1. Chapter 7 Key Concepts

2. age of arrival (AOA) or age of onset (AO)

3. age of arrival (AOA) or age of onset (AO)
Age when a learner is first substantially exposed to the target language.

4. critical period

5. critical period
Period of time during which certain behaviors or skills appear to be acquired with particular speed and ease and without external intervention.

6. Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)

7. Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH)
In SLA, the view that there is a critical period favoring language acquisition, after which native-speaker like ability cannot be attained.

8. feral child

9. feral child
Term given to the rare cases of children who have grown up in situations deprived of regular human interaction and normal language exposure.

10. imprinting

11. imprinting
Rapid learning in a young animal, in which it begins to pattern behavior on an adult model.

12. lateralization

13. lateralization
Process by which cognitive functions (e.g., language, etc.) become localized to one or the other of the brain’s hemispheres.