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This study examines the relationship between certain aspects of the second language acquisition process and age. An oral production test was developed to assess the ability of nonnative English speaking children to produce standard English morphology and syntax. The test was administered to approximately 200 children (ages 6–15) who were learning English as a second language in American public schools. The results of this testing were used to examine the relationship between age and 1) the rate of acquisition of certain English grammatical structures and 2) the order of acquisition of these grammatical structures. The results indicated that there was some relationship between age and rate of learning. Among children exposed to English the same amounts of time, the older children scored higher on the morphology and syntax subtests, whereas the younger children received higher ratings in phonology. There were, however, no major differences observed in the order in which children of different ages learned to produce the structures included in the test. These results suggest that there is a difference in the rate of learning of English morphology, syntax and phonology based upon differences in age, but that the order of acquisition in second language learning does not change with age.

Sixty‐six adult speakers of English as a second language were tested on the SLOPE test, a measure of oral production covering 20 structures in English. The difficulty order found was not significantly different from that found in children learning English as a second language in previous studies (Fathman 1975b), and no significant difference was found between speakers of different first languages. These results confirm and extend Bailey, Madden, and Krashen's (1974) findings and support the hypothesis that certain similarities exist in the language acquisition processes utilized by children and adults.

Cooperative learning is designed to engage learners actively in the learning process. Through inquiry and interaction with peers in small groups, learners work together towards a common goal. As a major movement within the broad context of the educational mainstream, cooperative learning has specific relevance for literacy and language learning. Communicative approaches to second/foreign language teaching can effectively draw on the principles and characteristics of cooperative learning to make language teaching and learning more effective. This joining of communicative instructional approaches with cooperative learning should be effective whether applied to the second/foreign language classroom or to the sheltered classroom integrating language learning with content-area learning.

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