EFFECTS OF AGE

EFFECTS OF AGE ON THE ROUTE OF SLA

EFFECTS OF AGE ON THE RATE OF SLA

EFFECTS OF AGE ON THE SUCCESS OF SLA

EFFECTS OF AGE ON THE ROUTE OF SLA

Bailey, et al. (1974): children acquire grammatical

morpheme in a similar order with adults.

Fathman (1975): 200 children (6-15) same order of acquisition of 20 grammatical items

Longitudinal studies: age does not produce a different order of development in transitional structures
Cazden et al. (1975): child, adolescent and adults

learners went through the same stages

Learners appear to process linguistic data in the same way.

EFFECTS OF AGE ON THE RATE OF SLA

Generalization: Older learners are better. Snow and Hoefnagel Hohle (1978): adolescent progress most rapidly. They compared the progression of different ages: 6-10, 12-15, 15 and older 12 15 learnt more rapidly than both. Morphology and syntax: clear BUT there were only very small differencess in pronunciation tests.

EFFECTS OF AGE ON THE SUCCESS OF SLA

The longer the exposure to the L2, the more native-like L2 proficiency becomes. Burstall (1975:17): the achievement of skill in a foreign language is primarily a function of amount of time spent studying the language. Older learners are more efficient Ekstrand (1975) The effects of length of learning period are most strongly felt in productive rather than receptive skills. Hatch (1983a): numbers of years of exposure to L2 leads to greater success, this may be restricted to overall communicative ability, rather than grammatical or phonological accuracy.

Starting age and SLA

Starting age does NOT affect the ROUTE of SLA. Starting age affects the RATE of SLA. Starting age and number of years of exposure affect the level of success.