Part

2
Second-Language Learning
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6
Children and Adults In Second-
Language Learni ng

6.1. Children are Better: A Camman Belief

Most people believe that children are hett er than adults when anempting
to learn a second language. That seems to be backed up by the common
observation that young second-language learners seem to pick up another
langua ge quickly, just by exposure and without teaching . Whether this
belief is justified is the focus of this chapter. As we shall see, all of our
psycholinguistic knowledge (and th en some) will be needed in order to pro-
vide a reasonable answer to this question. T he overall th eory is one that was
first formulat ed by Steinberg (1982) and Steinberg (1993).
Factors involved in second-Ianguage acquisition can be divided into
three categories: (1) psychologieal, (2) social siruation, and (3) other psycho-
logical variables.
1. Psychological. In this seetion, we shall consider: intellectual processing,
which is involved in an individual's analytical dete rminatio n of grammatical
strucrures and m ies; memory, which is essential if language learn ing is to
occur and remain; and motor skills, which concern the pronun ciation of the
sounds involved in the second language, i.e. the use of the articulators of
speech (tongue, lips, mouth , vocal cords, etc.).
2. Social Situation. T he types of situations, setti ngs, and interactio ns which
an individual experiences can affect the learni ng of a second language. Thus,
we will be concerned with where and with whom exposure to th e second
language occurs. In particul ar, the natural situation (family, play, workplace)
in ce ntrast to th e classroom situation will be focused on.
3. Otber Psychological Variables. H ere we shall see the effect of other indi-
vidual factors such as what the person's first language is, and how motiva-
tion, attitude, and othe r individual factors may affect learnin g.
17 0 PSYCHO LINGUISTICS

6.2. Basic Psychological Factors Affecting Second-

language lea rni ng
6.2.1. Intelledual Processing: Explication and lnduction
Essentially, there are only two ways to learn the syntax of a second language:
someone can explain them to you, explication, or you can figure them out for
yourself, induction. Let us consider these.

6.2. I. I. Explicotion

Tbe nature of explication

Explication is the process whereby the rules and strucrures of a second
language are explained to a learner. T his explanation is given in the first
language of the learner. The learner is then expected to understand, learn,
and apply the rule in the second language. T he explanation is usually not
given in the target (second) language because th e learner may not know
enough of that language. Only with learners who are very weil advanced
could an explanation be attempted in the target language.

Wby a lallgllage cannot be leam ed completely by explication

While parts of a second language can be learned by explication, it is imposs-
ible for it to be learned entirely by explication. T his is because not all of the
rules of any one language have been discovered and written down. One
canno t go to a bookstore and buy a book or any number of hooks which
come d ose to comp letely explaining the grammar of any language. Even for
a language such as English, the most researched of all languages, one still
finds lingu istic journals discussing rhe concepts involved in such comm on-
place features of English as tense and the artid e.

Explication is rarely applicable toYOllng cbildren

Explaining is rarely done by parents or others when children acquire a native
language, yet children by the age of 4 or 5 can understand and speak most
of their native language quite weil. T hey have learned language by self-
analysis, induction . Parents do not even attempt to explain a relatively simple
morpheme rule, Iike that of the plural. You do not hear a parent saying:
'N ow, Ma ry, to make the plural of "dog" you add a "z" sound to the end of
the word , while with "duck" you add an "s" sound. You do this, Ma ry,
because the last sound of "dog" has a voiced consonant and th e last sound of
"duck" has an unvoiced one.' Even if parents were able to formulate the
explanation, which most cannot, they know that their children would not be
able to understand it.
Similarly, parents do not tell their childre n that there is a Subjecr + Verb
+ Objec t ordering in their language, or tha t, in order to negate a sente nce
 CH I LDR EN AN D ADULTS IN SECO ND -LA NG UAG E LEARN I NG 171

like 'John wanted so me choco late ice-cream', the negative marker, not, must
occur before the verb, do must appear before the NEG, the tense on tbe
verb must be shifted onto the do, so that do + PAST becomes did, and some
must change to I/ny for agreement, so that the sentence 'John did not want
any chocolate ice- cream' will be the result, Ir is only with a high degree of
intellecrua l marurity that a person can und erstand such explicit explanations.
(Even college srude nts taking linguistics courses can find such explanations
daunting!)

Teacbing simple I/nd complex mies

An example of teaching a simple ru le would be a case in which a maru re
Korean speaker studying English would be told that tbere is a Subject
+ Verb + Object or der of constituents (Korean has S-O-V) or that Engl ish
req uire s count nouns (for countable objects) to have a plura l marker added
when more than one object is involved. On the basis of thes e descriptions,
a learn er can learn re levant usable ru les, tbough they may nee d practice
before the ru les can be applied with any speed or reliability. In such cases,
explication may even be a faste r means of learn ing tban induction, since
induction require s that a learner be repeatedly exposed to wor ds, phrases,
and sentences along witb relevant situa tions that give some indication as to
tbeir meani ng,
However, some syntact ic rules Illay be so complex anti abst ract that few
people ot he r than students of linguistics can comp rehend the m, let alone
remember them so as to use tbem correctly! Simple rules can be learn ed by
explication witho ut much diffi culty. In one study, Ha mmerly (1975) foun d
that 'explicit instruction' (explicatio n) functio ned best for simp le ru les. Con-
versely, 'implicit inst ruction' (induction) was best for complex ru les.
In anotber srudy Robinson (1996) found that explication improved the
learni ng of simp le ru les. Explication did best for parti cipants, for example,
in a task involving Subject-Verb inversio n, where adverb ials of rnovernen t
or location are fronted , e.g. 'Into the house ran John' (*Into the house j oh n
ran). However, he found that explication also helped university stu dents in
learn ing a comp lex rule such as pseudocle ft of location, e.g. 'Where tbe
children are is in tbe park' (*'Where tbe children are are in tbe park') . No
difference was found betwee n tbe explicative and two (of tb ree) of the induct-
ive groups ('implicit' and 'in cidental') in learn ing such a complex rule. Of
course, we may expect thar if ru les are explained often eno ugh, students
(particularly university students) will learn. Perhaps more interesting is the
fi nding that these two gro ups involved in ind uct ive no n-instruction learn ing
did as weil as the explicatio n ('instrll ction') gro up in learn ing complex rules!
Rob inson included ano ther inductive group in his study, called 'rule-
search', in which participa nts were asked to 'consciously th ink of the ru le'
which they were to discover. T his group performed significantly worse tban
tbe explicative learn ers on judgi ng the grammaticality of related sentences.
172 PSYCHO LI NG UISTI CS

Such an outcome is not surprising, since having to form ulate ru les is ofte n a
difficult task, even for linguists.

