COMMENTS

  1. Critical period hypothesis

    The critical period hypothesis was first proposed by Montreal neurologist Wilder Penfield and co-author Lamar Roberts in their 1959 book Speech and Brain Mechanisms, ... The critical period hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language if presented with adequate ...

  2. The Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition: A

    In second language acquisition research, the critical period hypothesis (cph) holds that the function between learners' age and their susceptibility to second language input is non-linear.This paper revisits the indistinctness found in the literature with regard to this hypothesis's scope and predictions.

  3. Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)

    Proposed by Wilder Penfield and Lamar Roberts in 1959, the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) argues that there is a specific period of time in which people can learn a language without traces of the L1 (a so-called "foreign" accent or even L1 syntactical features) manifesting in L2 production (Scovel 48).

  4. The critical period hypothesis: Where are we now?

    Reviews relevant research findings and considers various proposed explanations of age-related differences in (second) language acquisition. The authors argue that, despite a number of unresolved problems and even some apparent counterevidence, the critical period concept, as it has evolved, continues to have considerable heuristic value in investigating the language development of learners ...

  5. Critical Period Hypothesis

    The "critical period" hypothesis of hormone therapy states that there is a crucial window following the onset of menopause during which hormone therapy must be initiated in order to have beneficial effects ( Gibbs and Gabor, 2003; Resnick and Henderson, 2002 ).

  6. Frontiers

    One of the most fascinating, consequential, and far-reaching debates that have occurred in second language acquisition research concerns the Critical Period Hypothesis [1]. Although the hypothesis is generally accepted for first language acquisition, it has been hotly debated on theoretical, methodological, and practical grounds for second language acquisition, fueling studies reporting ...

  7. Critical Period

    The critical period hypothesis, as a long-standing debate in linguistics and language acquisition, briefly states that the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to chronological age.

  8. The Critical Period Hypothesis: Support, Challenge, and Reconc

    The Critical Period Hypothesis: Support, Challenge, and Reconceptualization Considering the realm of first language acquisition only, Lenneberg (1967) sought to determine the age at which it becomes too late for an individual to acquire language.

  9. Age and the critical period hypothesis

    Age and the critical period hypothesis. In the field of second language acquisition (SLA), how specific aspects of learning a non-native language (L2) may be affected by when the process begins is referred to as the 'age factor'. Because of the way age intersects with a range of social, affective, educational, and experiential variables ...

  10. PDF Critical period for first language: the crucial role of language input

    The comprehension of structures derived by Wh-movement (object relatives, object questions, and topicalization), in a sentence-picture matching task in various groups differing on language input and brain development during the critical period for the acquisition of syntax in a first language: the first year of life.

  11. (PDF) Critical Period Revisited: A Neurocognitive Approach

    193. Critical Period Hypothesis Revisited. A Neurocognitive Approach. P AUL BUZILĂ1. Abstract: There has been a long-standing debate in linguistics over the. extent to which language acquisition ...

  12. Second language acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis

    Explores reasons why humans might be subject to a critical period for language learning. This book also examines the adequacy of the Critical Period Hypothesis as an explanatory construct, the "fit" of the hypothesis with the facts. These 2 approaches, one that ponders the etiology of a critical period for adult 2nd language acquisition and the other that disputes the adequacy of the Critical ...

  13. Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of

    In its basic form, the critical period hypothesis need only have consequences for first language acquisition. Nevertheless, it is essential to our understanding of the nature of the hypothesized critical period to determine whether or not it extends as well to second language acquisition.

  14. The Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition: A ...

    In second language acquisition research, the critical period hypothesis (cph) holds that the function between learners' age and their susceptibility to second language input is non-linear. This paper revisits the indistinctness found in the literature with regard to this hypothesis's scope and predictions. Even when its scope is clearly delineated and its predictions are spelt out, however ...

  15. [PDF] The Critical Period Hypothesis: Support, Challenge, and

    The Critical Period Hypothesis: Support, Challenge, and Reconceptualization. A. Schouten. Published 31 May 2009. Linguistics. Given the general failure experienced by adults when attempting to learn a second or foreign language, many have hypothesized that a critical period exists for the domain of language learning.

  16. A critical period for second language acquisition: Evidence from 2/3

    Most importantly, they clarify the shape of the well-attested critical period for second-language acquisition: a plateau followed by a continuous decline. The end of the plateau period must be due to changes in late adolescence rather than childhood, whether they are biological, social, or environmental.

  17. The Critical Period Hypothesis: A coat of many colours

    Research on age-related effects in L2 development often invokes the idea of a critical period - the postulation of which is customarily referred to as the Critical Period Hypothesis. This paper argues that to speak in terms of the Critical Period Hypothesis is misleading, since there is a vast amount of variation in the way in which the critical period for language acquisition is understood ...

  18. (PDF) The Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition: A

    The present paper aims at highlighting the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) which suggests that the individuals' attempts to learn a second language after ...

  19. The Critical Period Hypothesis of SLA Eric Lenneberg's

    The critical period hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which. an individual can acquire a first language if presented with adequate stimuli, and that first ...

  20. Critical Period

    The critical period hypothesis, as a long-standing debate in linguistics and language acquisition, briefly states that the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to chronological age. According to CPH, the first few years of life are the critical period for an individual to acquire language.

  21. Languages

    This article focuses on the uncertainty surrounding the issue of the Critical Period Hypothesis. It puts forward the case that, with regard to naturalistic situations, the hypothesis has the status of both "not proven" and unfalsified. The article analyzes a number of reasons for this situation, including the effects of multi-competence, which remove any possibility that competence in more ...

  22. Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of

    In its basic form, the critical period hypothesis need only have consequences for first language acquisition. Nevertheless, it is essential to our understanding of the nature of the hypothesized critical period to determine whether or not it extends as well to second language acquisition.

  23. What Is the Critical Period Hypothesis?

    The critical period hypothesis is also used in secondary language acquisition, regarding the idea of a time period in which a secondary language can be most easily acquired. With regard to primary language acquisition, which refers to the process by which a person learns his or her first language , the critical period hypothesis is quite dramatic.

  24. A Psychologist Explains Why The 'Child Learning Window' Is A Myth

    The critical period hypothesis suggests that there are specific windows of time when the brain is highly receptive to certain types of learning, making skill acquisition easier within these ...

  25. Depressive symptoms may hasten memory decline in older people

    The researchers concluded that depression and memory were closely interrelated, with both seeming to affect each other. Depressive symptoms are linked to subsequent memory decline in older people ...