Age and Acquisition

Prepared by Manuel Jimenez 

Second Language Acquisition and Age
Language acquisition has been a major topic of research in linguistics for several decades. Attempts to explain the differences between children's and adults' acquisition of first and second languages have led to the development of the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH).
This hypothesis states that there is "a biologically determined period of life when language can be acquired more easily and beyond which time language is increasingly difficult to acquire." (Brown 53) Originally, this hypothesis only included first language acquisition, but later researchers have extended it to second language as well. Many aspects of first language acquisition were brought into the domain of second language acquisition, but the assumption that the two types of acquisition are similar is fundamentally flawed.

Genesee’s article explains the research of linguists who tried to relate the CPH to second language acquisition, but whose results remained questionable or inconclusive. Working independently, Penfield and Lenneberg suggested two reasons why language acquisition is difficult after puberty. Penfield maintained that the plasticity of the brain is lost "at puberty, after which complete or nativelike mastery of languages, first or second, is difficult and unlikely." (Genesee 98) This plasticity assigns functions to different areas of the brain and cannot be changed. Penfield noted that children who suffered brain damage before 9 to 12 years of age could recover language skills completely, but children who had suffered brain damage after puberty could not.

Lenneberg agreed that language learning after puberty was more difficult, but argued that the completion of "lateralization of language functions in the left hemisphere" (98) was the cause. Lenneberg studied children who suffered damage to the left hemisphere of the brain before and after the age of 12. The transfer of language function to the right hemisphere was found in children who suffered damage before age 12, but rarely in those who suffered damage after age 12.

Finally, age and acquisition is a process in which the individual has to select the best option in order to communicate effectively and have a good input .