The Role of Age in Second Language Acquisition: A Critical Review

This essay provides a critical review of the age factor in second language acquisition (SLA). It explores the significance of age among learners, examining the perspectives of various authors and research findings. The essay delves into the reasons for learning a second language, the different learning methods for children and adults, and the critical period hypothesis. It discusses the role of age in SLA, analyzing phonological, morphological, and syntactic domains, and the influence of age on learners' learning capabilities. The essay highlights the impact of age on language acquisition, with a focus on both positive and negative influences. The findings suggest that while children may have an advantage, adults can also achieve proficiency with dedication. The essay concludes by emphasizing the importance of age as a key factor in SLA and its impact on the individual's learning journey and professional development. The assignment draws upon various scholarly sources and provides a comprehensive overview of the topic.

Critical Review

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
LITERATURE REVIEW................................................................................................................3
Age factor in SLA..................................................................................................................3
Reason for learning secondary language................................................................................3
Different ways by which children and elder people learns secondary language....................4
Critical Period Hypothesis......................................................................................................4
Role of age factor in second language acquisition.................................................................5
Influence of age on learners...................................................................................................6
Learning capability of children towards second language.....................................................8
Learning capability of adults towards second language.........................................................8
CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................9
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................10

INTRODUCTION
Second language acquisition refers to the procedure through which individuals develops
their knowledge over the second language. This simply means that the individual could develop
their knowledge as well as understanding over other language that has value in the professional
life. By gaining knowledge on this individuals can easily attain various opportunities available at
marketplace and can also gain benefits over the same in effective manner (Verhagen and
Leseman, 2016). It also provides opportunity to individual to indulge into lots of exposure which
ultimately provides them higher chances of growth in the near future. SLA is highly important
for the individual as well as society because develops creativity and also improves functioning of
brain in effective manner. Age of learner plays an essential role in SLA learning as importance
of SLA might be different for the individuals as per their age group and profession. The present
assignment will critically review on significance of age among learners for Second Language
Learners. This will look at the perspective of different authors on the stated topic in order to
explore that whether children can only learn second language and gain its benefits or it is
beneficial for the adults as well.
LITERATURE REVIEW
Age factor in SLA
Age of individual is considered as an essential factor in Second language acquisition
which states how distinctively an individuals develop their learning on second language on the
basis of their age. It basically states that there is the huge difference between young as well as
old learner that also places influence over the learning capability of the individual towards
learning secondary language.
Reason for learning secondary language
The reason for acquiring second language can be seen for any motive it might be for
going top foreign country for higher studies. Many people often develop second language for the
purpose of acquiring good job of their own choice and higher career growth. In addition to this, it
is also seen that many of the individuals gets attracted towards second language due to their self
interest in it. Mainly second language is commonly learned by children when they enter into the
school. In common terms, it can be said that for children first language is their own mother
tongue which is being used by them from the starting stage of learning whereas, for the same age

group secondary language is English which taught to them from the tutors to them in the school.
This simply shows that children can easily develop their understanding over secondary language
from school time. This ultimately helps them in grooming more quickly.
Different ways by which children and elder people learns secondary language
As per the views presented by Ahlquist, (2015), it has been seen that there numerous of
ways by which an children can groom and learn second language. This includes attending school
session, watching local TV shows or telecasts, listening radio, reading newspapers etc. all of
these were effective methods by which children's can easily develop their knowledge on second
language. On the contrary, while talking adults, it can be said that there are learning programs
which are conducted by professional for the adults in which they gets training about basic
concept about second language and its usage in day to day lifestyle (Monaghan and Rowland,
2017). In this, it is seen that if right medium is adopted by learner or the trainers then it
ultimately helps them out in developing their knowledge on second language in effective
manner. Also, it works as the motivational factors for them and supports them in learning the
same language in quicker manner. On the contrary, it can be said that if these people go for the
non meaningful method that it directly places impact over their learning and does not allows
them to learn in rightful manner. This simply places negative impact over their growth in terms
of learning of second language.
Critical Period Hypothesis
According to Hopartean, (2017), critical period refers to early learning years of
individuals’ life. This period belongs to only those children which are growing in terms of
physical changes. This age of children is very critical and it is easier for them to develop their
learn any second language. It is seen as the age in which individuals constantly grows in terms of
ears, heart, eyes, hands and feet. This is age is very critical as children are completely free and
can easily acquire learning as they have time to learn, perceive it and perform practice on the
same. In context of learning on secondary language this age is perfect for increasing
understanding on secondary language (Moeller and Catalano, 2015). On the other hand, sensitive
period refers to the age group of individual post puberty when in which they are highly sensitive
and owns capability of developing their knowledge on the particular subject or language which
could provide them benefits in effective manner. As per the views expressed by Hopartean,
(2017), it can be said that people belonging to sensitive period of learning are not able to develop

