When is it easier to learn a second language?

SLA at different ages

In the twenty-first century more and more people get the chance to learn a second or even a third language. In the last few decades several linguists have done research on the possible difficulties of second language acquisition (SLA). Every person is different, we learn languages in different ways, moreover there are some other issues which affect all people. In my essay I would like to summarize recent studies, which show that people learn languages differently at different ages, but SLA cannot only be successful in childhood but also after puberty.

It has long been accepted that second language acquisition is easier during the childhood than in adulthood. Several research e.g. Snow and Hoefnagel-Höhle (1978) have shown the result that children in immigrant families could learn a second language more easily and faster as opposed to the older generations, and they could also achieve higher levels of proficiency. The most widely accepted explanation to this question is of biological nature. According to Penfield, Roberts (1959) and Lennenberg (1957), who carried out their research in the twentieth century, the brain loses its ability to acquire new languages sometime after puberty. As we grow our memories and brains deteriorate, thus in adulthood we cannot memorize new words and grammatical structures as effortlessly as we could during our childhood. Recent studies e.g. Albert and Obler (1987) have shown that “neurological considerations are not the same for all people, nor are they the overriding determining factors.” (Rehorick, 1983, p. 821.)

Another reason for differences in SLA in different ages can be that adults and children use different learning strategies. Several studies have shown that children who started studying their second language between the ages of 3 and 5 went through a process similar to the first language acquisition. Language learning in education grows to be more and more complex as the students move from one grade to another. Studies have concluded that those students who started SLA after puberty had an incorrigible foreign accent in contrast to those who started earlier in their childhood. According to Lenneberg (1957), difficulty in achieving native-like pronunciation is due to the loss of the cerebral plasticity. In addition to this, researches have showed that teenagers and adults both proceed through syntactic and morphological development faster than younger children. However, children who have started SLA between the ages 3 and 5 ultimately acquire a higher proficiency level than those who started it after puberty. The reason why younger children can learn a second language so much more easily than teenagers can, could be that the grammatical structures that is required from children to learn are much more simple than those required of adults or teenagers.

Recent studies, like Snow (1978) have shown that the success of SLA depends not only on the brain capacity but also on the situation. Studies conducted by Snow and Hoefnagel-Höhle (1978) provide further explanation to SLA. Snow and Hoefnagel-Höhle studied children, teenagers, and adults. Teenagers seemed to have the fastest learning rate. It turned out that teenagers are even better at acquiring the rules of a language than young children. The explanation to this phenomenon is that the ability to acquire rule systems increases with age. Furthermore, their research had other important results. It concluded that the success of SLA depends largely on the given situation in which the participants have to acquire the language. The reason why the teenagers instead of the adults are best at learning languages is that Children in nursery- or in primary schools have to use the new, foreign languages almost every day, while their parents do not. Children are forced to use the language more often. These findings are very important for language teachers as knowing this, they can better understand the motivation of their students and adjust theri way of teaching to them.

 We can say in general terms that adults and older children “acquire the second language faster than young children, but child second language acquires will usually be superior in terms of ultimate” (Krashen, 1979, p.574.), but we have to take into account these results were based on studies which were made according to short-term studies. However, studies that were conducted on immigrants have shown that those immigrants who arrived to their host countries as children ultimately attained a higher level of proficiency than those who came fully grown. In addition, those who arrived after puberty found it virtually impossible to attain a native-like accent.

In conclusion, second language acquisition for adults is not impossible but its success  only depends heavily on the way they learn it. Furthermore, for adults other factors outside of age, like memory capacity, language environment, education etc. should be taken into account. The methods language teachers use in schools or in language schools could help a good average of people, but they can just as well hold back those with different needs. Teachers should not treat adult's and children's education the same way because adults and children have fundamentally different needs. To better understand the methodology of SLA more studies are needed. Based on the valuable research already carried out, perhaps future generations will be able to find the solution to this question.

References

Brigit H. (2001). Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis by David Birdsong. Journal of linguistics,37 (3), 633-636

Sabrina P. (1980). Second-Language Acquisition in Childhood by Barry McLaughlin. TESOL Quarterly,14 (4), 524-525

Sally R. (1983). Second Language Acquisition in Adults: Some Methodological Implications for the University Educator. The French Review,56 (6), 821-828

Virginia P. C. (1989). How Long? A Synthesis of Research on Academic Achievement in a Second Language. TESOL Quarterly, 23(3), 509-531