No full-text available
To read the full-text of this research,
you can request a copy directly from the authors.
Length of residence: Does it make a difference in older bilinguals?
Abstract
Among papers considering L2 performance, a subset take into account the length of residence (LOR) in the country where the L2 is spoken. In about half of these, LOR makes no difference for performance of at least one variable measured. Since those who reside in an L2 environment for many years tend to be older, the beneficial effects of longer LOR may at some point be counteracted by declines due to aging. This article draws on research in cognitive aging to consider how age could impact L2 performance. This is particularly important when investigating the effects of LOR or age of L2 acquisition since LOR, age of acquisition, and age at testing are linearly dependent variables, making conclusions based on any of these variables problematic. We argue that aging is a largely ignored confound in the literature on L2 attainment, particularly for studies that include older adults in their samples.
... Traditionally, studies investigating the role of input have used length of residence (LoR) as a measure for the amount of input that speakers have received (Flege and Liu, 2001;Babcock et al., 2012;Saito and Brajot, 2013;Higby and Obler, 2016). However, as argued by Flege (2008), the use of LoR as an estimate of exposure assumes that exposure to the target language begins with arrival in the host country, and that immigrants with the same length of residence have received similar amounts of L2 input. ...
... An additional methodological issue is the 'age-length-onset' problem (Stevens, 2006). In particular, Higby and Obler (2016) have argued that confounding issues between the three variables (age at testing, LoR and age of onset) give us a distorted picture of the exact contribution of each of these variables in L2 performance, making thus the relationship between aptitude and age more opaque. This was demonstrated in a study by Flege (2008) who conducted a Principal Component Analysis after encountering serious multicollinearity issues between the three variables. ...
It has been shown that individuals exhibit great variability in second language (L2) ultimate attainment. Some speakers reach native-like proficiency, others only achieve a rudimentary command and many lie in the middle. Individual differences research has partly attributed different degrees of L2 attainment to (language) aptitude. Initially considered irrelevant for first language (L1) acquisition, aptitude was viewed as a compensatory ability for adults’ disadvantage in L2 learning. In this line of thought, adults and children are viewed as fundamentally different and rely on different language learning mechanisms. However, aptitude might not be so irrelevant for the L1. Together with input the two factors are found to account for individual differences not only in L2 but also L1 development. Recent research has specifically shown that native grammatical attainment may be modulated by aptitude and input. In this respect, the aim of the current study is to examine the effects of these two predictors (namely input and aptitude) on both L1 and L2 grammatical attainment in the same speakers. Our participants ( N = 75) were all native speakers of Greek who learned English as a foreign language in their home country and immigrated to the United Kingdom in adulthood ( mean age of arrival = 27.3, SD = 6.4). Grammatical proficiency was measured through a grammaticality judgement task administered in both the L1 and the L2. Aptitude was measured through the Sentence Pairs task (based on the Words In Sentences test from the MLAT battery). Amount of input was measured using the traditional measure, length of residence (LoR) and a new cumulative measure that spanned across the participants’ life. The two measures were pitted against each other in the analysis. We found robust effects of aptitude in both the L1 and the L2, with the effect being even stronger for the L1. As expected, our new cumulative measure of exposure proved to be a better predictor of individual differences in grammatical proficiency. Last but not least, the effects of input were larger for the L2 than the L1.
... Length of residence (LoR) is a measure that can reflect a number of different relevant factors. It is not a direct measure of the degree of exposure to the target language (Flege, 2018b;Higby & Obler, 2016). Numeric measures of language exposure necessarily simplify differences across, for example, social contexts or exposure changes over the years. ...
... However, the positive effect of length of residence at younger ages suggests that younger learners are likely to immerse in stimulating learning environments, where they can benefit from more exposure time and quality of input. Length of residence is not a direct measure of exposure time or quality (Flege, 2018a;Higby & Obler, 2016). Quantitative measures of language exposure necessarily simplify differences across, for example, social contexts or exposure changes over the years, which average out in comparing groups of learners. ...
We investigated age-related decline in adult learning of Dutch as an additional language (L n ) in speaking, writing, listening, and reading proficiency test scores for 56,024 adult immigrants with 50 L1s who came to the Netherlands for study or work. Performance for all four language skills turned out to decline monotonically after an age of arrival of about 25 years, similar to developmental trajectories observed in earlier aging research on additional language learning and in aging research on cognitive abilities. Also, linguistic dissimilarity increased age-related decline across all four language skills, but speaking in particular. We measured linguistic dissimilarity between first languages (L1s = 50) and Dutch (L n ) for morphology, vocabulary, and phonology. Our conclusion is that the L1 language background influences the effects of age-related decline in adult language learning, and that the constraints involved reflect both biological (language learning ability) and experience-based (acquired L1 proficiency) cognitive resources.
... However, L2 use had a significant effect only on some of the vowels (/ɑ/, /ø/ and /y/). It is shown in [25] that across different studies the effect of LOR varies and in about half of the studies LOR did not have an effect on the results. Also, it is argued that LOR might affect some aspects of language more than others (for more details see [25]). ...
... It is shown in [25] that across different studies the effect of LOR varies and in about half of the studies LOR did not have an effect on the results. Also, it is argued that LOR might affect some aspects of language more than others (for more details see [25]). ...