6.2. 7.2. Indud ion

Learn ing ru les by self-d iscovery is the essence of the process of induction .
The child who is exposed to second- Ianguage speec h and remembers what
he o r she has heard will be able to analyse and discover the gene ralizatio n or
rul e that und erlies that speech. Actually, not only must the learn er devise the
rul e based on the speech that has been heard, but he or she must also figure
out how th ose ru les are to be applied in ot her cases. For example, given the
sentence s 'J ohn danced then J oh n sang' and 'John danced and then he sang',
spoken in relevant situations, the learn er can determine that the two sen-
tences are related, with ' he' being a replacernen t for 'J ohn'. T he learn er
must also figure out that while 'he' can replace 'John ' in the second of the
conjoined sente nces, it canno t do so in the first sentence (as in 'He danced
th en J oh n sang ') since in that case the pron oun 'h e' must refer to someone
ot he r than l ohn. Wi th such a ru le, the learn er is on the way to being able to
use and und erstand increasingly complicated structures involving pron omin-
alization. Such phenom ena as pro no minalization, negation, and the plu ral
are learn ed by induction and becom e part of a young native speaker's lan-
guage know ledge quire early, lon g befor e the child enters schoo l.
T he second-Ianguage learner will always be trying to figure out language by
inductio n. T his is simply the natural thing to do. So lon g as the structures
involved are not far beyond the learner's level of syntactic understanding, there
is a good chance that the learne r can discover the rules by self-analysis. We
are pleased to agree with Krashen in this regard on appropriate level of inp ut,
Induction is a process which we all use every day of our lives. We meet
people and we wonder about th ern. What kind of person is she? Is she kind ?
Honest? We seek to find out what underlies peopl e's observable speech and
behaviour so that we can form a conception of the ir person ality in our
minds. We observe, make hypotheses, and test out those hypoth eses.
We listen to music and try to und erstand its unde rlying struc ture. 0 0 you
remember th e first time you listened to a symphony or a piano sona ta? It
was hard to com pre hend. T he first time we heard a song as children, we
cou ld not understand it, But, the more we listened, the mo re we were able to
understand its conceptual framework. We listen to notes and then discover a
pattern which underlies th ose not es. T he older we get, the mor e sophistic-
ated those hypoth eses can becom e. Interestingly, music is something whe re
most of us develo p some degree of com pre hensio n but littl e in the way of
prod uction . We can comprehen d songs and sympho nies but how many of us
can 'pro duce' a symphony?
We have exper iences and it is our nature to try to un derstand those
experie nces within some sort of conceptual framework. This is the same
 CH ILDREN AND ADULTS IN SECO ND- LANGUAGE LEARNIN G 173

process as language learning. W e observe, we wonder, we make hypotheses,

and test out those hypotheses.

6.2.2. Memory

Vocabulary learn ing and rote 11le11l0 1J '

Me mory is crucial to learn ing. It is inconceivable that a person with a severe
memory impairment could ever learn his or her native language, much less a
second language. The learnin g of the simplest word requires memory. A
person learning the word 'dog', for example, must retain a connection between
the hearing of 'dog' and the experience of seeing or touching a dog. Such a
connectio n berween the sound and the object is arbitrary. There is no logical
relat ionship betwee n th e sound 'dog' and its meaning. Usually more than
one occurrence of the sound and meaning is necessary for learn ing.
T he greater the number of related occurre nces needed for learn ing, the
poorer is the person 's memory. Second-I anguage learners and teachers are
forever talking of pr actice and review, T he reason that practice and review is
necessary at all is because of some lack in mernory ability.

Syntax learn ing and episodic llle11l01Y

Me mory is similarly crucial for the learnin g of gramm atical structures and
rules. Fo r example, in order to determine the type of questions that require
do (as in 'Do you want some candy?' but not in 'Is the dog barking?'), how to
negate sente nces, how to use politeness structures ('Please dose the door',
'Would you please dose the door?', 'Would you be so kind as to d ose th e
door?'), etc., memory is essent ial.
It is only through memory that a learner can accurnulate the vasr amount
of speech and relevant situational data which serves as the basis for analysing
.stru crures and form ulating rules. It is not enough to remember whole phrases
and senten ces, the learner must also remember the siruarions in whieh th ese
sente nces were utt ered in ord er to derive the meaning of those phrases and
sente nces and th eir syntactic basis. T his type of memory whieh involves
situations is what T ulving (1983) and others refer to as 'episodic memory'.
T hus, for example, outside of the dassroom, the degree of politeness of an
utte rance must be deter mine d from the situation in which it occurs. T he
learn er must note who is talking to whom and what their starus is, T his
information must be remembered and associated with the different expres-
sions, e.g. ' Please d ose the door', 'Would you please d ose the door ?', 'W ould
you please be so kind as to d ose the do or?'

Related items may not occur in a block for analysis

Acrually, ou tside of a dass roo m, it would be rare for a learner to experience
all of the related data for any syntactic rule ar any one time. T his would
make the data easy for analysis. But, in real life, related data may not be
17 4 PSYCH OLI NG UI STICS

received for minu tes, ho urs, or even days. Thus, for exarnple, regarding
negation, it may be some time before a second or a thir d relevant negative
sentence is heard and noted by the learner. Yet the learn er must remember
the negative insta nces and bc able to bring them up for analysis later. On ly
with a comparative analysis of affirmat ive and negative instances can the
learn er discover how the negative is formed .

Cbildren S 11lC1JJ01)' ability

The mem ory ability of very young children seems to be un paralleled in that
they can absorb a phenomenal amo unt of data , Ma ny parents tell of the
experience of reading a lengthy familiar bedtime story to their young child
and, when the parent began nodding off to sleep, being sharply corrected by
the child as to exactly which words had been skipped .
While childre n at the age of 5 or 6 still displaya phenomenal abiliry at
ro te memorization , it seems th at older children do no t, with some decline
beginn ing aro und 8 years of age and with mo re of a decline from about
12 years of age. In this regard, it seems th at childre n's ages can be usefully
divided into at least two categories, under 7 years and 7 to 12 years. This is
the rough categorization which we shall use.
It seems that younger children tend to rely more on memory than older
childre n. Harlcy and Do ug (1997) investigate d students who were in an
imm ersion language educatio n programme (the teaching of subject-rnatter
thro ugh a second language). O lder childre n began to apply their cognitive
abilities in analysing th e syntactic m ies of th e second language while younge r
children rclied mo re heavily on their use of rote memory for language learn-
ing. O ne could interpret these data as indicating perhaps th at th e older
children jumped to syntac tic analysis sooner because they realized that they
had difficulty in remembering all of the sentences which th ey heard .