quicker in comparison of individual belonging to critical period. In order to support this
statement, the respective author have further stated that in sensitive period development
capability of individual declines which ultimately makes it difficult for the learners belonging to
this period to grow their knowledge on particular subject.
As per the views presented by (Lichtman, 2016), it can be said that children's are the only
one who could develop understanding over the secondary language effectively as they are
acquiring it from the initial learning period. This simply helps them out in grabbing maximum
possible information from the starting time that ultimately helps them out in enhancing their
knowledge with the passing time. Along with this, it is also seen that these children has higher
expertise on the second language as compared to the other people who have taken initiative to
develop their command on second language from their adulthood.
Role of age factor in second language acquisition
As per the perception presented by Zhou, (2016), Age factor of individuals in terms of
second language acquisition can be well understood by exploring phonological, morphological
and syntactic domains. In order to elaborate phonological domain, an investigation has been
conducted in which 60 male people has been taken as the respondents who entered into United
States belonging to the age group of 6 to 20 years. Whole investigation conducted on these
people were mainly conducted in order to check that whether these people were able to acquire
US accent or as they have spent crucial years from the starting age in this nation. The study has
further explored that people who were above 12 years and entered into US are less likely to
acquire accent of US as their L2 declines with the passing time (THE ROLE OF AGE IN
SECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION---A PSYCHOLOGICAL PERSPECTIVE, 2013).
On the contrary similar sort of investigation conducted for exploring outcome of
morphological domain by taking account of two groups of students. In order to analyze this in
deeper manner interview method, story repetition task and translation task was conducted. From
this, it has been analyzed that people who are learning any second language in after crossing
their growing then they are not able to acquire basic learning of that second language in effective
manner. These people are not able to grab verb system of the second language from this; it can
be also be said that L2 capacity also declines with the age in morphological domain as well.
Also, study conducted on syntactic domain has also revealed that increasing age of
people is directly placing impact over their learning as they are not able develops their learning

on second language to which they are not familiar. In this domain, it has been seen that people
who have learn foreign language in earlier age are more likely to speak to the second language
with higher grammatical error (Chun, Kern and Smith, 2016). It has also revealed that people
who have crossed puberty are not able to acquire their learning towards second language.
The overall learning developed from this section depicts that the passing age of
individual directly places impact on the learners learning capability because crossing age directly
declines that potential and the interest on the same concept or topic. When it is talked about
learning of second language age works as the important factor that influences behavior of
individual towards language. While analyzing whole study in deeper manner, another author
named as Hyland, (2019), expressed that age is not that much big issue in the manner it actually
looks like. It can be said that if individuals belonging to the age of puberty or after crossing this
period is serious about learning second language then none of the other factor will influence
them. Here, it is seen that grown up people are more concerned about their career and
professional life and if these got to know that their learning on second language could provide
them bright future or success then they will remain more focused towards their learning (Saito,
2015).
Influence of age on learners
It has been analyzed age is an important factor that could influence learner’s interest
towards second language in both the positive as well as negative manner. In terms of positive
influence, growing age of individuals develops their sincerity towards the work and also
influences them to take several initiatives towards developing their chances of success in the
career growth. This simply states that having command over Multi language makes individual
more smarter and active in its professional life as they are having something better than their co
worker. This ultimately develops interest among these people to remain more focused towards
secondary language so that they can acquire higher success in their professional life (Second
Language Acquisition in Adults: From Research to Practice. 2003). These grown up people
could also find out some alternative ways in order to find out develop their knowledge on the
particular language in more effective manner. They often explores internet as well as their own
skills while selecting one particular area through which they can effectively learn about second
language in order to attain more proficiency in the same in rightful manner.