This paper studies the production of Estonian vowels in three quantity degrees by Spanish L1 learners of Estonian. The Estonian vowel system includes 9 vowels /i, y, e, ø, ae, ɑ, o, ɤ, u/ while the Spanish vowel system has 5 /i, e, a, o, u/. Estonian has a rather complex three-way quantity system whereas in Spanish there are no phonological length oppositions. Twenty-two native speakers of Spanish participated in a reading task. As a control group ten native speakers of Estonian were recorded. The results showed that Spanish speakers did not distinguish between Estonian close-mid vowels (/ø, ɤ/) but produced instead an ambiguous mid-vowel. Also, the Estonian vowels /ae/ and /ɑ/ were merged into Spanish /a/. The results improved with more exposure to the target language. Additionally, the vowels produced by Spanish speakers were significantly longer.
... The idea is that the longer second language learners linger in the target language community, the more they feel compelled to learn its language and culture (Birdsong, 2018). A study by Higby and Obler (2017) found that the intended length of residence strongly influences second language acquisition among L2 learners. Not only do they tend to have better outcomes in second language learning tasks, but they also experience less stress when communicating with native target language speakers. ...
This descriptive-qualitative study aimed to identify the factors that contribute to social and psychological distance of indigenous English learners, their strategies to reduce these factors, and their insights about acculturation. To this end, ten indigenous English major students at the University of Mindanao were interviewed. Through thematic analysis, findings revealed that the factors involved in the social distance of the participants were incongruence and dissimilarity between 2LL and TL group, negative attitudinal orientation towards the TL group, and cohesiveness of the 2LL group, while the psychological factors were language shock, high affective filter, and ego permeability. To address these factors, the participants implemented the following strategies: positive intergroup relationship, accommodation of the TL, perceptual distortions in favor of outgroup vitality, cultivation of positive self-image, and development of TL skills. In terms of the insights of the participants, this study observed empowerment of indigenous community, enhancement of exposure to second language input, instructional scaffolding in L2 teaching, implementation of intercultural approach, immersion to the outgroup, and alleviation of affective filter. The results evinced how the acculturation dilemmas faced by indigenous English learners prevented effective second language acquisition. From this, appropriate solutions may be formulated to ensure successful acculturation in the classroom.
In our increasingly multilingual modern world, understanding how languages beyond the first are acquired and processed at a brain level is essential to design evidence-based teaching, clinical interventions and language policy. Written by a team of world-leading experts in a wide range of disciplines within cognitive science, this Handbook provides a comprehensive overview of the study of third (and more) language acquisition and processing. It features 30 approachable chapters covering topics such as multilingual language acquisition, education, language maintenance and language loss, multilingual code-switching, ageing in the multilingual brain, and many more. Each chapter provides an accessible overview of the state of the art in its topic, while offering comprehensive access to the specialized literature, through carefully curated citations. It also serves as a methodological resource for researchers in the field, offering chapters on methods such as case studies, corpora, artificial language systems or statistical modelling of multilingual data.
This study investigated what psychological and social factors predict ‘perceived nativelikeness’ in late second language (L2) learners of French (L1 Swedish) ( N = 62) with a minimum length of residence (LOR) of 5 years in France. The included factors were: language aptitude (LLAMA), acculturation (VIA), personality (MPQ), target language engagement and social networks (number of relations in L2). LOR and Length of French studies were also included as extraneous variables. Multiple linear regression analyses showed that positive effects were found for LLAMA D (sound recognition), acculturation (VIA France and VIA Sweden), number of relations in L2 and LOR. A negative effect was found for the personality variable Social initiative. The strongest effects were found for LLAMA D, Social initiative and LOR. All variables together explained 25% (adjusted R²) of the variance in the sample, which represents medium-sized effects in relation to other studies on individual factors. In sum, these findings confirm results from earlier studies on the importance of language aptitude and acculturation in late L2 acquisition. They also add evidence of the importance of personality, social networks, and LOR. On a more general note psychological and social factors combine to explain different outcomes in adult L2 acquisition, although the effects of psychological variables are deemed somewhat stronger.
Using the lenses of bilingualism and social justice, I reflect on relevant conceptual and methodological issues encountered in the study of the linguistic development of heritage language speakers. Themes examined include the early but varying timing of heritage language learning; the surrounding linguistic environment, including the link between parental input and linguistic outcomes and heritage language speakers’ bilingualism, multilingualism, and multilectalism; the framing of literacy in the minority language; and the unique and language‐shaping experience of minoritization, often an outcome of immigration. I argue that bilingualism is gradient and that better measurement of relevant variables—particularly those related to timing, input/exposure, and literacy—can invigorate the study of heritage language development and make new and more robust insights possible. I propose that heritage speakers and their languages must be understood as connected to minoritized communities and to the experience of inequitable multilingualism.
Immigrants' age of arrival (AOA) in a country where a second language (L2) must be learned has consistently been shown to affect the degree of perceived L2 foreign accent (FA). Although the effect of AOA appears strong, this variable is correlated with other variables that might influence degree of FA. This study examined the pronunciation of English by native Italian immigrants to Canada. Those who arrived as young adults (Late learners) were somewhat older at the time of testing, and produced somewhat longer English sentences than those who arrived at a younger age (Early learners). Neither chronological age nor sentence duration affected overall degree of perceived foreign accent (FA). However, a principle components analysis revealed that frequency of English use acounted for a significant amount of variance in the FA ratings.
