Reflection Four

The critical period is defined as the period in which individuals have an advatage in acquiring
their preformance and behaviors in certain skill areas depending on the age variable . In this context ,
the critical period phenomenon , which is considered to have important effects on development and
learning outcomes , is also the focus of studies in foreign language and second language acquistion
studies in terms of evaluating the performance of individuals in acquiring the skills they have in the
target language and using the language in the context of the level of competence .

There is a certain period in human life and during this period they acquire the language easily
without any outside influence and teaching . Advocates of critical period hypothesis children
between the ages of 2 and 12 are in a critical period for language learning . If children start learning a
language during this period , he / she will learn much easier , much more comfortably and better .
After the age of 12 , an event called brain neturalization occur . Brain neturalization is the
maturation of the brain thus , the complete seperation of the right and left lobes . Learning becomes
more difficult when there is brain neturalization . Ultimate attainment is the last point that a person
who learns a language can reach in language learning . Hence , the en of point of acquisiton .

According to the critical period hypothesis , those who learn language at a young age learn
faster , learn more easily , it was said that native like proficiency was accessed . Ultimate attainment ,
on the other hand , oppese this view . In ultimate attainment , researchers found someone who
started learning a language at a young age and someone who started learning after the critical period
passed and they compared them . As a result , there was no difference other than pronunciation .

The learning curve of those who start learning at a young age rises rapidly , then declines ,
then continues again and both meet at the same point . In other words , the statement that children
who start leaning the laanguage in the critical period hypothesis learn the language easily is not true .

If we summarize the critical period hypothesis and ultimate attainment , the critical period
hypothesis is the time when language learning is very easy , fast and effective between the ages of 2-
12 in a certain time period . When looking at the final point of the ultimate attainment of those who
learn a new language , ıt turns out that this is not correct except for the pronunciation dimension .
Therefore , pronunciation and speaking lessons are taught for children between the ages of 2-12 , so
that these skills can develop .

Persistent learning is called fossilization . % 95 of second language learners cannot reach their
proficiency in their first language and defines this as Selinkar fossilization . There is no time for
fossilization . Fossilization can occur at any language level . Different things can happen at different
times in different learning stages for each student . If we look at the types of fossilization
phonological fossilization , morphological , syntactic fossilization , pragmatic fossilization .
Experiencing fossilization as pronunciation is called phonological fossilization . Morphological
fossilization is also called grammatical fossilization , just like the mispelled ‘’ed’’ in the ‘’s’’ .
Fossilization related to sentence sequence is called syntactic fossilization . For example , someone
does not know where to bring the adverb in the sentence sequence and puts the adverb wherever
he/she wants . Misinterpreting a word is called semantic fossilization . As a teacher , we need to be
careful about fossilization . Before the teacher starts the lesson , he /she needs to plan very closely
and teacher needs to come to the lesson prepared .
 The intermediate level we are in learning a language is our interlanguage .Thus , everything we
know about a second langauge is our interlanguage , both theoretical and production . Interlanguage
is created by each learner . Everyone has an interlanguage and they are all different . The language
learner uses a language system of his own , but this language system is neither the first language nor
the second language , a language that is blended in the middle of the two , and he / she realizes all
his / her learning in this language environment . To give concrete example , when someone sneezes ,
we say ‘’ all together ‘’ in Turkish . If we say it all together in english this is structure created by our
interlanguage , so god bless , not the first langauge , but the second langauge , a language system
that we created ourselves in the middle . Native language transfer is divided into two ; Positive
transfer , negative transfer . If we give an example of generalizing the rules in the target language ,
we use ‘’ed ‘’ in the past tense . The student puts the suffix on all verbs , but since some verbs are
irregular verbs , the root changes .

Hazal Oğuz

200561067

ELT/3