Does age matter in
second language
acquisition?
As you all know language acquisition is very similar to the process children use in acquiring first and second languages. It requires meaningful interactions in the target language such as natural communication in which speakers are concerned not with the form of their utterances but with the messages they are conveying and understanding. In this process error correction and obvious teaching of rules are not relevant to language acquisition. Now, that we are clear on how the process of acquisition works, the question here is if “Age does really matter when you want to acquire a second language?” Krashen, Scarcella and Long have three statements in their book Child-Adult Differences in Second Language Acquisition in which they state that adults have better acquiring skills than children. On their book they declare that:
a. Adults proceed through the earlier stages of syntactic and morphological development faster than children (where age and exposure are held constant)
b. Older children acquire faster than younger Children (again, the early stages of syntactic and morphological development re time and exposure are held constant.
c. Acquirers who begin natural exposure to second languages during childhood generally achieve higher second language proficiency than those beginning as adults.
By Iris Alonzo
English Major at UPNFM
Honduras
8 Mind Explorer/ October, 2013