This study examined pronunciation proficiency in both the first (Korean) and second (English) languages of bilinguals.
The participants were adult immigrants whose age of arrival in the USA ranged from 1±23 years. English and Korean
sentences were rated by native listeners to obtain measures of pronunciation proficiency. English pronunciation of
participants with ages of arrival of 1±5 years was close to monolinguals, heavier accents were noted as ages of arrival
increased from 6 to 23 years. Korean pronunciation of participants with ages of arrival of 1±7 years was distinctly
accented, while those with ages of arrival of 12±23 years were rated the same as monolinguals. Participants with ages of
arrival of 1±9 years pronounced English better than Korean, whereas the reverse was true for ages of arrival of 12±23
years. Overall, the results were more consistent with the view that deviations from native pronunciation result from
interactions between the languages of bilinguals rather than with the view of a maturationally defined critical period for
language learning.
Link to full text of
Interpreting age effects in second language acquisition (Birdsong 2005)
can be found at Birdsong's Google Scholar page, or at:
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/J_Vaid/publication/270582623_Clearing_the_cobwebs_from_the_study_of_the_bilingual_brain_Converging_evidence_from_laterality_and_electrophysiological_research/links/57cb245508ae5982518358bd.pdf#page=124
In contrast to child first language acquisition (L1A), the typical outcome of postadolescent second language acquisition (L2A) is nonnativelike attainment. However, some adult learners at the L2A end state perform like natives in psycholinguistic experiments. A number of age-related factors are thought to influence learners' potential for nativelike attainment in L2A. Data from L2 learners at the end-state figure prominently in major themes in L2A research, such as the critical period hypothesis for L2A (CPH/L2A), L1 influence, neurocognitive and neurobiological aging, and L1 versus L2 processing.
Within the field of SLA, the incidence of nativelikeness in second language (L2) speakers has typically been explained as a function of age of acquisition. An alternative interpretation, however, is that L2 learners do not attain nativelike proficiency because of first language (L1) maintenance. This interpretation has nevertheless remained mostly theoretical due to the lack of empirical evidence. This study sets out to address the role of L1 proficiency in L2 ultimate attainment by examining L1 and L2 proficiency in 30 early L1 Spanish–L2 Swedish bilinguals. Language proficiency was assessed through grammaticality judgment tests and cloze tests, and additional data on language aptitude were collected through the Swansea Language Aptitude Test (v.2.0; Meara, Milton, & Lorenzo-Dus, 2002). The results showed positive correlations between nativelike L1 and L2 behavior. Additionally, it was found that language aptitude was positively correlated with nativelike L1 and L2 performance. In view of these findings, it is suggested that (a) L1 maintenance does not hamper L2 nativelikeness and (b) language aptitude is an important factor for bilingual ultimate attainment.
Research has consistently shown there is a negative correlation between age of onset (AO) of acquisition and ultimate attainment (UA) of either pronunciation or grammar in a second language (L2). A few studies have indeed reported nativelike behavior in some postpuberty learners with respect to either phonetics/phonology or morphosyntax, a result that has sometimes been taken as evidence against the critical period hypothesis (CPH). However, in the few studies that have employed a wide range of linguistic tests and tasks, adult learners have not exhibited nativelike L2 proficiency across the board of measures, which, according to some, suggests that the hypothesis still holds. The present study investigated the relationship between AO and UA and the incidence of nativelikeness when measures of phonetic and grammatical intuition are combined. An additional aim was to investigate whether children and adults develop the L2 through fundamentally different brain mechanisms—namely, whether children acquire the language (more) implicitly as an interdependent whole, whereas adults learn it (more) explicitly as independent parts of a whole.
The current project examined whether and to what degree continued L2 input, operationalized as length of residence (LOR), and age of acquisition (AOA), defined as the first intensive exposure to the target language, can be predictive of adult Japanese learners’ production of word-initial English /®/. Data were collected from 65 participants, consisting of three groups of Japanese learners of English (n = 13 for Short-, Mid-, and Long-LOR groups, respectively) and two groups of baseline speakers (n = 13 for Japanese- and English-Baseline groups, respectively). Their production of /®/ was elicited via three oral tasks (i.e., word reading, sentence reading, timed picture description). Acoustic analyses were carried out along four dimensions: third formant (F3), second formant (F2), first formant (F1) frequencies, and formant transition duration. The results demonstrated that (a) all learners reached native-like proficiency with respect to the use of existing cues (F2, transition duration) within approximately one year of LOR, (b) their performance was negatively related to AOA to some degree, and (c) longer LOR was predictive of the development of the new cue (F3). These results suggest that late L2 speech sound acquisition and proficiency may be characterized by different levels of phonetic processing.