From the perception presented by Saito, (2015), while looking at the learning among
children especially below puberty it can be said that learning for this age group is easier in
comparison of the grown child. Here, it is seen that even though children do not know much
about their career but still they are learning and catching power is that much strong which can
easily grab any new thing or language in the playful manner that even does makes them feel that
they are learning something.
This can be well understood with the help of practical life example. For instance: When
children moves to the foreign country in their early childhood age that is below 2 years. If the
upbringing of this child takes place in the foreign country than it would be seen in the near future
that this child would be having effective command over the foreign language as well (Baker and
Burri, 2016). This proficiency could be seen in their terms of spoken language, grammar,
written, accent etc. Here, foreign language is seen as second language for him but still this child
will be having effective command over it. This is because the child has learn this language from
his growing or developing age only at the time of interacting with neighbors’, family and friends.
Later on, the same child acquires more proficiency and command on the same second language
when they take admission in the school. In the school this child got training about the second
language in terms of writing, grammar, fluency, meaning of the sentence or words along with
their usage in the day to day life as well as academic life (Richards, 2015). At this stage child got
to know about its importance in their academic life which ultimately helps them out in grooming
their command over the same language in more effective manner that ultimately supports them
out in attaining their higher scores in their academic scores. This ultimately makes child learn
second language with the growing age without placing any of the additional efforts.
From this example it can be said that it is easier for the child to learn or develop their
knowledge over second language in the initial age of their grooming. This ultimately develops
their proficiency over another language. But, at the same time it is seen that these children are
very small to understand the actual importance of the second language. These kids can initially
grab the second language but with the passing time, if the same child is asked to develop their
understanding over another language in the future then they can only develop their command it
with their own level of interest (The best age to learn a second language, 2016).

Learning capability of children towards second language
As per the views represented by Schmid, (2016), Age is determined as one of the
effective factor that plays higher role in the learning of second language among individual. It is
commonly seen that children belonging to the age of 5-20 years are able to develop their
knowledge on different concepts in effective manner because they are able to learn from the
starting time only in which their learning capability is so high. In this age children are having
more time which can be placed by them in learning. Learning in childhood seems to look more
effective as it belongs critical period of learning language. At this age, children can easily
perform practice on their learning which ultimately helps them out in developing their
knowledge on the same language in deeper manner (Tan, 2015). According to this author, it is
seen that effectiveness among children in quicker manner because children enhances their
command over it by hearing language and then using it same for practicing. This ultimately
enhances their command over that language.
Learning capability of adults towards second language
Whereas, if it is talked about adults, it can be said that they are developing their
knowledge on secondary language according to their requirements. If the requirements of adults
are high then they will develop their learning in adequate manner as they are focused towards
learning. Whereas, at the same time if these adults are not having any personal motive or
seriousness then they ultimately do not place serious efforts towards learning which ultimately
keeps them away from the learning (Adult Language Learners: An Overview, 2015).
According to the views presented by Rojas and et. al., (2016)Apart from this, later it has
been analyzed that adulthood is seen as the best age in which individuals can effectively develop
their understanding on the second language. It can be said that this statement is highly true as
people belonging to adulthood are more focused towards the learning as they know the
importance of second language in their life as well as career (Christie and et. al., 2015). This
focus ultimately enhances their concern towards the topic so that they can easily obtain desired
command over the language. In addition to this, it can be said that individuals who have crossed
puberty also knows several ways which can be attained by them effectively and used in such a
manner that ultimately results in the quicker attainment of desired command over that language.
Here, it is also seen that adults are aware about the importance of second language in their life as
well as career (Hyland, 2019). This ultimately increases their focus on the learning time. Along