Adults and cbildren in sbort-term 11lC11lOry tasks

In othe r types of memory tasks adults may have th e upper hand . For example,
accor ding to a study by H unter (1964) in which subjects had to remember
digits, sho rt-term memory seems to increase up to the age of 15. The number
of digits one is ab le to ho ld in short-term memory increases to 7 by adoles-
cence and drops to 6 around mid- life. However, further researc h demo n-
strared that rehearsal strategies were rnore likely to be the cause of the
greater adult short-term memory since adults are bett er at understa nding
how to go about remem bering (Murray & Rob erts, 1968). C hildren seem
no t to realize tha t memory has limits (Yussen & Levy, 1975) and are less
able to decide on the level of imp ortance of what is to be reme mbered
(Brown & Smiley, 1977). This being the case, perh aps the above research
only shows that children are less likely to persevere on meaningless tasks
than adults and that these tests may not have measure d memory as it is used
by childre n in language learning.
 CH ILD REN AND ADUL TS IN SECO ND- LANG UAGE LEARN ING 175

Cook (1977) found that when adults are ahle to apply their more developed
memory, as in many dassroom learnin g situations, th ey perform hetter than
childre n, but when they cannot, they perfor m at a level similar to that of
childre n. T hus, given adequate time to devise memory strategies, adults may
ou tperform children on some langnage tasks , H owever, whether th is would
suffice for the learning of an entire language is doubtful.
Sbarp decline o[ memory
Memory seems to begin its sharpest dedine around th e age of pu berty.
Undoubtedly this is due to some change in the bra in (Lenne berg, 1967).
Typically, seco nd- Ianguage learnin g becomes more difficult for the 15- or
20-year-o ld th an for a 5- or lO-year-old . In the norma lly ageing brain, how-
ever, previously acquired long-term memories seem relativcly un affected;
one's knowle dge of th e wor ld which is built up over decades is not forgotten
and remains intact (Salthouse, 1982). It is in the acquisition of new learn ing,
particu larly language learn ing, where problems occur. Some researchers think
thar the changes in language ability for the older adult can be explained as a
deficit in lingu istic processing rather than a pro blem with memory (Bloom,
Mu llins, & Pate rnostro, 1996). Since adults continue to engage in higher
thinking and analysis weil beyond their forti es and fifties, the re is little
reason to believe that they would not be able to analyse syntactic structures.
In our view, the ded ine in memory ability is the more likely hypothesis,
H aving to remember sente nces and siruatio ns and then the analyses which
are assigned those sente nces, even when such data are presente d in a dassroom
situation, beco mes more difficult with age.

6.2.3. Motor Skills

Articulators of speecb
Good pro nun ciation is dearly an important part of learni ng a foreign
language. T he better our pron unciation , the better we can comm unicate
with others. T he crea tion of speech sounds is related to the ability to control
th e musd es which man ipulate the organs of speech. Motor Skills is a term
which psychologists use to describe th e use of musdes in perfo rmi ng certain
skills, from generaiones like walking to fine on es like writing and speech.
T he Motor Skills which are involved in speech uti lize what linguists call the
articu lators of speec h. T hese indude the mout h, lips, tongue, vocal cor ds,
etc., all of which are controlled by musdes which are under the general
cont rol of the br ain. The articulato rs of speech have to do the right thing at
the righ t time (open the mout h in a certai n way, position th e lips and tongue
in a certai n way, etc.), if one is to utter sounds accurately.
Decline in general motor skills
Around the age of 12 years or so, there is a genera l change throug hout our
body th at affects all of our moto r skills. Mos t person s experience a dedine.
176 PSYCHOLI NG UISTICS

As a result, few people can start an entirely different sport which involves
the use of motor skills not previously developed, such as gymnastics, and then
excel in that sport. No r can many begin to learn to play a musical instru-
ment for the first time and expect to excel. Golf appears to be an exception,
since most golfers begin the game past the age of puberty . Perhaps it is
because most of the movements involved are generally ones that have already
been developed dur ing the ordinary process of growing up. T hen, too, other
factors seem to favour a more mature person: emotional contro l, complex
judgements taking into account the lie of the land, wind conditions, etc, are
important too. Yet a person who starts young may have an advantage even
in golf. Tiger Woods is a perso n who comes to mind in this regard.
We all recogn ize that to be able to attain a high level of pro fi ciency in a
motor skill, generally, one should start young. But why? Because somewhere
around the age of 12 years, the ability to acquire new motor skills begins to
decline. Beyond the age of 15 years, for most people, things become very
difficult indeed.
The reason for this decline in the fine control of the muscles of the body
is as yet unknown, although, since the decline is of such a general nature,
involving all parts of the body, it seems likely to be due to some change in
central functioning in the b·rain. Hormonal changes prior to puberty may
have something to do with this bur this is only speculation on our part .

Decline in ability [01· neui articulations

As we age and as our ability to acquire new motor skills declines, our ability
to command our articulators of speech is negatively affected . Co nsequen dy,
we can expect that children will do much better in the pro nunciation of a
second language than adults because children have the flexibility in motor
skills which adults generally have lost.
A num ber of studies have demonstrared that the earlier the age at which
acquisition of the second language begins, th e more native-like the accent
will be (Oyama, 1976; Asher & G arcia, 1969; Tahta, W ood, & Loewent hal,
1981). T he Oyama study ofItalian immigrants, for example, showed thar the
younger the children, th e more native-like would be their pronunciation.
T he subjects were 60 Italian-born male immigrants who lived in the greater
New York metropolitan area. T he subjects were categorized according to
'age at arrival in th e United Stares' (6 to 20 years) and 'number of years in
the Uni ted Srates' (5 to 20 years). Ir was found that the younger arrivals
performed with near-na tive English pronunciation while those who arrived
after about the age of 12 years had substantial accents.' Length of stay had
litde effect. (More related research is discussed in a later section of this
chapter.)
There are other, secondary reasons why a foreign accent might persist in
a second language. One's ability to hear foreign speech sounds accurately
(especially those which differ only slighdy from sounds in the native language)
 CH ILDRE N AND AD ULTS IN SECO N D- LANGUAGE LEARNING 177

may be involved. If one hears sounds solely through the filter of the first
language, one may not be aware of a need for correct ion.