Using event-related potentials (ERPs), we investigated the impact of a range of individual difference measures related to L2 learning on proficient L1 Spanish -L2 English bilinguals' brain responses during L2 morphosyntactic processing. Although grand mean ERP analyses revealed a biphasic N400-P600 response to English subject-verb agreement violations, subsequent analyses showed that participants' brain responses varied along a continuum between N400- and P600-dominance. To investigate this pattern, we introduce two novel ERP measures that independently quantify relative brain response type and overall magnitude. Multivariate analyses revealed that larger overall brain responses were associated with higher L2 proficiency, while relative brain response type (N400 or P600) was predicted by a coalition of variables, most notably learners' motivation and age of arrival in an L2 environment. Our findings show that aspects of a learner's background can differentially impact a learner's overall sensitivity to L2 morphosyntax and qualitative use of linguistic cues during processing.
This study examined predictors of transfer of accent from the first language (L1) to a second language (L2), in a group of people whose acquisition of English as an L2 had begun at ages ranging from 6 to 15+. The effect of age of L2 acquisition is very marked. If L2 acquisition had begun by 6, there is no transfer of accent. If L2 acquisition began after 12—13, there is invariably accent transfer, usually very marked. When accent transfer occurs between 7 and 11, it is usually very slight. These findings agree quite well with those of other studies, but there are discrepancies and these are indicated and discussed. Between 7 and 11, accent transfer may be affected by factors other than biological maturation. In our study, the only such factor to emerge strongly was whether L2 was used in the home, suggesting a shift of identification from the L1 to the L2 culture.
The study examined differences in reading achievement and mastery skill development among Grade-6 students with different language background profiles, using cognitive diagnosis modeling applied to large-scale provincial reading test performance data. Our analyses revealed that students residing in various home language environments show different reading achievement growth patterns. Earlier gaps in their reading achievement disappear the longer they reside in the target language community. Additionally, students who come from home environments where they use English and another language equally demonstrate higher skill mastery achievement levels, indicating that immigrant students' diverse home language environments do not adversely affect their reading achievement in the longer term. The study results support the evidence that multilingual home language environments are not a cause of low achievement; however, the achievement patterns of Canadian-born English language learners (ELLs) do differ from their immigrant counterparts, revealing that time alone is not a sufficient condition of reading skill achievement. ELLs' outperformance of monolinguals after 5 years of residence is a result of ongoing instructional support and a rich linguistic environment. The study results hold important policy implications: The evaluation of ELLs' academic achievement and school effectiveness for accountability purposes should be based on longitudinal data that track their developmental growths.
This study evaluated the critical period hypothesis for second language (L2) acquisition. The participants were 240 native speakers of Korean who differed according to age of arrival (AOA) in the United States (1 to 23 years), but were all experienced in English (mean length of residence = 15 years). The native Korean participants' pronunciation of English was evaluated by having listeners rate their sentences for overall degree of foreign accent; knowledge of English morphosyntax was evaluated using a 144-item grammaticality judgment test. As AOA increased, the foreign accents grew stronger, and the grammaticality judgment test scores decreased steadily. However, unlike the case for the foreign accent ratings, the effect of AOA on the grammaticality judgment test scores became nonsignificant when variables confounded with AOA were controlled. This suggested that the observed decrease in morphosyntax scores was not the result of passing a maturationally defined critical period. Additional analyses showed that the score for sentences testing knowledge of rule based, generalizable aspects of English morphosyntax varied as a function of how much education the Korean participants had received in the United States. The scores for sentences testing lexically based aspects of English morphosyntax, on the other hand, depended on how much the Koreans used English.
The study reported in this paper examined the effect of second language (L2) experience on the production of L2 vowels for which acoustic counterparts are either present or absent in the first language (L1). The hypothesis being tested was that amount of L2 experience would not affect L1 German speakers' production of the “similar” English vowels /i, l, /, whereas English language experience would enable L1 Germans to produce an English-like /æ/, which has no counterpart in German. The predictions were tested in two experiments that compared the production of English /i, l, , æ/ by two groups of L1 German speakers differing in English language experience and an L1 English control group. An acoustic experiment compared the three groups for spectral and temporal characteristics of the English vowels produced in /bVt/ words. The same tokens were assessed for intelligibility in a labeling experiment. The results of both experiments were largely consistent with the hypothesis. The experienced L2 speakers did not produce the similar English vowels /i, l, / more intelligibly than the inexperienced L2 speakers, not did experience have a positive effect on approximating the English acoustic norms for these similar vowels. The intelligibility results for the new vowel /æ/ did not clearly support the model. However, the acoustic comparisons showed that the experienced but not the inexperienced L2 speakers produced the new vowel /æ/ in much the same way as the native English speakers.
This paper develops a new theory of the tip of the tongue (TOT) phenomenon. Within this interactive activation model of speech production, TOTs occur when the connections between lexical and phonological nodes become weakened due to infrequent use, nonrecent use, and aging, causing a reduction in the transmission of priming. Predictions of the theory were examined using retrospective questionnaires, diary procedures, and a laboratory word retrieval task. In Study 1, young, midage, and older adults recorded naturally occurring TOTs in structured diaries during a four week interval in their everyday life. TOT targets were infrequent words in the language, and proper names, the largest category of TOT targets, were the names of acquaintances who had not been contacted recently, especially for older adults. Persistent alternates, i.e., incorrect words that came repeatedly to mind, shared phonology and grammatical class with TOT targets, and delayed TOT resolution. Older adults experienced more TOTs, but fewer persistent alternates. An influence of expectations on these age differences was ruled out by responses to the retrospective questionnaires, which indicated no age differences in expected number of TOTs. In Study 2, the basic results for age and persistent alternates were replicated in the laboratory for experimenter-selected TOT targets. The experimental study also demonstrated that proper names of famous people are especially vulnerable to TOTs in older adults.
