Adult learning: second languages

The effect of age on adult’s rate of achievement in learning second language

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Abstract

This study investigated the effects of age on adult’s rate of achievement in learning second language in the case of grammar,and pronunciation. Age is one of the most important and affective factor which causes many differences in both second and first language learning. When the brain is more developed so it is better for learning second language and also adult?s capacity for learning and memory is higher than children. Results show that adults are able to produce grammatically correct sentences compared with children but as they become older they get into some problems in communication. Asher and Price figured out a fact that the younger a child had been when entering the United States, the higher the probability of a native like accent(Asher and Price, 1967, p. 83).

Review of literature

This article provides a selective overview of theoretical issues and empirical findings relating to the question of age and the rate of aadult?s second language acquisition. Many empirical researches were done on the rate of second language learning and overviews of this research can be found in Asher and Price(1967), Susan Oyama (1982), Fathman (1989), Falasca (2001),Dekeyser (2002), Dunkel and Pillet (2008), Johnson and Newport (2008),and Bista (2008).

Methodology

This paper studied the effect of age on adult’s rate of achievement of grammar,and pronunciationin learning second language. This research was done by studying previous related research which is done by famous researches. Information gathered from articles , books and internet sources. This paper has collected the best papers related to the effect of age on adult’s rate of achievement of grammar, and pronunciationin learning second language. the following pages review more than 10 studies that are theoretically and practically studied the relationship between age and on adult’s rate of second language acquisition.

Adults as learners

There are many definitions of the adults as learners ,different authors focus on different perspectives.

Knowles (1980), forexample, identified the following characteristics of adult learners:

• adults are autonomous and self-directed; they need to be free to direct themselves

• adults have accumulated a foundation of life experiences and knowledge that may include work-related activities, family responsibilities and previous education

• adults are relevancy-oriented; they must see a reason for learning something

• adults are more problem-centered than subject-centered inlearning

• adults are motivated to learn by internal factors rather thanexternal ones

( Merriam&Caffarella, 1999,p 65)

Many of adult second language learners pay more attention on learning grammar ,they believe in the significant relationship between grammatical accuracy and effective communication. They pay much attention to grammar because of doing office work and studying in abroad. They think by having proficiency in grammar part they will have a better social acceptance by native speakers. Adults are more aware of grammar points which they are using, that?s why they can get these points and use them.

Huangdid a research and in his study 118 Mandarin-speaking immigrants in the United States and 24 English native speakers as the baseline comparison group participated. The grammar knowledge estimated by a grammaticality judgment task. The findings showed thatthat post-puberty learners acquire second language better than pre-puberty learnersespecially in grammar part.His findings showed the method of teaching, amount of instruction and also length of residence have significant effects on learning grammar.

Results revealed that adults had less difficulty in adapting to task. They are faster and made fewer mistakes, this will cause them to learn faster. And children made more mistakes at the early stages of learning.

Asher and Price ( 1967) have carried out an experiment with96 students from the second, fourth and eighth grades of a school and 37 undergraduate students from a college. The subjects did not have any previous knowledge of Russian, the targeted language. After three short trainings conducted in Russian language, the results showed that the eight graders performed significantly better than the second graders and the fourth graders. They also noticed a consistently positive relationship with advancing age because of above average mental ability of the adults (p.76).

A study which is done by Robert Dekeyser(2002)suggested:”adult learners are more successful in learning grammar than the early-age learners”(p.14). Learning grammar is sometimes abstract, that?s why it is hard for children to get the point. Most of the time, children memorize it.The findings show that grammar is somehow boring for adults but they get to this conclusion that learning grammar is necessary and effective. Adults are more reliance on writing and they know about the value of grammar in writing, so they get it more serious.

Researchers of SLA interested in assessing phonological skills of learners suggest a common belief that younger learners acquire a native like accent in the target language. Dunkel and Pillet compared the proficiency in French between elementary school pupils and beginning students of French from the university. They found that the younger learners’ pronunciation was better than that of the older ones. However, in both written and aural tests, the university students had better performance than the younger ones.(Bista,2008, p.8)

Asher and price examined acquisition of pronunciation of 71 Cuban immigrants to California. The subjects were of aged groups from seven to 19 years. The majority of them had been in the United States for about five years. They concluded that “not one of the 71 Cuban subjects was judged to have American native pronunciation” (Asher and price, 1967, p. 83). They also figured out a fact that the younger a child had been when entering the United States, the higher the probability of a native like accent.

In the study which is done by Susan Oyama (1982) 60 maleItalian immigrants were studied .They were at the age of 6 to 20 when they had come to the united states. Susan Oyama pointed out that the age is an important factor in order to have a native like accent. She declared that the younger the better in having an acceptable accent. She also pointed out her results about listening comprehension as follows:

…those subjects who began learning English before age 11 showed comprehension

score similar to those of native speakers, whereas later arrivals did less well; those

who arrived after the age of 16 showed markedly lower comprehension scores than

the native (Oyama, 1982, p. 23).

