Age and SLA: Research Highways and Bye-Ways

Abstract

This article addresses the issue of the role of age factors in second language acquisition. Specifically, it takes a critical look at the notion that the second language acquisition process is maturationally constrained—the proposition commonly labelled the Critical Period Hypothesis—and the practical implications of this proposition. The article begins by reviewing some of the oft-cited evidence concerning the critical period hypothesis (CPH), coming to the conclusion that the evidence in question falls short of establishing its veracity. In its second part, the article turns to some less well-trodden approaches in the critical period area, summarizing some recent qualitative research which does not particularly favor the CPH, and going on to survey the kinds of inferences researchers have drawn from the critical period discussion for the stage at which second languages should be introduced into the school curriculum. On this last point, the article concludes that even if the existence or non-existence of a critical period for language acquisition were clearly demonstrated, this would not necessarily answer the question of what age should constitute the starting-point for formal second language instruction.