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The theory has often been extended to a critical period for second-language acquisition (SLA). David Singleton states that in learning a second language, "younger = better in the long run", but points out that there are many exceptions, noting that five percent of adult bilinguals master a second language even though they begin learning it when they are well into adulthood—long after any ...
Lenneberg reargued extensively against the psychological implications of the work of Edward Sapir and Benjamin Lee Whorf, specifically in regard to the idea that language influences thought. [1] Lenneberg's argument against this notion was that 'linguistic and non-linguistic events must be separately observed and described before they can be ...
The Bottleneck Hypothesis [23] suggests that certain linguistic features in second-language acquisition (SLA) act as a bottleneck, limiting the progression of learners in acquiring the full grammatical system of the target language. According to this hypothesis, functional morphology is the most challenging aspect for adult L2 learners to acquire.
The critical period hypothesis holds that first language acquisition must occur before cerebral lateralization completes, at about the age of puberty. One prediction of this hypothesis is that second language acquisition is relatively fast, successful, and qualitatively similar to first language only if it occurs before the age of puberty. [60]
This casts doubt on the critical period hypothesis (CP) that age is the determining factor in convergent language acquisition, another rich area of debate in GenSLA research [23] [24] [25] With respect to child L2 acquisition, it was hypothesized that if child and adult L2 learners follow the same developmental path this would call into ...
The critical-period hypothesis of the linguist Eric Lenneberg states that full native competence in acquiring a language can only be achieved during an optimal period. [15] This hypothesis supports the innateness hypothesis about the biological innateness of linguistic competence.
For example, the critical period hypothesis explores how age affects language learning ability, while motivation is often categorized into intrinsic and extrinsic types. Personality traits, such as introversion and extroversion, and the use of effective learning strategies can also influence language acquisition outcomes.
Caretakers and researchers attempted to measure her ability to learn a language. She was able to acquire a large vocabulary, but never acquired grammatical knowledge. Researchers concluded that the theory of a critical period was true; Genie was too old to learn how to speak productively, although she was still able to comprehend language. [25]