Susan Oyama suggested (1982):”The young learners are considered fluent in communication of the second language and achieve native like accent .Learners after the age of puberty do not acquire native like accent of a second language but have complex learning pattern.Research suggests that children and adults L2 learners pass through different developmental states “( p 12).

Johnson and Newport ( 2008) found:” native-like language abilities and the performance levels are lower in older children than younger in a study of forty-six Chinese and Koreans speakers”(p.13).

In another study, Fathman (1989) tested oral proficiency in English on 20 children and 20 adults in a formal setting in Mexico. Their finding also brought a similar conclusion that the children scored better in English pronunciation than the adults but the adults scored better than the children in syntax(p.32).

Learning and technology

As we know adults are more capable to use technology in order to improve and using technology can help learners to study faster, especially adults. Integrating technology in instruction for adult Englishlanguage learners may offer the flexibility to extend that available in a formal program and thus increase opportunities for language and literacy learning(Cummins, 2007, p. 26).

Adult learners access to online learning more than others. Online learning is entirely Internet-based. This opportunity ables English learners to learn anywhere,any time.

Electronic tools and internet which is used in teaching and learning motivate students to learn and become actively independent learners, this will happen for adults more than children. As we know adults have more problem in communication but internet can provides learners with opportunities to reinforce their learning skills, self-assessment, and their communication with the world.

Some other effects of aging on learning:

1.as people become older they eyesight will become weak and this will affect the capacity for learning of the adults

2.changes in nuclear family roles,changes in other family roles and changes in work roles will affect on adults learning(Falasca, 2001, p.3)

3.Motivation to learn: Adults can be ordered into a classroom but nobody can force them to learn. Any adults who see a need or have a desire to know a new thing seems more successful.

A group of researchers including Singleton and Oyama believed that the young learners have higher learning potentiality than the adults whereas Johnson and Newport, Dekeyser, Asher and Price, opined the opposite. Thus the results of this study in general support that younger adults are better learner especially in pronunciation and there is a high level of opportunity to achieve to native like accent but we should consider that the amount of repetitions and also the length of resistance have much effect on having native like accent, on the other hand older adults are better in understanding grammar. When the brain is more developed so it is better for learning grammar, this is because of the fact that adult?s capacity for learning and memory is higher than children .

The findings showed that that post-puberty learners acquire second language better than pre-puberty learners especially in grammar part. In learning grammar, there is a consistently positive relationship with advancing age because of above average mental ability of the adults. Learning grammar is sometimes abstract, that?s why it is hard for children to get the point. Also all of the tools which is available in the market, sources which is available in the internet, and software can help a lot older adult than younger adult in learning second language.

We should consider that the main problem of adult is that in most cases they can not become lifelong learners.Age is not everything in second language learning. However, factors related to the age, for example the learning opportunities, the motivation to learn, individual differences, and learning styles, are also important determining variables that affect the rate of second language learning in various developmental stages of the learners.

References:

Asher, J. J., & Price, B. S. (1967). The learning strategy of a total physical response: Some age differences. Child Development, 38, 1219-1227.

Bialystok,E.(1997).The structure of age: In search of barriers to second language acquisition. Second language research,13(2),116_137.

Bista,K.(2008).Age as an effective factor in second language acquision. The journal of English for Specific Purposes World.Issue 5 (21).Retrieved fromwww.esp-world.info/Articles_21/Docs/Age.pdf

Birdsong, D. (2006). Age and second language acquisition and processing: A selective overview. Language Learning, 56 (1), 9-49.

Cummins, J.(2007). Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters.Working Papers on Bilingualism, 19,197-205.

DeKeyser, R.(2002).The robustness of Critical Period effects in second language acquisition. Studies in second language Acquisition,22(4),499-533.

Fathman, A. (1989). The relationship between age and second language productive ability.

Issues in second language research. London:Newbury House, 15-23.

Falasca,M.(2001).Barriers to adult learning.Australian Journal of Adult learning.Volume56,number3,November2011. Retrieved from http://www.ajal.net.au/barriers-to-adult-learning-bridging-the-gap/

Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E.L.(2008).Critical Period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on acquisition of English as a Second Language. Cognitive Psychology. 21,60-99.

Klein, W. (1986).Second language acquisition. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Oyama, S. (1982).The sensitive period and comprehension of speech. In Krashen, S., Scarcell, R. & Long, M. (Eds.), Issues in second language research. London: Newbury House, 39-51

Singleton, D. (2002).The age factor in second language acquisition (2nd ed.). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.