Age-Related Factors in Second Language Acquisition

Substantial interest surrounds the question of how age affects second language acquisition. This is a particularly intriguing question for educators who must develop appropriate curricula and instructional strategies for refugee and immigrant children of different ages who are entering our schools. Unfortunately, too little is known about language acquisition in general to allow us to say definitively that X or Y makes acquisition easy at one age or difficult at another. However, the convergence of several lines of psycholinguistic and sociolinguistic theory and research suggest possible explanations for age-related influences on language acquisition that language educators should take into account. The purpose of this discussion is to focus on several variables that have been shown to be age-sensitive in the process of second language acquisition. A word of caution is necessary at the outset: generalizations about the relationship of age and language acquisition are treacherous for two obvious reasons. First, people of the same age do not share all the same characteristics. We can speak of a typical six-year-old or an average fifteen-year-old, but we have to keep in mind that a norm or an ideal may be as much fiction as fact in the real world. Among people of the same age, differences in attitudes, aptitudes, knowledge, and skills make sweeping generalizations about learners elusive. Second, there is no uniform pattern of development that everyone follows. Even if we could say that everyone eventually achieves certain characteristics, it is clear that there is no common route to be followed. Knowledge and skill are acquired by each of us according to a highly individual map.