6.2.4. Summary of Psychological Factors Affecting

Second-La nguage Learning
Let us now summarize the effeets on seeond-language learn ing of the various
psychologieal variables. Loo k at T able 6. I, in whieh the three basic psy-
chological categories are represented: ln tellectual, whieh is subdivided into
Inductive and Explicative, Memory, and Motor Skills. Aiong the left mar gin of
the table, persons are divided into th ree age groups: Children und er 7,
C hildren 7- 12, and Adults over 12.
l nduction . W e ean see that insofar as Indu ction is coneern ed, this ability
remains at a relatively high level with age, exeept with eertain individuals in
old age. Such an ability allows us to make new discoveries in our everyday
life, even to the extent of being able to analyse the syntacric structu res of a
second language. Thus the assignment of Higb for each age category.
Explication. W e see that this ability increases with age. Youn g children
would have great difficulty in understantling abstract and complex explana-
tions about a second language . W e thus see a rise from Lot» to Higb on this
variable.
Memory . T his is an ability in which very young children are Hi gh. Such
an ability, though, dedines with age and so we have assigned a Medium/Higb
value for ages 7 to 12 and a Medium value for Adults. On e might want to
assign a lower value to adults because of the great age range involved. For
simplicity's sake, we made only one category of adults. Certainly we would
expect a difference in the memory ability of teenagers (13 to 19 years) as
comp ared to perso ns in their thirties or their forties.

Table 6.1. Psycbological [actors and social factors affectiug second-lal1guage

learning jor cbildren and adults

Psychological factors Social facto rs

Intellecrual Situation

Indu ctive Explicative M emo ry M oto r Skills N atu ral C lassroom

C hildre n H igh Low H igh H igh High Low

und er 7
7-12 Hi gh M edi um i\led / Hi gh M ed / H igh M edium M edium
Adults High H igh M edium Low Low Hi gh
over 12
178 PSYCHO LI NG UISTICS

Motor Skills. T he rable indica tes a genera l decline from a Higb for young
ch ildren ro Low for adults. T hese data reflect what research (discussed in a
later section) ind icates about pronunc iatio n proficiency. Ir is difficult for
most adults to achieve native-speaker pronuncia tion. While adu lts may greatly
improve their bowling, golf, or th eir billiar ds (these are perceptnal-uvsun:
skills - a combination of perception and motor skills), most of th ese people
will not be ab le to improve their pro nu nciation (a pure motor skill).

6.3. Social Situations Affecting Second-Language Learning

T here are many social situations in which a seco nd langn age is lear ned.
Basically, we can cover the most important of them accord ing to two categor-
ies, the natura l and the classroo m. The natural siruation in which a seco nd
language is learned is one which is simi lar to that in which the first langnage
is learn ed. Ir can involve social siruations such as th at of farnily, play, or the
workplace, T he classroorn siruatio n involves the social siruation of the schoo l
classroorn. Each of these types of social siruations has its own advanrages
and disadvantages.

6.3.1. The Natural Situation

Cbaracteristics of tbe natural situation

A natu ral situation for second-Ianguage learn ing is one where the second
langu age is experienced in a situa tio n that is simi lar to that in which the
nat ive language is learn ed, That is, language is experienced in conjunction
with the objects, situations, and events of everyday life. T he paradigm case
would be that of a young child goi ng to live in another country and learn ing
that country's langu age, not by any explicit teac hing, but by interacti ng with
playmates. For exarnple, an English-speaking 5-year-old girl from I ew York
goes to Tokyo with her parents, Thro ug h playing with j apanese chi ldren,
she soo n learn s J apanese. In fact, she learn s the language in less than a year,
which is not uncom mon for ch ildren this age, and her speech is ind isting-
uishable from that of native speakers. She is soo n tra nslating for her parents
when th ey go shopping or speaking for them on the telephone.
But what is tr uly amazing here is thar tbe cbild bas learned ber second lan-
gutlge faster tban sbe learned ber first Itlnglltlge! Could an adult do the same if
given the same opporrunity and exposure to the lan guage, even if there was
a comparab le natural siruation - let us say, where a 17-year-o ld Arnerica n girl
finds a J apanese boyfriend and some girlfriends and 'p lays' with them? We
do ub t it because of the declining mem ory and mo tor skills factors . However,
given more time, a young adu lt in such a siruation u ould be able to acquire
the langu age, although probably without true native-speaker pron unciation .
 CHI LD REN AN D AD U LTS I N SECO ND- LANG UAGE LEARN IN G 179

Dedine of beneficial social internction tuitb age

Generally speaking , as one gets older there is a declin e in the kind of soci al
interactio n which promotes langu age learning. Adult second- Ianguage learn-
ers will rypically have sign ifican tly fewer goo d langu age-Iearni ng o pportun-
ities in a new langu age com mu nity th an will children. If the ad ults mainly
stay at ho me, they will not be ab le to meet and talk much to native speakers ,
Goi ng shopping, going ro th e ba nk, and other such chores, while be nefici al,
are very lim ited in time and scope. Second-Ianguage interactions in the
wo rkplace could also be very limiting , for , because of their lack of second-
lan gn age ability, adult learners would not be hired to do work that req uired
native speakers to lingu istically interacr with th em in any depth . Whether
their wo rk allowed thern to use the ir native lan gu age (as business peo ple,
lan gn age teachers, etc.), or whether it invo lved a minimal amount of seco nd -
Ian gu age use (constructio n work, dishwas hing, etc.), in eithe r case learn ers
would only have a limited opportunity to experience appropria te second-
langu age data in the natural situation, Except for siru atio ns involvin g love or
m on ey (paying for ind uctive-typ e lesso ns), it is almost im possible to imagine
a siruation in which adu lts would be continually exposed to the sarne good
qu aliry and qu antity of langu age th at a chi ld receives.

Wit b age, lal1gllage is more essential Jor social interaction

It is import ant ro note tha t for adults, social interaction mainly occurs th rough
the med ium of language. Few native-speaker adults are willing to devote
time to inte rac ti ng with someo ne who does no t speak th e language, with the
result that the adult foreig ne r will have littl e oppo rtu nity to engage in mean-
ingful and extended lan guage exchang es. In contrast, the you ng child is
often readily accepted by other chi ldren, an d even adults , For yo ung chil-
dren, lan guage is not as essentia l to socia l interaction . So-called 'parallel
play', for example, is common amo ng young chi ldre n. T hey can be co nte nt
just to sit in eac h other's com pany speaking o nly occas iona lly and playing on
their ow n. O lde r children can play games . Adults ra rely find th em selves in
sirua tions where language does not play a crucial ro le in socia l inter acrion.