Background. This paper reviews the role of deliberative processes in language - those language processes that require central resources, in contrast to the automatic processes of lexicalisation, word retrieval, and parsing.
Aims. We describe types of deliberative processing, and show how these processes underpin high-level processes that feature strongly in language. We focus on metalinguistic processing, strategic processing, inhibition, and planning. We relate them to frontal-lobe function and the development of the fronto-striate loop. We then focus on the role of deliberative processes in normal and pathological development and ageing and show how these processes are particularly susceptible to deterioration with age. In particular, many of the commonly observed language impairments encountered in ageing result from a decline in deliberative processing skills rather than in automatic language processes.
Outcomes & Results. We argue that central processing plays a larger and more important role in language processing and acquisition than is often credited.
Conclusions. Deliberative language processes permeate language use across the lifespan. They are particularly prone to age-related loss. We conclude by discussing implications for therapy.
This study assessed the effect of English-language experience on non-native speakers' production and perception of English vowels. Twenty speakers each of German, Spanish, Mandarin, and Korean, as well as a control group of 10 native English (NE) speakers, participated. The non-native subjects, who were first exposed intensively to English when they arrived in the United States (mean age=25years), were assigned to relatively experienced or inexperienced subgroups based on their length of residence in the US (M=7.3vs. 0.7years). The 90 subjects' accuracy in producing English /iIε æ/ was assessed by having native English-speaking listeners attempt to identify which vowels had been spoken, and through acoustic measurements. The same subjects also identified the vowels in syntheticbeat-bit(/i/-/I/) andbat-bet(/æ/-/ε/) continua. The experienced non-native subjects produced and perceived English vowels more accurately than did the relatively inexperienced non-native subjects. The non-native subjects' degrees of accuracy in producing and perceiving English vowels were related. Finally, both production and perception accuracy varied as a function of native language (L1) background in a way that appeared to depend on the perceived relation between English vowels and vowels in the L1 inventory.
The aim of this study was to determine whether naming difficulties arise in individuals as young as their 50s. Participants of 25-35, 50-59, 60-69, and above 70 years of age were given a picture naming task. To uncover subtle naming difficulties, latencies were analyzed in addition to accuracy. To control whether the expected slower naming latencies could be due to a general slowing affecting all cognitive tasks, participants were also given an odd/even judgment task to assess cognitive processing speed. The results confirmed that participants in their 50s presented decline in naming performance, reflected by an increase in naming latencies, whereas adults in their 60s and their 70s showed both a decrease in accuracy and an increase in latency. Moreover, the increase in naming latencies remained significant even after controlling for odd/even judgment latencies, suggesting a degradation specific to the picture naming task. We assumed that these slower latencies may result from a language-specific impairment. As a further test for language-specific degradation, participants' semantic capacities were also assessed with a synonym judgment task and the Pyramids and Palm Trees test. The above-70 group showed semantic degradation. The contributions of multiple factors to naming difficulties in aging are discussed. (JINS, 2013, 19, 1-8).
We conducted multivariate random-effect analyses on longitudinal data from 238 adults, ranging in age from 30 to 94, who were tested on five lexical tests over a period of 20 years to examine (a) the relations between lemma and lexeme retrieval as manifested in different tests of lexical retrieval and (b) changes in lexical processing during older adulthood. This study documents differing profiles of age-related decline in lexical retrieval determined by task demand, gender, education, and underlying cognitive skills. The tasks that required retrieval of unique lexical items (Boston Naming Test and Action Naming Test) yielded significant age-related decline that became more rapid in older age, distinguishing them from tasks that allowed for the retrieval of various lexical items. Findings support a cascaded progression of lemma and lexeme retrieval during word production.
Results from a number of recent studies suggest that nativelike adult second language (L2) learners possess a high degree of language learning aptitude, the positive effects of which may have compensated for the negative effects of a critical period in these learners. According to the same studies, child learners seem to attain a nativelike command of the L2 regardless of high or low aptitude, which has led researchers to conclude that this factor plays no role in early acquisition. The present study investigates the L2 proficiency and language aptitude of 42 near-native L2 speakers of Swedish (i.e., individuals whom actual mother-tongue speakers of Swedish believe are native speakers). The results confirm previous research suggesting that a high degree of language aptitude is required if adult learners are to reach a L2 proficiency that is indistinguishable from that of native speakers. However, in contrast to previous studies, the present results also identify small yet significant aptitude effects in child SLA. Our findings lead us to the conclusions that the rare nativelike adult learners sometimes observed would all turn out to be exceptionally talented language learners with an unusual ability to compensate for maturational effects and, consequently, that their nativelikeness per se does not constitute a reason to reject the critical period hypothesis.
The coming of language occurs at about the same age in every healthy child throughout the world, strongly supporting the concept that genetically determined processes of maturation, rather than environmental influences, underlie capacity for speech and verbal understanding. Dr. Lenneberg points out the implications of this concept for the therapeutic and educational approach to children with hearing or speech deficits.
