chapter 3 age and acquisition
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Implications of L1A research
Any differences between
childhood and adulthood?
=> The differences as a key to
language acquisition models and
theories?
Three possible comparisons
C1-C2: L1A and L2A in children
C2-A2: L2A in children and adults
C1-A2: L1A in children and L2A in adults
Neuro-biological (lateralization and accent),
cognitive, affective, and linguistic
differences should be accounted for.
Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)
a biologically determined period of life
when language can be acquired more
easily and beyond which time language
is increasingly difficult to acquire.
“There is such a biological timetable.”
Lenneberg(1967), Bickerton(1981)
HOMO FERUS
lack of speech due to social isolation
Amala and Kamala,
Genie
underdeveloped syntax and morphology,
lateralized to the right hemisphere
Chelsea: born deaf, wrongly diagnosed as retarded,
After intervention, unable to develop a grammar
an equal response to language in both
hemispheres
FERAL CHILDREN
"On November 4, 1970 a girl was discovered. She had been locked in a room alone for over ten years. She was tied to a potty chair and left to sit alone day after day. At night, she was tied into a sleeping bag or into an over-sized crib ... Often she was forgotten.
"The girls seemed to have no trace of humanness in the way they acted and thought. It was as if they had the minds of wolves. They tore off any clothes put on them and would only eat raw meat ..
Critical period: lateralization
The critical period is linked to brain
lateralization.
As the human brain matures, specific
functions are assigned to each hemisphere.
Lg functions controlled by the left hemisphere
90% of adults vs. children with brain damage
=> Split brain research shows NO ONE is
completely left or right brained.
Neurological considerations 1
-Hemispheric Lateralization
Left hemisphere: intellectual, logical,
analytic functions language functions
Right hemisphere: emotional, social
needs
When lateralization takes place, how the
lateralization process affects language
acquisition
Leneberg (1967)
Natural LG acquisition by mere exposure can
take place only during the critical period, btw
the ages of two and puberty, when the brain
functioning is in its ______________ process.
After puberty the brain has lost its cerebral
plasticity because of the completion of the
process of the lateralization of the lg function.
lateralization
Scovel (1969)
The _______ of the brain before puberty
enables children to acquire both L1 & L2.
After puberty, it’s difficult to reach L2
fluency easily or acquire an accent-free L2
Strong CPH for both L1A & L2A
plasticity
Neurological Considerations 2:
Biological Timetables
Scovel(1988): socio-biological critical period development of a socially bonding accent at puberty
Native/”foreign” accents after puberty as a genetic leftover
Neurological Considerations 2:
Biological Timetables
Walsh & Diller (1981): distinctive aspects of
optimal language acquisition at different ages
lower-order process (pronunciation)
early maturing,
less adaptive, difficult to overcome
higher-order process (semantic relations)
later maturing,
More adaptive
Right-Hemispheric Participation –
conflicting evidence
Obler (1981): right brain participation
during the early stages of SLA
Genesee (1982): bilinguals with right
brain involvement in informal contexts
Split brain research: The brain plasticity
helps children compensate the loss and
transfer
Neurological Considerations 3:
Anthropological Evidence
Hill (1970): Adult’s successful SLA in
multilingual communities due to the
influence of social/cultural roles
Sorenson (1967): Tukano culture of South
America (an exogamous unit)
Morris & Gerstman: motivation, affective
variables, social factors, quality of input
Accent Authentic control of the phonology of an
L2 supports the notion of a critical period
the gradual development of speech muscle in
process in the childhood
After puberty, acquisition of authentic/NS
pronunciation of the L2 is impossible
“Henry Kissinger effect”
Cook(1995): “multi-competence”
Cognitive Considerations 1
Piaget’s cognitive development
Sensori-motor(0-2)
Pre-operational(2-7)
Operational: concrete (7-11),formal(11-16)
connection between concrete/formal stage
transition and L2A: Critical Period
Hypothesis?
17
Piaget
Language is an instrument of thought
lg facilitate your ability to think about things
(Whorfian Hypothesis)
Human development
= interaction w/ environment +
= interaction between
cognitive capacities &
linguistic experience
Cognitive
development
LG
development
Piagetian notion of equilibration
Cognition develops in a cyclic process of
moving from states of doubt and
uncertainty ( ) to stages
of resolution and certainty ( )
Disequilibrium ends at age 14 or 15, when
formal operations are firmly organized
and reach equilibrium.
Disequilibrium spurs language acquisition:
language interacts with cognition to
achieve equilibrium
disequilibrium
equilibrium
CHILDREN VS. ADULTS
1) Children learn without the benefit of
formal operational thought
Ausubel: formal, abstract thought for adults
Rosansky: self-centered children > self-
conscious adults
a) initial LA takes place when the child is highly
“centered”
b) lack of flexibility and consciousness
c) free from societal values and attitudes
CHILDREN VS. ADULTS
2) the left hemisphere dominance in adults
-> a tendency to overanalyze and narrow-
focused in learning
3) Disequilibrium enables children to learn a
lg without much inhibition and great
tolerance of ambiguity
CHILDREN VS. ADULTS
Both children and adults benefit more from
meaningful learning than from rote
learning.
Child superiority via meaningful learning in
natural setting vs. adults’ rote method in
classroom setting.
AFFECTIVE Considerations
Empathy, self-esteem, extroversion, inhibition,
imitation, anxiety, attitudes
the language ego in children vs. adults
the language ego as the identity a person develops in
reference to the language one speaks
Inhibitions serve as a wall of defensive protection
around the ego
learning a second language equated with the
acquisition of a second identity
(Guiora et al., 1972)
AFFECTIVE Considerations
CHILD ADULT
Language ego
Dynamic, growing, flexible Confirmed, shaped, rigid
inhibition low Strong/high
adaptation easy difficult
learning Ego-centric/ unconscious Self-conscious
Attitudes Not developed enough Less affected
attitudes toward races, cultures, ethnic groups, classes of people & lg.
Peer pressure
Strong constraints to conform
Tolerate linguistic differences
LINGUISTIC Considerations
1. Bilingualism
1) Coordinate bilinguals: two meaning
systems: L2 is mediated through the
dominant L1
2) Compound bilinguals: one meaning
(fused) system from which both lgs
operate; Neither is dominant
LINGUISTIC Considerations
2. Interference between L1 and L2
1)Children: Similar strategies and linguistic
features are present in both L1A and L2A
2) Interference: Adults are more vulnerable
to the effect of the L1 on L2
- L1 used as a facilitating factor, to bridge
gaps between the two languages
3. Order of Acquisition
1) L1 order of children
Brown's(1973) longitudinal study with
Adam, Sarah, Eve in longitudinal study
DeVilliers & DeVilliers’s (1973) cross-
sectional study with children across lgs,
confirming Brown’s order
3. Order of Acquisition
2) L2 order of children
Duray & Burt’s (1976) morpheme study
with children across lgs
a series of cross-sectional studies in
children SLA: confirm DeVillier's sequence
in FLA
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