Older cbildren can baue problems

T he olde r the child, however, the greater rhe ro le that language plays in
socia l interaction and the more the person may experience difficulty in being
accepte d, Peer-group acceptance becom es an even greater problem , especially
around th e age of pub erty. (Eve n older chi ldr en who speak th e same language
bu t co me from a different school or tow n often ha ve difficul ty in gaini ng ac-
ceptance whe n th ey enter a new school situation .) Without socia l acceptance,
seco nd-Ianguage learn ing in a na tura l situ atio n can hardly begin for a learner.
So metimes older chi ldren may not want to identify with a new commun -
ity an d will consequen tly res ist learn ing the new lan guage. Preston (1989)
suggests that beca use ch ild ren have not yet develop ed their ow n ide ntities,
180 PSYCH OLIN GU IST ICS

they may be mo re accepting of th e social norms of a new community . T hus,

while younger children will be mo re likely to accept learn ing a new language
and th e culture it involves, older childre n may strive to rnaintain their own
identity and culrur al beliefs by avoiding situations which would expose them
to using a language and culture that migh t challenge their view of themselves.

Cultural adaptation can affect language leam ing

Because language is essentia l for social interaction and people generally crave
such interaction, without know ledge of the second language foreign adults
often tend to stick together in a new environment . Friends hips fo r the adult
are easier to form in the old language, and sometimes even business can be
conducte d at least partially in the old langu age. T hen, too, many large cities
with sizeable foreign populations have radio, television, and newspapers avail-
able in th ose languages. Such facto rs tend to reduce the amo unt of significant
second-langua ge exposure for adults in a way that does not occur fo r children.
In his Accultu ratio n Model of language learn ing, Schumann (1978)
argue s th at th e degree to which a person adapts to a new culture will deter-
mine his or her level of atta inment in th e foreign langu age. As one becomes
more acculturated to th e new community, one will have gre ater con tact with
the speakers of th at com munity, thus increasing th e oppo rtu nities for acquisi-
tion . Additio na lly, not only th e quanti ty of int er action but also its quality is
affected (Schumann, 1986). W ith their greater facility for accultu ratio n, chil-
dren are more likely than adults to interact with the speakers of their new
commu nity, with the resul t that childre n will reccive rnor e opportunities to
hear and use the langu age.

Foreigner talk: simplified speecb

T he natu re of the language input that adults and childre n receive may affect
their acquisitio n of a second language. As was discussed in C hapter I, adults
and older childre n simplify the speech they use with childre n learn ing their
first language. Such sim plified speech may weil aid th e child. In a seco nd-
language situation, adults may hear speech directe d to the m which is sim-
ilarly simp lified. (This is usually done after loud talk fails. T he speaker seems
to think th at the addressee is defective in hearing.) T his simp lified speech,
or ' foreigner talk', share s many of the characteristics of Parentese in that it
consists of well-formed utterances with fewer subordinarc c1auses and more
ord inary vocabulary. Undoubtedly such simplification aids the learner.
Alth ough fore igner talk is used by native speakers with both childre n and
ad ults, ch ildren tend to receive more simplification. In a study involving
foreigner talk add ressed to children between the ages of 8 and 10 as com-
pared with talk addressed to adults, Scarcella and Biga (198 1) found that
more sim plification occur red with th e children than th e adults . Pe rhaps this
is because it is no t as easy to talk to an adult as one would with a child. Such
simplified talk may be considere d disrespectful and ther efore not used. In
 CHI LD REN AND ADULTS IN SECO ND- LANGUAGE LEARNI NG 18 1

any case this greare r simp lificatio n may give childre n a further advantage in
the naturallanguage learn ing context.

Condusion
T he bene fits of th e natu ral situation decline with age. T his is indicated in
Table 6.1, where young children are assigned a High value but adults are
assigned a Low value.

6.3.2. The Classroom Situation

Tbe c/aSS1"OO1Il is isolated from otber social life

T he classroom for second-Iangu age learn ing is a planned situ ation , As we all
know, physieally, th ere is a roo m th at is isolated from the rest of soeial life.
In th e room there is a teacher and a number of srudents. The teacher is the
one who knows the seco nd language and the students are th ere to learn the
langn age. In th e enclosed space of the classroorn, nothin g happen s (lingu ist-
ically) unless the teacher makes it happen. Students do not aet on their own
bur follow the direetion s of the teaeher. Allother aspeets of life are suspended
or sub or dinated to language learni ng. T his, of course, is very different from
the home or community where a lucky second- Ianguage learn er would eat
at a table with others, walk around doing things, work in the garden, go
for a drive, etc., all th e while hearing and using the second language in
conjunction with these activities.

Euerytbing is planned, little is spontaneous

In the natural situa tion, language is but one aspeet of life, an aspect which
aecompanies other life events. In the classroorn, however, langu age itself
becomes th e prime aspect of life, arou nd whieh all else revolves. T he lan-
guage that is to be experienced by th e students and the activities whieh are
to be done are plan ned by th e teacher. While there are degrees o f planni ng
with more or less emphasis on speech, literaey, spontaneity, etc., nonethe-
less, the course of events is neeessarily planned, with th e teacher being the
planner. In a physieally isolated room, where only on e perso n, the teacher, is
the prime source of the second language, planning is unavoidable. This is
true even for methods whieh att empt to simulate th e natu ral siruation by
repro dueing in the classroo m some of the natu ral language experiences which
occur ou tside the classroom, (See C hapter 7 for mor e on such method s.)
Exposure to good native speech, role playing, and games are sorne of th e
devices employed to allow for the natural self-discovery of language and its
use. Still, it is the teacher who plans and controls such aetivities.

Leaming langt/age as part of a group and not as an individual

T here are ot her characteristics of the planned classroo m siruation whieh
disti nguish it from the natur al situation. T hese include soeial adjustment to
182 PSYCHOLI NG U ISTI CS

gro up pr ocess (individua ls mu st subo rdinate their beha viou r and follow class-
room pro cedures for the be nefit of all), the need to arten d class in orde r to
learn , the need for lon g pe rio ds of concentration, and, whe n requ ired , having
to do hom e srudy.
As far as language is conce rned, rhe explicit teach ing of gra mmatical
struc tu res an d ru les may be invo lved, de pen ding on th e merh od used. Usi ng
boo ks and taking no tes are often expec ted of th e srudent, Stud en ts have to
ge t used to learning language as an acade mic sub ject, T hus, when consider-
ing ove ra ll the dema nds of the classro om situation, it is clcar th at rhe olde r
one is, the better one is ahle to adjust and function within tha t situ ation.
You ng children ofte n will not do as weil as older chi ldren and adults .
Ir is poss ihle, however , fo r the d rawb acks of the classroom siruatio n for
childre n to be overcome to a grea t cxte nt. The classroom sho uld be made to
look chee rful and welcoming and th e second language can he learn ed through
play. So long as the focus is o n fun and games and not on language, the
classro om can hecome a place where sign ificant second-Ianguage learni ng
occurs. By prese nti ng seco nd -lan guage data in thi s way, the chi ld learn s hy
induction. (See C hapter 7 for method s which rely on induction for seco nd-
language learning.)