English receptive vocabulary scores from 797 monolingual and 808 bilingual participants between the ages of 17 and 89 years old were aggregated from 20 studies to compare standard scores across language groups. The distribution of scores was unimodal for both groups but the mean score was significantly different, with monolinguals obtaining higher standard scores than bilinguals. Consistent with previous research, older adults had higher vocabulary scores than younger adults. The results are discussed in terms of the implications for theoretical conceptions of linguistic processing and clinical diagnosis in bilingual populations.
Given the fact that most second language acquirers today are immigrants, a
more holistic understanding of the individual’s opportunities to develop target
language skills, alongside possible constraints, is both timely and appropriate.
This book critically reviews current research on age effects in SLA, and
presents an original empirical investigation of the learner’s cumulative L2
experience. Quantitative and qualitative methods are integrated in order to
clarify both universal and individual features of acquisition. Analyses test the
relative strength and independent effects of biological, socio-psychological,
instructional and experiential variables, while a close examination of such
notions as intention to reside in-country, sense of self in the target language,
and cultural and ethnic notions of belonging complement the statistical
findings.
Previous research has suggested that child but not adult immigrants to the United States and
Canada make regular progress learning English as their length of residence (LOR) increases. If
children and adults received the same kind of second language (L2) input, such evidence would
support the existence of a critical period for L2 acquisition. The present study compared groups
of Chinese adults living in the United States who differed in LOR in order to assess the role of
input in adults' naturalistic acquisition of an L2. We assessed the Chinese
participants' identification of word-final English consonants (experiment 1), their scores on
a 144-item grammaticality judgment test (experiment 2), and their scores on a 45-item listening
comprehension test (experiment 3). The Chinese participants were assigned to one of four groups
(n = 15 each) based on LOR in the United States and their primary occupation
(students vs. nonstudents). Significantly higher scores were obtained for the students with
relatively long LORs than for the students with relatively short LORs in all three experiments.
However, the difference between the nonstudents differing in LOR was nonsignificant in each
instance. The results suggested that the lack of an effect of LOR in some previous studies may
have been due to sampling error. It appears that adults' performance in an L2 will improve
measurably over time, but only if they receive a substantial amount of native speaker input.
The abstract for this document is available on CSA Illumina.To view the Abstract, click the Abstract button above the document title.
In the conclusion of their review of the literature, Goulet, Ska, and Kahn (1994) found no clear evidence that picture-naming accuracy declines with advancing age. However, another conclusion can be drawn if one considers the subset of studies in which means and standard deviations of picture-naming accuracy are reported for different age groups: below 50, between 50 and 69, and from 70 years of age upwards. A meta-analysis of these data showed that naming accuracy was similar in the younger and the intermediate groups but that the performance of the older group was significantly different from that of the younger groups. Thus, the problem of inconsistencies in research findings can be resolved when meta-analytic methods are used.
Language is a crucial and complex lifelong faculty, underpinned by dynamic interactions within and between specialized brain
networks. Whereas normal aging impairs specific aspects of language production, most core language processes are robust to
brain aging. We review recent behavioral and neuroimaging evidence showing that language systems remain largely stable across
the life span and that both younger and older adults depend on dynamic neural responses to linguistic demands. Although some
aspects of network dynamics change with age, there is no consistent evidence that core language processes are underpinned
by different neural networks in younger and older adults.
It remains unclear whether adult-learned second language (L2) depends on similar or different neurocognitive mechanisms as those involved in first language (L1). We examined whether English past tense forms are computed similarly or differently by L1 and L2 English speakers, and what factors might affect this: regularity (regular vs. irregular verbs), length of L2 exposure (length of residence), age of L2 acquisition (age of arrival), L2 learners’ native language (Chinese vs. Spanish), and sex (male vs. female). Past tense frequency effects were used to examine the type of computation (composition vs. storage/retrieval). The results suggest that irregular past tenses are always stored. Regular past tenses, however, are either composed or stored, as a function of various factors: both sexes store regulars in L2, but only females in L1; greater lengths of residence lead to less dependence on storage, but only in females; higher adult ages of arrival lead to more reliance on storage. The findings suggest that inflected forms can rely on either the same or different mechanisms in L2 as they do in L1, and that this varies as a function of multiple interacting factors.
The purpose of this article is to offer contextual linguistic explanations for morphosyntactic deviances (MSDs) in high-level second language (L2) French (30 nonnative speakers vs. 10 native speakers). It is hypothesized that the distribution of formulaic sequences (FSs) and the complexity of information structure will influence the occurrence of MSDs. The study reports that MSDs rarely occur within FSs, and if they do, they occur within sequences containing open slots for creative rule application. The rhematic part of the utterance attracts more MSDs due to the fact that this part is more syntactically complex than the preamble (the thematic part). An additional explanation is the mean length of the rhematic part, which is longer than the preamble and implies a higher processing load. A final explanation of MSD occurrence in the rheme is linked to the distribution of FSs in the information structure. The results are discussed in relation to the ongoing debate on the constructs of complexity, accuracy, and fluency—a promising area of study.
