Abstract

The present study uses oral interviews with foreign language learners in search of influential factors in their language learning histories. The sample for the study was drawn from a larger sample of intermediate/advanced learners of English as a foreign language with a minimum of 10 years of exposure/instruction. The sample includes 6 early learners (range of starting age: 3.2-6.5) and 6 late learners (starting age: 11+). Half of them in each group were among those with the highest scores on two English language tests in the larger sample and half among those with the lowest scores on those same tests. A qualitative analysis of the interviews of these learners yields insights into their experience of foreign language learning and the role played in it by starting age and other significant factors, such as motivation and intensive contact with the language.

Highlights

  • After decades of research focusing on starting age as the sole main determinant of success in second language (L2) learning, age is increasingly seen as a complex variable that holds intricate interactions with a large number of other factors

  • On the basis of evidence from recent research that starting age is not a strong determinant of foreign language learners’ achievement (Muñoz, 2011, 2014), this study examines oral interviews with learners that vary in starting age and long-term attainment with the aim of identifying distinctive factors that may explain why some early and late language learners are more successful than others

  • This study aimed at gaining insights into the factors that may be more influential in learners’ English language learning trajectories and may explain why some early and late learners are more successful than others

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Summary

Introduction

After decades of research focusing on starting age as the sole main determinant of success in second language (L2) learning, age is increasingly seen as a complex variable that holds intricate interactions with a large number of other factors (see Muñoz & Singleton, 2011) This complex nature of age distinguishes it from other learner characteristics. Research on the impact of age in naturalistic language learning settings has consistently shown an older learners’ short-term advantage (or initial faster learning rate) but a younger learners’ long-term advantage (or higher ultimate attainment) (Krashen, Long, & Scarcella, 1979). In contrast with such findings, research in the last decade in a foreign language context has shown that early

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