Conclusion
G enerally, th e abiliry ro lear n in a classro om setting improves with age
bcca use older childre n and adu lts can adapt hetter to the classroom regim en
and are more rece ptive to mat erials ta ught th rou gh cxplication , Thus, a
High is assign ed to adults in Table 6.1. A Lot», th ou gh , is assigned to yo ung
children . To the exten t tha t the children's seco nd language experience in
the classro om can be one of learn ing through play, this value can be raised
- even to High, in the prope r setting with the right teacher.

6.3.3. Who is Better? Children or Adults?

To begi n to answer this qu estion we must first deter min e whethe r we are
dea ling wirh th e na tural o r th e classroom situation, Each siruat ion mu st be
considered separately in relation to the psycho log ical factors which affect
th e learning of language. With th is approach, we sha ll th en be able to reach
som e conclusions in com pa ring th e achieveme nts of children and adults in
second-langu age learning. T he sum mary da ta present ed in Table 6.1 will
serve to rnake it easier to dr aw co nclusions in this rega rd.

6.3. I. I. Far the natural situation

Predicting from tbe ualues in tbe table
In th e natural situa tio n, yomlger cbildren will do best, Looking along the line,
we have a Higb o n Natural Situa tion and a High on Indu ctive. (The Lot» on
 CHI LOREN AND ADU LTS IN SECON D-LANG UAG E LEARNING 18 3

Explicative is no t relevant her e because in the N atural Situation learn ing is

th ro ugh induction not explication.) There are Higbs on bot h M emory and
Motor Skills.
Adults have a Low on N atural Situa tion and Higbs on both Inductive and
Explicative intelleemal learni ng. U nforru nately, the Higb on Ind uction doe s
not help much in learning synta x because the ad ult learner do es not get
enoug h rele vant language and non-Ianguage data for analysis through the
N atural Situa tion. Explication is not relevant to the Na tu ral Situati on because
rarely will peopl e be able to explain grammatical points in th e learn er' s
native language (in the rare evenr th at th ey would want to). G iven these facts
in addition to th e Medium o n Me mory and th e Low on Motor Skills, the
adult wou ld he expec ted to do quite poorly,
Ol der children wou ld do better th an adults because they are Medium on
Natural Situa tion and Medium / Higb on both M emo ry and M otor Skills.

A sU1Il1llary explanation
The natu ral situation is more favourable to children because adu lts gene r-
ally undergo a rnarke d decline in the quality and quantity of th e social
interaction conducive to goo d langu age learnin g. T here is no qu estion that,
in a natural siruation, the social activiti es of childre n, especially young chi l-
dre n, expose them to massive arnounts of goo d, natu ral language. This do es
not occur for adults, and, in many cases, not even for older children. In
extre me cases, mem bers of these gro ups may even find themselves in social
con ditio ns which are hostile - conditions which discourage second-language
learni ng. Still, th e o lder child will have an advantage over th e adu lt.
Psycho logically, while both childre n and adults have opti mal powers of
ind uction , and are able to ind uce th e grammar of a second language mo re
or less equally weil, non eth eless, it will be easier for children to learn syn-
tax than it will be for adults. T his is because adults undergo a decline in
mem ory, and, withou t remernbered data, there is nothing to analyse. Adults
and even older children lose the fo rm idable powers of rote learning that
young chi ldren have, Although adults may devise memory strategies and can
seek out mor e practice, nevertheless, th is places an additional burden on
thern, o ne that the child does not have. T he refore, children, parti cularly
younge r childr en, will have an advantage over adults in learn ing the syn tax
of a second langu age.
For th e same reason, older children can be expected to learn faster th an
adults, because of better mem ory . However, because adults seem to be
superior at employing strategies rhat assist th em in learning, adults generally
may init ially learn at a faster rate. T he other groups soon catch up, though .
A ten -mo n th stu dy conducted by Snow arid H oefnagel-H ohl e (1978) of
learners in a natu ralistic setting provides cvidence in support of our co n-
clusion s. These researchers fou nd that in the beginni ng, adolescents were
superior to both adu lts and children o n tests of mor phology and syntax, and
18 4 PSYCHO LING UISTICS

that adults even perfo rmed at a higher rate th an childre n, H owever, with
time th e childre n caught up and overtook the othe r groups .

Conclusion
In th e natural situation of seco nd- Ianguage learn ing, young childre n will do
better th an ad ults, with older children doing better than adults too .

6.3. 1.2. For the classroom situation

In th e classroom situation, adults will do better tban YOlmg cbildren, because
not only are th ey better in explicative processing bur, simp ly put, th ey know
how to be students. They have sufficient marurity to mee t th e rigours of
a forma l learn ing enviro nme nt, where concentration, attention, and even th e
ability to sit still for a lon g time , all play a role in learn ing. In a classroorn-
based srudy comparing junior high school stu dents with elementary school
students (Poli tzer & Weiss, 1969), the older stu dents scored hig her on all
tests , Furthermorc, stud ies of imm ersion education comparing early and late
starters show an initial advant age for the younger learners, but th e late
starters quickly catch up , demonstrating th eir gre ater rate of learn ing in th e
classroom situation (Burstall, 1975; H arley, 1986).
Because the olde r child's memory and motor skills are better than the
adul t's, th e advanta ge in explicative processing enjoyed by th e adult may not
be sufficient to overcome th e disadvan tages expericnced in th ese areas. T hus,
the older child will probahly do better tban the adult in the classroom situation,
Research in this area , which com pared younger and older ad ults, fou nd an
advantage for the younger adult language learn er. Research fro m as long ago
as 60 years (C heyd leur, 1932; T ho rn dike, 1928) has yielded the same result.
T he best age to learn a second language in the typica l explicatio n classroom
situation is probably th at age where the individual rotains much of th e memory
and motor skills of th e very young, but whe re the individual has begun to
reason and understand like an adult . T hat age would pro bably bc some-
where aro und 10 year s.

