix, S., & Ioup, G. (1988). The accessibility of Universal Grammar in adult language learning. Second Language Research, 4, 1–32.Google Scholar
Curtiss, S. (1977). Genie: A psycholinguistic study of a modern day “wild child.” New York: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Curtiss, S. (1989, 10). The effects of age on first language acquisition. Paper presented at the Boston Conference on Language Development.Google Scholar
Fathman, A. (1975). The relationship between age and second language productive ability. Language Learning, 25, 245–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Geschwind, N., & Galaburda, A. M. (1985). Cerebral lateralization: Biological mechanisms, associations, and pathology: A hypothesis and program for research. Archives of Neurology, 42(I), 428–459; (II), 521–552; (III), 634–654.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, J. S. (1992). Critical period effects in second language acquisition: The effect of written versus auditory materials on the assessment of grammatical competence. Language Learning, 42, 217–248.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, J. S. (1993a). The status of subjacency in the acquisition of English by adult native speakers of Spanish. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. S. (1993b). A developmental decline in the capacity to acquire language. Unpublished manuscript.Google Scholar
Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1991). Critical period effects on universal properties of language: The status of subjacency in the acquisition of a second language. Cognition, 39, 215–258.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Koenigsknecht, R. A., & Friedman, P. (1976). Syntax development in boys and girls. Child Development, 47, 1109–1115.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Krashen, S. (1982). Accounting for child-adult differences in second language rate and attainment. In Krashen, S., Scarcella, R., & Long, M. (Eds.), Child-adult differences in second language acquisition (pp. 202–226). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Krashen, S., Scarcella, R., & Long, M. (1982). Child-adult differences in second language acquisition. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Long, M. H. (1990). Maturational constraints on language development. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 12, 251–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maccoby, E. E., & Jacklin, C. N. (1974). The psychology of sex differences. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press.Google Scholar
Mayberry, R., Fischer, S., & Hatfield, N. (1983). Sentence repetition in American Sign Language. In Kyle, J. & Woll, B. (Eds.), Language in sign: International perspectives on sign language (pp. 206–214). London: Croom Helm.Google Scholar
McCardle, P., & Wilson, B. E. (1990). Hormonal influence on language development in physically advanced children. Brain and Language, 38, 410–423.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
McLaughlin, B. (1985). Second-language acquisition in childhood: Vol. 2. School-age children (2nd ed.). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Morris, B. K., & Gerstman, L. J. (1986). Age contrasts in the learning of language-relevant materials: Some challenges to critical period hypothesis. Language Learning, 36, 311–352.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newport, E. L. (1990). Maturational constraints on language learning. Cognitive Science, 14, 11–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Newport, E. L. (1991). Contrasting conceptions of the critical period for language. In Carey, S. & Gelman, R. (Eds.), Epigenesis of mind: Essays of biology and cognition (pp. 111–130). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Newport, E. L., & Supalla, T. (1990). A possible critical period effect in the acquisition of a primary language. Unpublished manuscript, University of Rochester, Rochester, NY.Google Scholar
Olson, L., & Samuels, S. J. (1973). The relationship between age and accuracy of foreign language pronunciation. Journal of Educational Research, 66, 263–267.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oyama, S. (1976). A sensitive period for the acquisition of a nonnative phonological system. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 5, 261–285.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oyama, S. (1978). The sensitive period and comprehension of speech. Working Papers on Bilingualism, 16, 1–17.Google Scholar
Patkowski, M. (1980). The sensitive period for the acquisition of syntax in a second language. Language Learning, 30, 449–472.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schachter, J. (1989). Testing a proposed universal. In Gass, S. & Schachter, J. (Eds.), Linguistic perspectives on second language acquisition (pp. 73–88). New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siegler, R. (1994). Cognitive variability: A key to understanding cognitive development. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 3, 1–5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snow, C., & Hoefnagel-Höhle, M. (1978). The critical period for language acquisition: Evidence from second language learning. Child Development, 49, 1114–1128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terman, L. M., & Tyler, L. E. (1954). Psychological sex differences. In Carmichael, L. (Ed.), Manual of child psychology (pp. 1064–1114). New York: Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Waber, D. P. (1976). Sex differences in cognition: A function of maturation rate? Science, 193, 572–574.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Waber, D. P. (1977). Biological substrates of field dependence: Implication of the sex difference. Psychological Bulletin, 84, 1076–1087.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Wong Fillmore, L. (1976). The second time around: Cognitive and social strategies in second language acquisition. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, Stanford University, Stanford, CA.Google Scholar
Young, R. (1991). Variation in interlanguage morphology. New York: Lang.Google Scholar