Keywords
second language learning
second language teaching
age effects
instructional setting
How to Cite
Number of views: 608
Number of downloads: 410
Abstract
This study examines evidence for the hypothesis (e.g., Muñoz, 2006) that an early starting age is not necessarily more beneficial to the successful learning of L2 inflectional morphology in strictly formal instructional settings. The present author investigated the quantitative and qualitative differences in the production and reception of 5 selected inflectional morphemes in English written performance and competence tasks by 100 early classroom learners and 100 late classroom learners of the same age. While an earlier age of first exposure and a longer instructional period was not associated with higher accuracy scores, the findings suggest distinct patterns in the productive and receptive knowledge abilities of inflectional morphology; the late classroom learners’ superiority seems to be rooted in their greater reliance upon memory-based item-by-item associative learning, as they are significantly stronger on tasks that might cause semantic difficulties, whereas the early classroom learners are marginally better on pattern-based processes for certain morphemes. This finding possibly supports Ullman’s (2005) proposal that, as procedural memory declines with age, older starters have difficulty in discovering regularities in the input and thus over-rely on the declarative memory system in L2 learning.
References
Bird, H., Lambon Ralph, M. A., Seidenberg, M. S., McClelland, J. L., & Patterson, K. (2003). Deficit in phonology and past-tense morphology: What’s the connection? Journal of Memory and Language, 48, 502-526.
Birdsong, D. (2006). Age and second language acquisition and processing: A selective overview. Language Learning, 56, 9-49.
Birdsong, D., & Flege, J. E. (2001). Regular-irregular dissociations in L2 acquisition of English morphology. In A. H.-J. Do, L. Domínguez, & A. Johansen (Eds.), Proceedings of the 25th Annual Boston University Conference on Language Development (pp. 123-132). Boston, MA: Cascadilla Press.
Clahsen, H., & Felser, C. (2006). How native-like is non-native language processing? Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 10, 564-570.
Collins, L., Trofimovich, P., White, J., Cardoso, W., & Horst, M. (2009). Some input on the easy/difficult grammar question: An empirical study. The Modern Language Journal, 93, 336-353.
Cook, V. (1992). Evidence for multi-competence. Language Learning, 42, 557-591.
De Graaff, R., & Housen, A. (2009). Investigating effects and effectiveness of L2 instruction. In M. Long & C. Doughty (Eds.), The handbook of language teaching (pp. 726-753). Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell.
DeKeyser, R. M. (2005). What makes learning second-language grammar difficult? A review of issues. Language Learning, 55(S1), 1-25.
DeKeyser, R. M., Alfi-Shabtay, I., & Ravid, D. (2010). Cross-linguistic evidence for the nature of age effects in second language acquisition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 31, 413-438.
Ellis, N. C. (2006). Selective attention and transfer phenomena in L2 acquisition: Contingency, cue competition, salience, interference, overshadowing, blocking, and perceptual learning. Applied Linguistics, 27, 164-194.
Ellis, N. C., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (2006). Language emergence: Implications for applied linguistics – introduction to the special issue. Applied Linguistics, 27, 558-589.
Flege, J. E. (1991). Perception and production: The relevance of phonetic input to L2 phonological learning. In T. Huebner & C. A. Ferguson (Eds.), Cross-currents in second language acquisition and linguistic theories (pp. 249-290). Philadelphia: John Benjamins.
Flege, J. E., Yeni-Komshian, G. H., & Liu, S. (1999). Age constraints on second language acquisition. Journal of Memory and Language, 41, 78-104.
Fullana, N. (2006). The development of English (FL) perception and production skills: Starting age and exposure effects. In C. Muñoz (Ed.), Age and the rate of foreign language learning (pp. 41-64). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
García-Lecumberri, M. L., & Gallardo, F. (2003). English FL sounds in school learners of different ages. In M. P. García-Mayo & M. L. García-Lecumberri (Eds.), Age and the acquisition of English as a foreign language (pp. 115-135). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Goldschneider, J., & DeKeyser, R. (2001). Explaining the ‘natural order of L2 morpheme acquisition’ in English: A meta-analysis of multiple determinants. Language Learning, 51, 1-50.
Gollan, T. H., Montoya, R. I., Fennema-Notestine, C., & Morris, S. K. (2005). Bilingualism affects picture naming but not picture classification. Memory & Cognition, 33, 1220-1234.
Ionin, T., & Wexler, K. (2002). Why is ‘is’ easier than ‘-s’?: Acquisition of tense/agreement morphology by child second language learners of English. Second Language Research, 18, 95-136.
Jia, G., & Fuse, A. (2007). Acquisition of English grammatical morphology by native Mandarin speaking children and adolescents: Age-related differences. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50, 1280-1299.
Jiang, N. (2004). Morphological insensitivity in second language processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25, 603-634.
Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21, 60-99.
Kempe, V., Brooks, P. J., & Kharkhurin, A. (2010). Cognitive predictors of generalization of Russian grammatical gender categories. Language Learning, 60, 127-153.
Langman, J., & Bayley, R. (2002). The acquisition of verbal morphology by Chinese learners of Hungarian. Language Variation and Change, 14, 55-77.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (2010). Not so fast: A discussion of L2 morpheme processing and acquisition. Language Learning, 60, 221-230.
Larson-Hall, J. (2008). Weighing the benefits of studying a foreign language at a younger starting age in a minimal input situation. Second Language Research, 24, 35-63.
Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). Biological foundations of language. New York: Wiley.
