The Sensitive Period and Comprehension of Speech

Abstract

The sensitive period as a developmental concept is discussed. Observations are made on various problems involved in attempting to explain adult difficulties with second language acquisition by in voking motivational and input factors.Sixty male Italian immigrants listened to English sentences masked with white noise at four signal-to-noise ratios. Comprehen sion scores were correlated with age of beginning English but were not predicted by number of years in the United States or by other variables investigated. Scores of those who arrived before early adolescence resembled those of native speakers, while those subjects who began English toward the end of adolescence showed a marked comprehension deficit. These results support the hypothesis that a sensitive period exists for the acquisition of a second language.When it has not been taken for granted, the ability of the young child to acquire its native language, with a minimum of observable effort and, of course, "perfect" results, has excited both wonder and puzzlement. That this childhood facility extends to second and even third languages (though more reliably when those languages are learned by exposure than when they are taught in the classroom) is especially noteworthy when it is compared with the limited success of older learners.Among teachers of languages and applied linguists there has long been a degree of consensus that the outcome of adult second lan guage learning is at least in some ways inferior to that of children (Larew 1961, Jones 1969. Until relatively recently, however, ex planations tended to reflect both the behaviorist view of learning that dominated the field for many years and the structuralist view of language that was associated with it; if a childhood advantage in lan

Integrating English for Specific Academic Purposes (ESAP) skills into mainstream English courses

“…There are different researchers such as Arnold and Douglas (1999) who report correlations between integrative motivation and success in the L2. However, other authors describe that such correlations disappear when variables such as age are statistically controlled (Oyama, 1978;Purcell and Suter, 1980). This is not the case in our research since this experiment was carried out with adults whose age ranged between21 and 28, as previously reported.…”

Indeterminacy in the Grammar of Adult Language Learners

“…Five years of immersion was chosen as the standard for considering a subject at asymptote because studies have failed to demonstrate improvement in adult learners beyond that time; after 5 years of full immersion, subjects are either at or so near asymptote that changing competence is no longer apparent (Johnson & Newport, 1989;Patkowski, 1980;Oyama, 1978). The mean length of stay in the United States for the present subjects is 6.45 years, range 5-11.…”

“…A number of other investigators have shown a comparable result with hearing people learning a second language. Using a variety of measures of grammatical competency, researchers consistently find that ultimate proficiency is strongly influenced by the age of the learner upon immersion (Johnson & Newport, 1989;Oyama, 1978;Patkowski, 1980;Schachter, 1989).…”

Factores escolares e individuales en el aprendizaje formal de un idioma extranjero

“…Es importante destacar que los estudios sobre los que se basan las discusiones acerca de los efectos de la edad en la adquisición de lenguas proceden mayoritariamente de situaciones de adquisición en un medio natural, donde la lengua meta es la lengua necesaria de comunicación social, escolar, y a la vez lengua de instrucción escolar (entre otros trabajos, Johnson y Newport, 1989;Oyama, 1978;Patkowski, 1980;Scovel, 1988). Por el contrario, son escasas las investigaciones que se han realizado en situaciones de adquisición en el contexto escolar.…”

“…Respecto a estas últimas cabe una breve reflexión, pues las diferentes metodologías que se utilizan, al menos en principio, con los niños que inician el aprendizaje del idioma más jóvenes y los que lo iniciaban a los 11 años, se corresponden con enfoques más implícitos y más explícitos, respectivamente. Ciertamente, una metodología que propicie mecanismos de adquisición implícitos favorecerá a los niños más jóvenes; son éstos los mecanismos que actúan de manera Estudios de Lingüística Tendencias y líneas de investigación en adquisición de segundas lenguas óptima en la adquisición de la lengua materna, y que disminuyen en algún momento entre los 6/7 años y los 16/17 años (entre otros, DeKeyser, 2000;Bialystok y Hakuta, 1994;Oyama, 1978;Johnson y Newport, 1989). Por el contrario, una metodología que propicie mecanismos de aprendizaje explícitos beneficiará en mayor medida a los alumnos de más edad, que no podrán utilizar los mecanismos de adquisición implícitos como los más jóvenes, pero que dispondrán de una madurez cognitiva general mayor.…”