Conclusion
In the classroom siruatio n, older children will do besr. Adults will do better
tha n young children to the extent tha t the young childre n 's classroom is no t
a simulation of the natu ral situation,

6.4. Conclusion: Who is Setter? Adults or Children?

Alth ough thcre is some com plexity in determining whethe r children or adults
are better in secon d- language learn ing, we can give an answer. T he cornrnon
 CHI LDR EN AN D AD ULT S IN SECO ND- LANG UAG E LEARN ING 18 5

belief that children are better th an adults bas been substantiated, although
with some qualification regard ing the classro om situa tio n. Put ano ther way,
adults do not do best in any siruati on.
In the natu ral situ atio n of language learning, we have determined that
YOllng children will do better tban adults, and so will older children. It is not
even uncomrnon for young chi ldren to learn a second langnage in a year or
less. Thus, children do better th an adults.
In th e classroorn siruatio n, older cbildren will do better tban adults. How-
ever, you ng adu lts will do better th an young children to the extenr that the
young children's classroorn is not a sirnulatio n of the natu ral situa tion , In
the sirnulation case, young children will do better.
Even th ough ot her potent learni ng variables may affect the outcome
in seco nd-language learni ng by any individu al, so long as any particular
variable is held constant for the differ ent age gro ups, we believe that th e
conclusions cited above will be upheld,

6.5. Some Other Influences: ESL or EFL Community

Context, Motivation and Attitude

6.5.1 . Language Community Context: English as a Second

Language (ESL) or English as a Foreign Language (EFL)
Whether the classroom is in a school that is in a community where the
second language is spoken is a matt er of some imporrance, for th is will
determine whether students will have access to a natu ral siruation ou tside
of the class and thereby supplement th eir classroorn learning. Thus, for
example, Pakista nis learning English in a classroom in London will have
ben eficial langnage experiences outside of the classroo rn which Pakistanis
learn ing Eng lish in a classroom in Karschi will not. T he form er (Iearning
English in London) is an English as a Secend Language (E SL) context while
the latter (learn ing En glish in Karachi) is an English as a Foreign Langnage
(EFL) context. Because the ESL context provides more language-learning
opportunities for th e second- language learner through exposure to natural
situ ations ou tside the classroorn, such learners, unsurprisingly, will generally
progress mor e rapid ly than learners Iiving in an EFL context (Fathman,
1978).
Furthermore, in com paring children and adults, we may say that, given
that the natural situ ation benefits ch ildren mor e than adults, the ES L con-
text will benefit childre n more than it will adu lts , Of course, the ESL con -
text will ben efit adults too , but to a lesser degre e. Conversely, adults can do
better in the EFL context where they can apply their superior cognitive
skills for learn ing in the classroorn siruation .
186 PSYCHOLING UISTIC S

6.5.2. Motivation and Attitude

Motivation
A number of facrors which affect second- langu age learni ng operate only in
certain types of situations, T he question of motivation for learning a second
language, for instance, is not likely to arise in a natu ral type of setting such
as with a you ng child. A 1- or 2-year-old nee ds no motivation to learn a
seco nd language; given language in put , the young child will automatica lly
learn - with learning even occurring in negative circumstances. An older
child of 4 or 5 years, however, may need motivatio n in order to learn a
seco nd language since by that age the child may be aware of whcth er a
language is positively or negatively regarded by ot hers,
T he planned learn ing situation such as the elassroom, howeve r, presents a
very different pro blem . There is an element of cho ice invo lved in attendin g
d ass, listeni ng to the teacher, participating in activities, and in doi ng assign-
ments. The amou nt of exposure which one receives and th e amou nt of
attention and effort which one devotes to learning may be affecte d by one's
motivation . Dislike of a reache r, for example, could seriously affect language
learni ng unless it is balance d by a high degree of mo tivation that enables one
to pers ist.
There is no reaso n to suppose, as some theorists have, that some sort
of special motivation or purpose is necessary for second-language learn-
ing. The goal of wanti ng to learn a language for the purpose of integrat-
ing and iden tifying oneself with the second-language peo ple and culture
(integrative motivation) has been tho ught by some theorists (G ardner &
Lambert, 1972) to be better than learning for the purp ose of using the
langu age for some end such as getting a job (instrumental motivation ).
I-Iowever , accumu lated research evidence indicates that th ese inregr ative
and instru men tal motivations work equally weil (Bursta ll, 1975; Lukmani,
1972). The sarn e co uld be said for variables such as liking a tea che r. In
an actual classroo m situation any one of a number of variables cou ld affect
motivation . Teachers are genera lly weil aware of this possibility and often
devise ways to increase positive motivation and att itudes (Croo kes & Schm idt,
1991).

Attitude
A negative att itude towards the targe t language or its speakers, or th e othe r
membe rs of the d ass, may aiso affect one's determinat ion and persistence
to be involved in the d assroom and its activities (Ch iha ra & Oller, 1978;
Gardner, 1985; Gardne r & Lam bert, 1972; O ller, Baca, & Vigil, 1978; O ller,
Hudson, & Liu, 1977). T his sarne negative atti tu de could im pair memory
functioning and detract from focusing on the targer language. In the same
way, any of a host of personality and sociocultural variables could have
deleterious effccts (H. Douglas Brow n, 1987). Ma ny variables, such as status
 CHI LDREN AND ADULTS IN SECOND · LANGUAGE LEARNIN G 187

and culrural backgroun d, become more potent with the age of the learner
and are important considerations in the classroom learning situation.
T his is not to say thar atti rude may not play a role in the natural siruation
as weil. By 4 years of age children have developed attitudes towards lan-
guage. T hey know how people react to different languages. For example,
childre n may not wish to use their native, but foreign , language outside of
th e home. T hey prefer to conform to their peers and other members of the
dominant language community.

6.6. Is There a Critical Age for Second-Language

Learning?
O nce before, in a different contexr (Chapter 4 on isolated children), the
concept of a critical age for first- language learn ing was raised. Recall, if you
will, that althoug h solid evidence was lacking, some theorists hypothesized
that there was an age (puberty, for example) beyond which it would be
impossible to acquire a fi rst langnage. Brain changes were suggested as a
possible explanation for such a psychological barrier.

Adutts can Leam a second langllage

It is reasonable to ask th e same question about the acquisition of a secend
language. Is there any barrier to the learning of a second language and, if so,
at what age does this barri er become operational? As far as adult second-
language learnin g is concerned, we have the cornmon observation that a very
great numb er of adults do, in fact, learn the syntax of other languages per-
fectly. T here are those who speak second languages so weil that, on the basis
of the grammar alone (not the pron unciation, which we shall deal with
shortly), they would be judged native speakers. T here is no evidence, for
example, that a speaker of a Subjecr + Verb + Object language such as
English cannot learn a different word ordering of sentence consrituents,
such as the Subject + O bject + Verb e rdering that occurs in Japanese. Or
that negating a sentence by changing a word internally, as is done in T urk-
ish, presents insuperable problems to speakers who negate sentences in their
native language with unattached negative markers, such as 'not'. Complic-
ated systems of grammatical cases, such as occur in Russian and Finnish, can
be learned by a normal adult Chinese (whose language, like English, has no
cases) who is willing to devote the time to learning the m.