with this, it also influences these people to enhance their concentration level while selecting the
way through which they are planning to grow their learning. Here, adults personally take
initiative to analyze their own skills and capabilities and further takes initiative to choose right
method according to their own capabilities toward learning (Can Adults Attain a Native-Like
Accent in Their Second Language, 2015). As a result, they are able to enhance their command
over the second language and learn it in such a manner that could clear out their concepts over
the same in rightful manner.
Therefore, it has been analyzed that the statement which states that only children can
develop their second language is not completely true because people who are serious about their
working are knows much about the importance of second language according to the demand of
market and their own career (Lan and et. al., 2015). This ultimately influences them to focus on
their learning effectively so that they grow their own career in faster which will provide them
higher benefits in the near future.
CONCLUSION
From the above mentioned report, it is concluded that age plays an effective role in the
growth and learning stage of every individual. This might work in positive or negative sense in
the learning of individual age decides the sincerity level of individual. Along with this, it has
been analyzed from the study that learning developed among children towards second language
could be seen in terms of their growing part but when it is talked about grown up person then it
can be said that these people can only develop their learning on second language with their own
interest. Thus, it has been identified that second language can be learn at any age but the most
important thing required in the learning is the own interest of learner towards the language. By
acquiring effective way they can easily develop their learning in more proficient manner and can
easily gain its associated benefits in their career.

REFERENCES
Books and Journals
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second language learners. Journal of experimental child psychology, 141, pp.65-82.
Lichtman, K., (2016). Age and learning environment: Are children implicit second language
learners?. Journal of Child Language, 43(3), pp.707-730.
Blom, E. & Paradis, J., (2015). Sources of individual differences in the acquisition of tense
inflection by English second language learners with and without specific language
impairment. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36(4), pp.953-976.
Monaghan, P. & Rowland, C.F., (2017). Combining language corpora with experimental and
computational approaches for language acquisition research. Language
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Hyland, K., (2019). Second language writing. Cambridge university press.
Moeller, A. K. & Catalano, T., (2015). Foreign language teaching and learning.
Zhou, M., (2016). The roles of social anxiety, autonomy, and learning orientation in second
language learning: A structural equation modeling analysis. System, 63, pp.89-100.
Chun, D., Kern, R. & Smith, B., (2016). Technology in language use, language teaching, and
language learning. The Modern Language Journal, 100(S1), pp.64-80.
Saito, K., (2015). The role of age of acquisition in late second language oral proficiency
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Baker, A. A. & Burri, M., (2016). Feedback on second language pronunciation: A case study of
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Richards, J. C. (2015). Error analysis: Perspectives on second language acquisition. Routledge.
Tan, P. J. B. (2015). English e-learning in the virtual classroom and the factors that influence
ESL (English as a second language): Taiwanese citizens’ acceptance and use of the
modular object-oriented dynamic learning environment. Social Science
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Christie, M., & et. al., (2015). Putting transformative learning theory into practice. Australian
Journal of Adult Learning, 55(1), 9.
Lan, Y. J., & et. al., (2015). Second language acquisition of Mandarin Chinese vocabulary:
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Rojas, R., & et. al., (2016). Interlocutor differential effects on the expressive language skills of
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Saito, K. (2015). Experience effects on the development of late second language learners’ oral
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Ahlquist, S. (2015). The Storyline approach: promoting learning through cooperation in the
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Hopartean, A.M., (2017). Learn from Your Mistakes: The Relevance of Age and Culture for
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