The Impact of Age in Relation to Second Language Acquisition

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Language connects human beings together by providing them a way to express ideas and thoughts to one another. The continuous growth of interaction between countries requires a need for more multilingual people in the world, and the value of acquiring a second language can provide people with numerous activities not as easily adaptable for monolingual individuals. A major component of linguistics involves grammar, which are the rules of language. Grammar can be broken down into syntax and semantics. Syntax refers to the system of rules that governs how human beings combine words in order to create sentences, and semantics refers to the context of sentences and provides meaning to what it is that a person is saying (Morris and Maisto 260-261). Jacqueline S. Johnson from the Department of Psychology at Cornell University and her research partner Elissa L. Newport from the University of Illinois provided in their case study, “Critical Period Effects in Second Language Learning: The Influence of Maturational State on the Acquisition of English as a Second Language” that, “some investigators have suggested that a critical period theory must predict that children are better than adults at learning second languages” (63). In order to prove or disprove the idea that children are able to better acquire second languages at a higher rate of proficiency than adults, numerous case studies have been conducted comparing early-language learners with late-language learners. Ultimately, what can be determined is that while second language proficiency is at its highest potential among younger children, there are too many possible variables in individual lives after puberty to accurately pinpoint how successfully an older person develops his multiling...

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...language acquisition comes much more easier to children before puberty learners following their age of puberty. Before puberty, the brain and language acquisition among children are so similar that proficiency in a second language is almost developed inherently such as with their first language acquisition. Due to the obstacles including the cultural identification a person holds towards the language’s native country, a person’s fear of being judged by others in speech, and a person’s motivation in acquiring a language, the varying levels of each of these linguistic barriers causes variation among how quickly and successfully adults can acquire foreign languages. All in all, however, it is clear that age does affect the rate of second language acquisition, and it is among the lower age levels where acquisition does reach its highest potential of distinct proficiency.

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