Second Language Acquisition Research: Age of Instruction and Learning Outcomes

Research Findings on the Age of Second Language Acquisition

Burstall's 1975 Study on Language Instruction Age

Burstall (1975) carried out a pilot study in England and Wales comparing two groups of students who had five years of language instruction. One group had begun learning French at the age of 8, while the second group had started at the beginning of secondary school (age 11). Her results showed that the learners who had started later were consistently superior.

Muñoz et al.'s 2003 Comparison of Initial Instruction Ages

Muñoz et al.’s (2003) comparison of three different initial ages of instruction in a foreign language (8, 11, and 14) showed that after a similar number of hours of instruction, students who had started when they were older performed better in nearly all linguistic areas.

Cenoz's Proposed Research Needs for Bilingual Programs

Cenoz highlights two key areas requiring further study regarding the implementation of English in pre-school bilingual programs:

1. We need to know if the implementation of English in pre-school in bilingual programs has any effect on linguistic and cognitive development.
2. It is necessary to find out the results of those programs that have already been implemented.

Singleton's Explanation for Age Differences in Formal Learning

According to Singleton (1989), one possible explanation might be that environments based on formal learning do not offer learners the necessary amount of exposure, which would allow the age advantage typically seen in young learners to manifest.

Distinguishing Between Critical and Sensitive Periods

The difference between the terms “critical period” and “sensitive period” relates to the possibility of completely successful acquisition:

• A critical period implies that completely successful acquisition is only possible within a given period of a learner’s life.
• A sensitive period implies that acquisition is just easier within that period, but not impossible afterwards.

Defining Negative Transfer in Early Language Acquisition

Negative transfer is due to confusion between languages that a bilingual child may experience when beginning to learn English (or a third language) at an early age, especially if the instruction is inadequate.