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Article Review for A Literature-Based Approach on Age Factors in Second Language

Acquisition: Children, Adolescents, and Adults.

Sara Luo

GSEP Pepperdine University

EDTE 602.61: Second Language Acquisition

Article Review for A Literature-Based Approach on Age Factors in Second Language

Acquisition: Children, Adolescents, and Adults.

Introduction

Age has been a controversial factor for second language acquisition for many decades. There are

many different opinions. Some linguists think learning a second language should starts at a younger age

so that the kid could develop both their native language and a second language simultaneously. Still, other

groups of people think that the best results for second language acquisition came from adult learners. In

this article, Ozfidan & Burlbaw(2019) decide to do a study on how the age factor may affect a linguistic

study. It turns out, age does have little effect on the ability to learn a second language. Besides, the

research suggests that learners are at different brain development stages may require various teaching

methods to reach the best learning result. This essay will also include the writer’s personal reflections and

critical analysis.

Summary

To reach the best result, the researchers suggest that child learners need a more relaxed

environment; they would benefit more if they are surrounded by target language speakers. Child learners

acquire a language through their daily life in the form of games, both virtual and oral stories, art crafts, or

posters, basically anything colorful and interesting. While they learn, teachers need to use a behaviorism

approach to compliment kids when making some progress. At this development stage, it is important to

praise them to maintain this motivation.

Language learners who are teenagers have the particular experience level to understand and make

conversations, know some learning practice, and may have a reason to learn the second language.

However, their cognitive development stage is not fully developed, but with a firm basis. Therefore, they

prefer to acquire language in an intentional manner, which means that the teacher needs to provide a

deductive teaching method. For example, when the teacher wants to teach grammar, the teacher needs to

introduce grammar usage with examples for demonstration. They are suitable for repetition drills and
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dialogue memorization methods. In addition, adolescents may feel uncomfortable attending public

activities (such as role-playing). A teacher should serve a role like a mentor, guidance, and supporters for

all their behaviors and emotional needs (Ozfidan & Burlbaw, 2019).

Adult learners are relatively straightforward. Their motivation is more self-driven, whether the

cause is to get a job or raise a qualification. In this situation, they need to learn how to use the target

language more practically. Adult learners know how to fulfill their academic needs, includes asking

teachers, searching online, or finding other relevant materials. Nevertheless, instructors still need to pay

attention to adult learners’ mental requirements. They need to feel accepted, secure, and supported in the

class, from both peers and the instructors, most of them tend to learn better with team works. Adult

learners prefer a more formal style of language learning, such as comparable analysis or analytical

thinking.

To sum it up, children could learn a second language best among the three groups with the correct

teaching methods and suitable environment, especially in pronunciation, morphology, and grammar area.

Likewise, teenage learners are more successful in syntax and listening skills, while adult learners make a

tremendous process in reading and writing parts. No evidence shows language learning should start at

certain ages; there are both advantages and disadvantages for three age categorized groups. There is no

definitive answer for what age could be most suitable for second language acquisition.

Critical Analysis

The article from Ozfidan & Burlbaw (2019) is mainly focused on how the teacher should use

different methods for language teaching to age group accordingly, based on environment, cognitive

development, learning style, among other common factors.

The writer enjoyed the organization of the argument within this article. The researchers made

many comparisons between young learners and older learners, especially explaining the discrepancy

among them. Ozfiedan & Burlbaw(2019) pointed out that child learners are lack of cognitive

development and experience of learning; it’s hard for them to understand the knowledge. On the other

hand, older learners (refer to adolescent and adult learners) are more experienced with learning pieces of
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knowledge; they have the cognitive ability to understand the instruction. From the mental perspective,

older learners have native language understanding; acquiring a second language should be more

accessible.

Both Ozfidan & Burlbaw (2019) selected several representative hypotheses and common bias,

then refuted all of them with concrete evidence to prove that younger learners may not have many

advantages in learning a second language. The researchers then listed both strengths and weaknesses of

each age group learners and suitable teaching strategies for each age group. Which is beneficial

information for teachers who are new to the language teaching field and have not decided which age

group they want to teach. Especially for younger learners, researchers used cognitive development theory

to analyze the couple ages’ developmental sequence. Yet, the researchers seem only used the lack of

cognitive development to support their approach, which is learning a language is not the younger-the

better. From the writer’s personal experience, there is more reason to reject this idea, such as attention

issues, effort, or hyperactivity. For future studies, researchers can look into other causation of why age

may not link to successful of second language learning. Another missing piece of information from this

article is hard evidence. The whole article is based on pure theories. For instance, there is no physical

approach example to prove the point or figures that can support the researcher’s argument.

Understanding of SLA

Whether teaching kids should start acquiring a second language at an early age is still debatable,

there is no fixed answer to this question. The theory of the critical period of language is mainly aimed at

learning native-like pronunciation. It is worth discussing whether second language acquisition has a

critical period. Since children naturally acquire language by listening to their parents’ speaking. There is

no doubt that language input is generally more efficient in childhood than in adulthood, especially

pronunciation. Adults, on the other hand, have more difficulty because they may need to use their

cognition to understand the meaning of language. It might be true that people are more sensitive to

language and may able to acquire a second language in the critical period. Still, it does not entirely

determine the ability to develop a second language other than the critical period.
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As a teacher, it is crucial to understand the pattern of each stage of language acquisition. The

early stages of language learning focus on pronunciation. Thus, there is a higher requirement for teachers'

pronunciation at this stage. Yet, in the later learning stage, all the rules, such as grammar analysis, syntax,

or morphology, are essential for the class. Correspondingly, teachers should be more focused on

extending the knowledge base of all the language rules to be more prepared for teaching students. When

teaching students of different age groups, teachers also need to focus on developing their abilities and try

to find a pedagogy that fit students’ study abilities.

Discussion

This article provides a comprehensive view of how age could affect second language acquisition.

The writer has experienced each stage of cognitive development while learning a second language. On the

contrary, when the writer started to learn English at the age of four, the textbook was full of pictures and

activities, not many words in the textbook, and the teacher usually taught the class with many objects in

her hand, asks the student to identify the item in English. Unlike the article’s suggest teaching strategies,

by the time writer became an elementary school student, the textbook has more dialogue or small

paragraph. The teaching method changed to the grammar-translation method and repetition drill, there

was also no English speaker either. It was not the right environment for second language learning, which

caused the writer lost her interest in learning a new language. By the time she started to study abroad at

the age of fifteen. Studied in English speaking environment made her became a better speaker. Since

everyone else is speaking English, it forced her to use all the vocabulary that she knows to answer their

questions and make conversations. It was not a typical language acquiring process

The process of second language acquisition could be different among situations. It is challenging

to find the perfect condition to study a second language. In the second language acquisition process, age

is not the only factor affecting second language acquisition, and many other factors are influencing this

process. In other words, motivation, attitude, and hard-working should all be taking into consideration.
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Regardless of all the different challenges that may occur in the language learning journey. Determination

is the key for learners to acquire a language successfully.

References:

Ozfidan, B., & Burlbaw, L. (2019). A Literature-Based Approach on Age Factors in Second

Language Acquisition: Children, Adolescents, and Adults. International Education

Studies, 12(10), 27-36. https://doi.org/10.5539/ies.v12n10p27