Critical Period Hypothesis

Abstract

The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH), originally proposed by Lenneberg (1967), states that there is a maturational period of time during which language acquisition can take place. The CPH is often cited to account for difference in success between early and late language learners. Based on Lenneberg’s hypothesis, other researchers have generated additional hypothesis, all of which consider a maturational period of time during which language acquisition take place. This Final Research Project investigates the critical period hypothesis for second language pronunciation from and English-as-a-foreign-language perspective. It aims to investigate whether it is possible for late learners of English to achieve a native-like pronunciation regardless of maturational constraints. This project also investigates whether the variable ‘exposure to the target language’ influences significantly or not the ability for late L2 learners to obtain native-like pronunciation. In order to find out about this, two groups of non-native speakers, differing in the amount of exposure they receive to the target language in their secondary education, were included in this study, alongside a native speaker control group. Three speech samples were collected for each speaker: a word list, a paragraph, and an answer to an open-ended question. After these speech samples were collected from each subject, 6 linguistically naive native speakers of English evaluated the sound samples based on native likeness. After these scores were obtained, means were calculated to determine their performance and to determine intergroup comparison. Results indicate that there were no late L2 learners of English who had obtained a native-like pronunciation. This could provide evidence in favor of a critical period for second language pronunciation. Results also indicate that there was a significant difference in mean scores between the non-native speaker groups, with an advantage for students in bilingual Spanish-English programs over those in monolingual Spanish programs, suggesting a significance for the variable ‘exposure to the target language’ in determining second language pronunciation in late learners. Thus, exposure to the target language influences the acquisition of second language pronunciation, possibly, alongside a developmental critical period.