A study was conducted to identify the scope and timing of maturational constraints in three linguistic domains within the same individuals, as well as the potential mediating roles of amount of second language (L2) exposure and language aptitude at different ages in different domains. Participants were 65 Chinese learners of Spanish and 12 native speaker controls. Results for three learner groups defined by age of onset (AO) – 3–6, 7–15, and 16–29 years – confirmed previous findings of windows of opportunity closing first for L2 phonology, then for lexis and collocation and, finally, in the mid-teens, for morphosyntax. All three age functions exhibited the discontinuities in the rate of decline with increasing AO associated with sensitive periods. Significant correlations were found between language aptitude, measured using the LLAMA test (Meara, 2005), and pronunciation scores, and between language aptitude and lexis and collocation scores, in the AO 16–29 group.
Changes in several postnatal maturational processes during neural development have been implicated as potential mechanisms underlying critical period phenomena. Lenneberg hypothesized that maturational processes similar to those that govern sensory and motor development may also constrain capabilities for normal language acquisition. Our goal, using a bilingual model, was to investigate the hypothesis that maturational constraints may have different effects upon the development of the functional specializations of distinct sub within language. Subjects were 61 adult Chinese/English bilinguals who were exposed to English at different points in development: 13, 46, 710, 1113, and after 16 years of age. Event-related brain potentials (ERPs) and behavioral responses were obtained as subjects read sentences that included semantic anomalies, three types of syntactic violations (phrase structure, specificity constraint, and subjacency constraint), and their controls. The accuracy in judging the grammaticality for the different types of syntactic rules and their associated ERPs was affected by delays in second language exposure as short as 13 years. By comparison the N400 response and the judgment accuracies in detecting semantic anomalies were altered only in subjects who were exposed to English after 1113 and 16 years of age, respectively. Further, the type of changes occurring in ERPs with delays in exposure were qualitatively different for semantic and syntactic processing. All groups displayed a significant N400 effect in response to semantic anomalies, however, the peak latencies of the N400 elicited in bilinguals who were exposed to English between 1113 and >16 years occurred later, suggesting a slight slowing in processing. For syntactic processing. the ERP differences associated with delays in exposure to English were observed in the morphology and distribution of components. Our findings are consistent with the view that maturational changes significantly constrain the development of the neural systems that are relevant for language and, further, that subsystems specialized for processing different aspects of language display different sensitive periods.
This study builds on the proposition that there are six developmental stages for spoken L2 French, based on morpho-syntactic criteria (Bartning and Schlyter 2004). In order to investigate developmental stages `beyond stage 6', oral productions of several groups of advanced learners/users and native speakers are analyzed in terms of resources and obstacles. Among the resources, we investigate expected late features such as formulaic language and elaboration of information structure (Forsberg 2008; Hancock 2007). Morpho-syntactic deviances (MSDs), i.e. obstacles are also investigated. MSDs are expected to be almost absent beyond stage 6 (von Stutterheim 2003). Surprisingly, they continue to be present even at these very high levels. The results also show that formulaic language and information structure are promising measures of high levels, although the latter did not yield significant differences compared to lower stages. The study concludes by the proposal of a transitional stage with L2 users called functional bilinguals, which would constitute a stage between the advanced learner and the near-native speaker.
This study examined the recognition of English words by groups of native speakers of Italian who differed in age of arrival in Canada and amount of continued native language use. The dependent variable was the number of words correctly repeated in English sentences presented in noise. Significantly higher word recognition scores were obtained for early than late bilinguals, and for early bilinguals who used Italian seldom than for early bilinguals who used Italian relatively often. A hierarchical regression analysis showed that the native Italian participants' ability to perceive English vowels and consonants accounted for a significant amount of variance in the word-recognition scores independently of age of arrival, amount of L1 use, and length of residence in Canada. The native language use effect was interpreted to have arisen from differences in the extent to which the early bilinguals' Italian phonetic system influenced the representations they developed for English vowels and consonants.
Few researchers would doubt that ultimate attainment in second language grammar is negatively correlated with age of acquisition, but considerable controversy remains about the nature of this relationship: the exact shape of the age-attainment function and its interpretation. This article presents two parallel studies with native speakers of Russian: one on the acquisition of English as a second language in North America (n = 76), and one on the acquisition of Hebrew as a second language in Israel (n = 64). Despite the very different nature of the languages being learned, the two studies show very similar results. When age at testing is partialed out, the data reveal a steep decline in the learning of grammar before age 18 in both groups, followed by an essentially horizontal slope until age 40. This is interpreted as evidence in favor of the critical period. Both groups show a significant correlation between ultimate attainment and verbal aptitude for the adult learners, but not for the early learners. This is interpreted as further evidence that the learning processes in childhood and adulthood not only yield different levels of proficiency but are also different in nature.
Three groups of participants were given a grammaticality judgement test based on five structures of English grammar in both an oral and written form. The first group consisted of native speakers of Chinese, the second, native speakers of Spanish, and the third, native English speakers. The two learner groups were divided into those who had begun learning English at a younger (less than 15 years) or older (more than 15 years) age. Performance was measured for both accuracy of judgement and time taken to respond. The results showed that performance patterns were different for the two learner groups, that the linguistic structure tested in the item affected participants' ability to respond correctly, and that task modality produced reliable response differences for the two learner groups. Although there were proficiency differences in the grammaticality judgement task between the younger and older Spanish learners, there were no such differences for the Chinese group. Furthermore, age of learning influenced achieved proficiency through all ages tested rather than defining a point of critical period. The results are interpreted as failing to provide sufficient evidence to accept the hypothesis that there is a critical period for second language acquisition.
