Age and Second Language Development: A Critical Study

Abstract

This paper focuses on the critical analysis of theoretical and the basic empirical findings dealing with the question of Age and Second Language Development (L2D). Both behavioral and brain-based results are shown in the contexts of background and terminology, age of acquisition, critical period hypothesis, age effects, native attainment, evidence of non-nativelikeness, age and nativelikenss in the brain-based results, the aging brain, cognitive considerations, affective considerations, brain volume, and dopamine mechanism among children and adults. Suggesting beyond the classical judgments of “deficient” L2 development, we comment on the complimentary issues of learner potential in post-adolescent L2D.