Critical Period Hypothesis and Foreign Language Learner’s Accent

Abstract

The unending controversy of the practicality of the critical period hypothesis and the presence of Language Acquisition Device (LAD) is still a cryptic word to explore and the study will put light on the phonological aspect of language acquisition keeping its focus on the foreign accent. To justify the validity of the study the data have been collected from the students of Bangladesh, who are studying home and abroad. The findings of the paper will demonstrate first, examining and observing the validity of the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) by analyzing the elementary English language learners of Bangladesh and ended up with this conclusion that even if during the period of Critical Period (CP) Bangladeshi learner of English starts to learn English but they fail to communicate in English, although for Bangladeshi learner learning English is a colonial legacy. Ultimately it will focus on the statement that, there may be a critical period but language exposure plays a more important role to learn or acquire any language. Second, the paper will do another quantitative study on the English language learners of Bangladesh taking higher education from home and abroad that will deny the existence of CPH, suggesting certain ways to attain native-like language skills after Critical Period (CP) if the learner is preconditioned with proper language exposure using the technology-based language teaching and learning.