Tip-of-the-tongue states (TOTs) in proficient Hebrew–English bilinguals were compared to those of age-matched monolinguals. Monolinguals retrieved words in English, and bilinguals retrieved words from both languages. Results showed an increased TOT rate in bilinguals. However, bilinguals demonstrated comparable rates of spontaneous resolution, and similar ability to access partial information about target words. Interestingly, bilinguals named the same number of targets as monolinguals when naming an item in either language was counted as a correct response. Besides bilingualism, other factors that predicted TOT rate included word frequency (only for bilinguals), and age (younger participants had more TOTs). Unexpectedly, TOTs for Hebrew targets were not characterized by increased access to grammatical gender and number of syllables relative to control states, thus contrasting notably with TOTs for Italian and English targets respectively. We discuss these results in terms of their relevance for constraining models of bilingual lexical access and models of TOT.
This study examined pronunciation proficiency in both the first (Korean) and second (English) languages of bilinguals. The participants were adult immigrants whose age of arrival in the USA ranged from 1–23 years. English and Korean sentences were rated by native listeners to obtain measures of pronunciation proficiency. English pronunciation of participants with ages of arrival of 1–5 years was close to monolinguals, heavier accents were noted as ages of arrival increased from 6 to 23 years. Korean pronunciation of participants with ages of arrival of 1–7 years was distinctly accented, while those with ages of arrival of 12–23 years were rated the same as monolinguals. Participants with ages of arrival of 1–9 years pronounced English better than Korean, whereas the reverse was true for ages of arrival of 12–23 years. Overall, the results were more consistent with the view that deviations from native pronunciation result from interactions between the languages of bilinguals rather than with the view of a maturationally defined critical period for language learning.
Native Spanish early and late acquirers of English as well as native Vietnamese early and
child acquirers of English made grammaticality judgments of sentences in their second language.
Native Spanish early acquirers were not distinguishable from native English speakers, whereas
native Spanish late acquirers had difficulty with all aspects of the grammar tested except word
order. Native Vietnamese early acquirers had difficulty with those aspects of English that differ
markedly from Vietnamese. Native Vietnamese child acquirers had more generalized problems,
similar to those of native Spanish late acquirers. Thus, native language appeared to make a
difference for early acquirers, whereas a later age of acquisition caused a more general problem.
A processing-based model focusing on the difficulty non-native language learners have in rapidly
decoding surface form is offered as a possible explanation for both effects.
This study examined the effect of second language (L2) age of acquisition and amount of experience on the production of word-final stop consonant voicing by adult native Korean learners of English. Thirty learners, who differed in amount of L2 experience and age of L2 exposure, and 10 native English speakers produced 8 English monosyllabic words ending in voiced and voiceless stops. These productions were presented to 10 English listeners for perceptual judgment and subjected to acoustic analyses to determine how well learners produced vowel duration and closure (stop gap) duration, two cues to stop consonant voicing. Results revealed that even learners with 10 years of L2 experience did not always produce stop consonant voicing accurately, that learners' age of acquisition influenced their production of both cues, that vowel duration was easier to learn than closure duration, and that English listeners used both these cues in their judgments of production accuracy.
This study was designed to test the Fundamental Difference Hypothesis (Bley-Vroman,
1988), which states that, whereas children are known to learn language almost completely
through (implicit) domain-specific mechanisms, adults have largely lost the ability to learn a
language without reflecting on its structure and have to use alternative mechanisms, drawing
especially on their problem-solving capacities, to learn a second language. The hypothesis
implies that only adults with a high level of verbal analytical ability will reach near-native
competence in their second language, but that this ability will not be a significant predictor of
success for childhood second language acquisition. A study with 57 adult Hungarian-speaking
immigrants confirmed the hypothesis in the sense that very few adult immigrants scored within
the range of child arrivals on a grammaticality judgment test, and that the few who did had high
levels of verbal analytical ability; this ability was not a significant predictor for childhood
arrivals. This study replicates the findings of Johnson and Newport (1989) and provides an
explanation for the apparent exceptions in their study. These findings lead to a
reconceptualization of the Critical Period Hypothesis: If the scope of this hypothesis is limited to
implicit learning mechanisms, then it appears that there may be no exceptions to the age effects
that the hypothesis seeks to explain.
The recent focus on the discourse level as the primary basis for explaining alternation in interlanguage tense marking is challenged on the basis of an analysis of tense marking for 16 Vietnamese speakers learning English as a second language. The subjects represent four different age levels (10–12, 15–18, 20–25, and 35–55) and two different length of residency groups (1–3 and 4–7 years). The analysis reveals that there are a number of surface-level constraints that systematically affect the incidence of tense marking, including the distinction between regular and irregular verbs, the shape of the suffix on the regular verb, the following phonological environment, the type of irregular formation, and the relative frequency of the verb form. It is demonstrated that the analysis of tense marking in terms of higher-level language organization must take into account these kinds of surface constraints if it hopes to provide a valid, empirically based account of tense marking alternation in interlanguage.
IntroductionOperational Definitions of AutomaticityAutomaticity in Skill Development and SLAAutomaticity in SLAPedagogical Implications of AutomaticitySummary and Conclusion