UNIVERSIDAD CENTRAL DE VENEZUELA

FACULTAD DE HUMANIDADES Y EDUCACIN

Comisin de Estudios de Postgrado
rea de Lingstica
Maestra en Ingls como Lengua Extranjera

Age and acquisition

Applied Linguistics
Sara Pacheco
OCT 2010

Dispelling Myths
1.

Children repeat things over and over again. This is what

we must also do.

2.

Language learning is imitation. You must be a mimic.

3.

First, we practice the separate sounds, then words, then

sentences. Natural order = good for language learning.

4.

First listening then speaking = right order in language

learning.

5.

First listening and speaking

6.

When small, we do not translate.

7.

Children do not use grammar so it is not necessary .

reading and writing.

Types of comparison and contrast

L
1
L
2

(C1 C2)
First and
second
language
acquisition
in children,
holding
age
constant

Child

Adult

C1

A1

C2

A2

(C2 A2)
Second
language
acquisition in
children and
adults, holding
second
language
constant

(C1 C2)
First
language
acquisition
in children
and second
language
acquisition
in adults.

The critical period hypothesis

Critical Period
Hypothesis
Neurobiologic
al
consideration
s

The
significance
of accent

Cognitive
consideration
s

Affective
consideration
s

Linguistics
consideration
s

Hemispheric
consideration
s

Bilingualism

Biological
timetables

Interference
between L1
and L2

Right
hemispheric
participation

Order of
acquisition

Anthropologic
al evidence

Neurobiological considerations
Hemispheric lateralization
Lenneber
g (1967)

Geschwin
d (1970)
Krashe
n
(1973)

Scovel
(1984)

Lateralization

Lateralization

Lateralizatio
n

Lateralizatio
n

begins at
around 2 and
is completed
around
puberty

Is completed
much earlier

Is completed at
5 years old

emerges at birth
is evident at 5
is completed at
around puberty

Neurobiological considerations
Biological Timetables
Scovel
(1988)

birds
Sociobiological critical
period

mammals
human beings?

Socially bonding
accent
(2) To attract mates of
(1) To form an identity
their own kind in an
with their own
instinctive drive to
community as they
maintain their own
anticipate roles of
specie.
parenting and
leadership
of an
n
o
i
t
i
s
i
u
The acq
elike)
v
i
t
a
n
(
c
i
authent
accent

Not communicative
fluency
Not other higher-order
processes

Neurobiological considerations
Right-Hemispheric Participation
Obler (1981)

p
su

There is a significant
right hemispheric
participation particularly
in early stages of
language learning

ed
t
r
o
p

)
2
8
19

t
t
o
o
n rt
n rt
d
o
i
d
o
i
p
d
p
d p
up
u
s
s

ee
s
e )
an
(
n
y
l
R
Ge 982 ve
d
an
(1 Sco
on
t
le )
g
n
Si 004
(2

L2 learners,
particularly adults,
might benefit from
more
encouragement of
right-brain activity
in classroom
context.

Neurobiological considerations
Anthropological evidence
Sorenson
(1967)

Tukano culture (South

America)
12
languages

1 community => 1
language
The Language
acquisition seen in
adult language
learners in the largely
monolingual
American middle class
speech communities
may have been
inappropiately taken to
be universal (Hill,
1970)

1 person

1 person

L1

L1

is exposed to
2 or 3
languages

is exposed to
2 or 3
languages

The significance of accent

Speech
muscles

gradually
develop
control complex

sounds
Complete phonemic
control
before
puberty

Most of the evidence

indicates that persons
beyond the age of
puberty do not acquire
what has come to be
called authentic
pronunciation. (Brown,
2007)

are sometimes
not achieved
until 5

foreign accent
Neuromuscular
plasticity
Cerebral development
Sociobiological
programs
Environment of
Of course
there are
sociocultural
influences
exceptions

The significance of accent

We all know people who have less than
perfect pronunciation but who also
have excellent and fluent control of a
second language, control that can even
exceed that of many native speakers

Arnold Schwarzenegger
effect

Cognitive considerations
Piaget
(1972)

Intellectual development of a child:

Sensorimotor stage (birth to 2)

Preoperational stage (ages 2 to 7)
Operational stage (ages 7 to 16)
Concrete operational stage (ages 7 to
Pro CPH
11)
Formal operational stage (ages 11 to 16)
Vague
Singleton and Ryan
lack of empirical data
(2004)
Ausubel
(1964)

Grammar in adults is easier because of

the relevance of connection in
cognition
Children do learn L2 without formal operation
thought

Affective considerations
Affective domains:
Emphaty
Self-esteem
Extroversion
Inhibition
Imitation
Anxiety
Attitudes

Children
Adults

egocentricity
inhibitions

Oneself-identity is inextricably bound up with ones language

Self identity
second
identity
Younger children are less afraid because they are less aware
of forms
Adults tend to tolerate linguistics
Peer presure
differences more than children so
errors are easily excused

Linguistics considerations
Biligualism

Code-switching
Interference

between L1 and L2

Solid foundation of L1

Order

of acquisition

Creative construction process

Issues in first language

acquisition revisited
Competence

and performance
Comprenhension and production
Nature or nurture?
Universals
Sistematicity and variability
Language and Thought
Imitation
Practice and frequency
Input
Discourse

Some age-and-acquisitioninspired
language teaching methods
Total
The

Physical Response

Natural Approach

Source:
Douglas Brown, H. (2007) Principles of language learning and teaching. White
Plains, NY: Longman.
Chapter 3: Age & acquisition

Thanks