Transcript Introduction (Ch. 1)

Age (Ch. 2)
Understanding SLA
Lourdes Ortega (2009)
www.routledge.com/cw/ortega
Published by Routledge © 2009 Mark Sawyer
2.1 Critical periods & sensitive periods for
the acquisition of human language
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Age 9: plasticity loss? (Penfield & Roberts)
Puberty: lateralization? (Lenneberg)
CPs exist in animals, including humans
Critical vs. sensitive
L1 CP: strong evidence from special
cases: Genie, feral children
Deaf children: cochlear implants, late ASL
2.2 Julie, an exceptionally successful
late L2 learner of Arabic
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AO = Age 21 (moved to Cairo from UK)
No formal instruction
Arabic use dominant after 3 years
Phonology: fooled 7/13 NSs
Morphosyntax: translation, GJ, anaphora
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Errors, but only 1 different from all NSs
Laura also outstanding, but instructed.
2.3 Are children or adults better
L2 learners? Questions of rate
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Adults faster than children (Snow & Hoefnagel-Höhle)
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Children catch up after 1 year (Long et al.)
Not in FL: AO 11 > 8 for over 5 years
(Muñoz, 2006 in Cataluña)
FL/L2 difference: intensity/quality of exposure
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2.4 Age and L2 morphosyntax:
Questions of ultimate attainment
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After long LOR (Length of Residence),
pre-CP have NS-like GJs; post-CP not
AO & UA are statistically co-related
(Somewhat) conflicting results
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Johnson & Newport, DeKeyser vs.
Birdsong & Molis, Flege et al.
How native is near-native?
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Coppieters vs. Birdsong
2.5 Evidence on L2 morphosyntax
from cognitive neuroscience
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Late bilinguals less lateralized (Dehaene & P)
Late biL different syntactic processing:
e.g. content vs. function words
(Neville)
Syntactic vs. semantic anomalies (Hahne)
 Computational vs. associative learning (Ullman)
But…word length & active use can explain
Activation patterns change easily
Direction of brain/experience influence??
2.6 L2 phonology & age
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Speech is special, because physical &
neuromuscular (Scovel)
Use/education affect morphosyntax
more than pronunciation (Flege et al.)
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After 5-7, biology or L1 filter?
Near-native late pronouncers (Bongaerts)
Again, How native is near-native?
2.7 What causes the age effects?
Maturational & other explanations
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More L1 development, more L2 influence
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Socio-educational/motivational forces
Yes on biology…
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classic: lateralization, plasticity
recent: myelination, estrogen
Fits Fundamental Difference Hypothesis
(Bley-Vroman)
2.8 A bilingual turn in
SLA thinking about age
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Age effects may be very early (pre 4-6)
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Low L2 activation may block BiL success
Monolingual standard may be misguided
Better to compare pre-/post-pubertal L2ers
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2.10 How important is age in L2 A,
and (why) does it matter?
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Overall understanding of human
language
Advocacy for L2 users
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Refute sink-or-swim policies
Problematize (overly) early start programs
More resources for excellent, motivating
late instruction