No demonstmted critical ageJor learning syntax

T here are, however, srudies which demonstrate a differential effect for
the age at which acquisition of syntax began. Patkowski (1980) had native
speakers of English rate the syntax of transcripts of spontaneous speech from
18 8 PSYCHOLING UI STICS

immigrants to the USA who had ente red befor e or after the age of 15.
T ranseripts were used to rernove any possible influence of accent on the
raters. The scores showed two very distinguishable groups: those who arrived
before 15 years of age scored very high, while those arriving after scored
lower. J ohnson and Ne wport (I989) found the same effect when they had
native speakers of Kor ean and Chinese rate the grammaticalness of English
sentences. T he earlier the age of arrival, the bett er the subjects were at
determ ining the ungrammaticalness of English sentences.
O n the othe r hand, research exists providing data to refute the claim of a
critical period for rhe acquisition of grammar. In another study using a
grammaticality judgement test in which native speakers of Frenc h were com-
pared with high-Ievel learners of French, no differences were detected between
the rwo gro ups on their test scores or in the process of how they judged the
syntax (Birdsong, 1992). Further research (van W uijtswinkel, 1994; White
& Genesee, 1996) supports Birdsong's findings rhat even learn ers who begin
to acquire a language after puberty can reach native-speaker levels of ability.
It is safe to affirm the view that the re is no critical age in terms of acquiring
the syn tax of a second language.

Critical ageJor pronunciation

T his brings us to pronunciation. Is it possible to learn a second language
so weil that one truly sounds like a native speaker? On e psycholinguist,
T homas Scovel, has claimed tha t 110 adult can ever be successful in that
regard. "T he critical period for accentless speech simply means that adults
will never learn to pass themselves off as native speakers phonologically . . .'
(Scovel, 1988, p. 65). He describes this as the 'Joseph Co nrad phenomenon ',
after the famous novelist and master of English prose, who, a native speaker
of Polish, did not even begin to srudy English unti l he was 20. Scovel has
in mind a certain category of adult second-Ianguage speakers: those who
have mastered the grammatical and communicative complexities of another
langu age but still speak with an accent.
W e could add to rhis class rwo European-born US Secretaries of Stare,
H enry Kissinger (under President N ixon) and Zbigniew Brzezinski (under
President Carter). Both of these men speak English that is heavily accented
with their native languages, Ge rman and Polish, res pectively, In other respects,
they excel in the English language. Kissinger came to the USA when he was
15 and Brzezinski came when he was 10 years old. Whi le Kissinger was
beyon d our posited motor-skill cri tical age of 13 years, discussed earlier in
this chapter, Brzezinski was not. Clearly, moto r-skill ability can decline much
earlier in some cases.
T here is a growing body of research which challenges any stro ng cri-
terion of a critical period for accentless acquisition of a language such as the
one that Scovel proposes. Some adults do appear to pick up accentless speech.
N eufeld (I978) trained adult learn ers in the pron unciation of Chinese and
 CHl l DREN AND ADUl TS IN SECOND-lA NG UAGE l EARNING 189

J apanese. J udged by native speake rs, half of the m were able to pass as native.
Fur the rmo re. in rwo recent studies on this question, Bongaerts and associ-
ates (Bongae rts , Planken, & Scbils, 1995; Bon gaerts, van Sum meren, Planken ,
& Sch ils, 1997) argue th at th ere were flaws in stu dies by researc he rs who
claime d tha t lare learne rs could not acquire correct pronunciation, The flaw
was th at in subject selectio n advanced learn er s were not incl uded. Correct-
ing for th is error by including highl y succes sful learn ers, Bon gaerts and
associares found rhat their highly successfu l learn ers cou ld indeed pass for
nati ve spea kers on a nu mber of crite ria. T hey suggest th at 'a very high
mo tivatio n . . . continue d access 10 target langnage input . . . land] intensive
instruction in the perce pt ion and in th e production of the speech sounds'
( pp, 462-3) were instrume nt al for th ese late language learners' acquisition of
native-Iike pron un ciation,
Stud ies wh ich support the idea of a cri tical period for pro nun ciation find
th at th e earlier the age at wh ich one arr ives in a foreign country th e grea ter
th e chance that one will speak th e langnage with out a foreign accen t, Oya rna
(1976) places th e arrival age before which one will eventually speak without
an accent at about 12 years. Asher and Ga rcia (1969) place it at 6 years (an
extrernely low figu re), while T ho mpson (1991) puts it at 10 years. T ho mpson
even had rwo subjects wbo had arrived in the USA before the age of 10 but
who still spo ke with an accent, C learly there is a wide range of ind ividual
differ ences. H owever , no research indicates that children 6 years and younge r
have any difficulty ; thi s is the age cut-off whic b we assign in Table 6. 1. Adults
will certainly have a tou gher tim e of it tha n older chi ldren, which is not 10
say that no adult will be successful; it is just th at the odds are against th ern,
T hus, while we would agree with Scovel th at in seco nd- Ianguage acquisi-
tion th ere is no critical age for syntax, we cannot agree th at th er e is an
abso lute critica l age for pronunciation , Native-speaker pronunciarion may
weil be achieved by some adults.

Note
1. Th e first author ohserved the same phenomenon in his own fa mily. Although
his father and his brotbers came from Russia to Canada (before the Com-
munist revolution), only tbe youngest brother, who was 10 to 11 years old,
picked up perfect Canadian English. His fatber, thougb, who was 17 years
old wben he came, always spoke Englisb with a beavy Russian accent (as did
all of the other brothers, who were older than he was). As a child, the first
autho r was amazed that the broth ers were of the same famiIy.
7
Second-Language Teaching Methods

7.1. Characterizing the Essentials of Methods

Secon d- Ianguage teachi ng is a field which providcs an cxcellent meeti ng
ground for many of the theoretical and practical aspects of psycholi nguistics
to come together. It is here tha t we have a chance to see how ideas of human
language and human learnin g interconnect .
In ou r view, language-t eaching rn ethods may be conveniently character-
ized according to five principal dimens ions (Steinberg, 1993):

I. Language Focus: Speech Communication vs, Literacy

2. Meaning Learning: Direc t Experience vs. Translation
3. Gramma r Learni ng: Ind uction vs. Explicatio n
4. Psychological O rientation: Mentalist vs, Behaviourist
S. Linguistic Orientation: Me nta list vs. Strucruralist

T hese dime nsio ns involve theories which have been realized in principal
second-la nguage teaching methods. Abrief description of each of these dimen-
sions, some aspects of which have been described elsewhere in this book,
folIows.

7.1.1. Language Focus: Speech Commu nication vs. Literacy

Methods can be divided into rwo categories of focus, those which teach
langnage throu gh the speech of the targe t language (the 'target language'
being th e language to be learn ed) and those which approac h the target
language th ro ugh reading and writing. Except for G rammar-Translation,
which focuses on reading, writing, and the trans lation of written words,
rnost other meth ods focus on speech and th e use of speech in communication .