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1、Age Factor in Second Language Aquisition1. Introduction Nowerdays, with the development of society and technology, our society has become more open. People, with different colors,who come from different countries and areas communicate with each other in various ways and methods. Language, of course,
2、 is one of the most important tools in our communication. As we all known, English is an international language in the whole world. Accordingly, in our country, English learning is very popular with not only students, but also the children, adults and even the retired old man. And according to many
3、studies,age is one of the most important individual factors affecting foreign language learning, which is considered as a focus of applied linguistics and psycholinguistics. Almost all parents think thatDont let their own children lose at the beginning. In China,all the families believe that it is v
4、ery important for the students to learn English in the childhood.And many parents even send their children to language schools at an early age in older to get a high score. In recent years,some scholars in China such as Gui Shichun, Wang Chuming, Dai Manchun, Dai Weidong have a heated discussion abo
5、ut the affection of age factors in foreign language teaching and learning. At the same time, the government have also paid more attention on English learning. Nowerdays,many reseachers have studied the factors affecting language learning, such as intelligence, aptitude, personality, motivation, atti
6、tudes, earners preference, learners beliefs and age of acquisition. But I just want to study the influence of age factor. Is it good enough for parents to let their children learn English at an early age? Do children have absolute advantages over adolescents and adults in second language acquisition
7、? What are the respective advantages and disadvantages of children,adolescents and adults? With the above problems analyzed,this thesis focus on the influence of age factor on the Second Language Acquisition. 2. Second Language Acquisition2.1 Definitin of Second Language AcquisitionSecond language a
8、cquisitionrefers to the subconscious or conscious processes by which a language other than mother tongue is learnt in a natural or a tutored or a classroom; it covers the development of phonology,lexis,grammar, pragmatics and other knowledge(Hu Zhuanglin,p.268). How children acquire their native lan
9、guages and what is the relavance of this to foreign language learning has long been debated. Although evidence for the declining of second language learning ability with age is controversial, a common assumption is that children learn second languages easily and fluently compared with old learners.
10、This assumption stems fromcritical period(CP) ideas(Lennerberg,1967). It is commonly know that children with regular faculties and given normal circumstances will easily master their native languages. Unfortunately,perfect language mastery is rarely in the process of second language acquisition. One
11、 of the most obvious potential explanations for the lack of success of second language learners compared to first language learners is that the acquisition of second language begins at a later age than that of the mother tongue does. Thus, many scholars assume that age itself is a predicator of seco
12、nd language proficiency.A popular belief in this area is that younger learners have certain advantages over older learners in foreign language learning and many linguists and researchers share this belief. They believe that younger children learn second language more easily and quickly than older ch
13、ildren (Ellis,;Larsen-Freeman,). However,some other researchers hold the the opposite point. They believe that younger learners do not show any advantage over older learners in second language learning, and they even can provide some evidence to prove scientifically that the opposite is true, i.e. o
14、lder learners exhibit some advantages over younger learners (Snow&Hoefnagef-Hohle,1978). About the study on age factors affecting second language acquisition, Carroll(1980) provided neurological basis for critical period hypothesis from aspect of earlier exposure, whose experiment indicates that the
15、 earlier exposure to second language,more or less, is of significance to the success of second language acquisition. That is, the early exposure to second language will bring quite different quality to later language learning in both natural and conscious settings.2.2 Current Situation of Second Lan
16、guage AcquisitionMany studies pay much attention to the age factor in second language learning at home and abroad. The relationship between age factor and second language acquisition has become more and more hot and popular. As for second languge acquisition. Penfield and Roberts(1959:130) first introduced the Critical Period. According to Penfield and Roberts, a childs brain is more plastic compared with that of an adult. And in 1967, Lenneberd introduc