McDonald, J. L. (2006). Alternatives to the critical period hypothesis: Processing-based explanations for poor grammaticality judgment performance by late second language learners. Journal of Memory and Language, 55, 381-401.
McDonald, J. L. (2008). Grammaticality judgments in children: The role of age, working memory and phonological ability. Journal of Child Language, 35, 247-268.
McDonald, J. L., & Roussel, C. C. (2010). Past tense grammaticality judgment and production in non-native and stressed native English speakers. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 13, 429-448.
Muñoz, C. (2006). Accuracy orders, rate of learning and age in morphological acquisition. In: C. Muñoz (Ed.), Age and the rate of foreign language learning (pp. 107-126). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Paradis, J. (2005). Grammatical morphology in children learning English as a second language: Implications of similarities with specific language impairment. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 36, 172-187.
Pfenninger, S. E. (in press). Moving towards an earlier age of onset of L2 learning: A comparative analysis of motivation in Swiss classrooms. SPELL, 27.
Pfenninger, S. E. (2011). The earlier the better? On the benefit question of Early English in Switzerland. Manuscript in preparation.
Pica, T. (1983). Adult acquisition of English as a second language under different conditions of exposure. Language Learning, 33, 465-497.
Pinker, S. (1999). Words and rules. The ingredients of language. New York: Basic Books.
Reese, J. (2007). Swiss German. The modern Alemannic vernacular in and around Zurich. München: Lincom.
Singleton, D., & Ryan, L. (2004). Language acquisition: The age factor (2nd ed.). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Snow, C. E., & Hoefnagel-Höhle, M. (1978). The critical period for language acquisition: Evidence from second language learning. Child Development, XLIX(4), 1114-1128.
Ullman, M. T. (2005). A cognitive neuroscience perspective on second language acquisition: The declarative/procedural model. In C. Sanz (Ed.), Mind and context in adult second language acquisition (pp. 141-178). Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press.
Williams, J. N., & Lovatt, P. (2003). Phonological memory and rule learning. Language Learning, 53, 67-121.
Zhang, Y., & Widyastuti, I. (2010). Acquisition of L2 English morphology. A family case study. Australian Review of Applied Linguistics, 33(3), 29.1-29.17.
License
1.1 The Author hereby warrants that he/she is the owner of all the copyright and other intellectual property rights in the Work and that, within the scope of the present Agreement, the paper does not infringe the legal rights of another person. The owner of the copyright work also warrants that he/she is the sole and original creator thereof and that is not bound by any legal constraints in regard to the use or sale of the work.
1.2. The Publisher warrants that is the owner of the PRESSto platform for open access journals, hereinafter referred to as the PRESSto Platform.
2. The Author grants the Publisher non-exclusive and free of charge license to unlimited use worldwide over an unspecified period of time in the following areas of exploitation:
2.1. production of multiple copies of the Work produced according to the specific application of a given technology, including printing, reproduction of graphics through mechanical or electrical means (reprography) and digital technology;
2.2. marketing authorisation, loan or lease of the original or copies thereof;
2.3. public performance, public performance in the broadcast, video screening, media enhancements as well as broadcasting and rebroadcasting, made available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them;
2.4. inclusion of the Work into a collective work (i.e. with a number of contributions);
2.5. inclusion of the Work in the electronic version to be offered on an electronic platform, or any other conceivable introduction of the Work in its electronic version to the Internet;
2.6. dissemination of electronic versions of the Work in its electronic version online, in a collective work or independently;
2.7. making the Work in the electronic version available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, in particular by making it accessible via the Internet, Intranet, Extranet;
2.8. making the Work available according to appropriate license pattern Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) as well as another language version of this license or any later version published by Creative Commons.
3. The Author grants the Publisher permission to reproduce a single copy (print or download) and royalty-free use and disposal of rights to compilations of the Work and these compilations.
4. The Author grants the Publisher permission to send metadata files related to the Work, including to commercial and non-commercial journal-indexing databases.
5. The Author represents that, on the basis of the license granted in the present Agreement, the Publisher is entitled and obliged to:
5.1. allow third parties to obtain further licenses (sublicenses) to the Work and to other materials, including derivatives thereof or compilations made, based on or including the Work, whereas the provisions of such sub-licenses will be the same as with the Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) Creative Commons sub-license or another language version of this license, or any later version of this license published by Creative Commons;
5.2. make the Work available to the public in such a way that members of the public may access the Work from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, without any technological constraints;
5.3. appropriately inform members of the public to whom the Work is to be made available about sublicenses in such a way as to ensure that all parties are properly informed (appropriate informing messages).
6. Because of the royalty-free provision of services of the Author (resulting from the scope of obligations stipulated in the present Agreement), the Author shall not be entitled to any author’s fee due and payable on the part of the Publisher (no fee or royalty is payable by the Publisher to the Author).
7.1. In the case of third party claims or actions for indemnity against the Publisher owing to any infractions related to any form of infringement of intellectual property rights protection, including copyright infringements, the Author is obliged to take all possible measures necessary to protect against these claims and, when as a result of legal action, the Publisher, or any third party licensed by the Publisher to use the Work, will have to abandon using the Work in its entirety or in part or, following a court ruling in a legal challenge, to pay damages to a third party, whatever the legal basis
7.2. The Author will immediately inform the Publisher about any damage claims related to intellectual property infringements, including the author’s proprietary rights pertaining to a copyrighted work, filed against the Author. of liability, the Author is obliged to redress the damage resulting from claims made by third party, including costs and expenditures incurred in the process.
7.3. To all matters not settled herein provisions of the Polish Civil Code and the Polish Copyright and Related Rights Act shall apply.