1. Published by Routledge © 2009 Mark Sawyer
Age (Ch. 2)
Understanding SLA
Lourdes Ortega (2009)
Published by Routledge © 2009 Mark Sawyer

2. 2.1 Critical periods & sensitive periods for the acquisition of human language
Age 9: plasticity loss? (Penfield & Roberts)
Puberty: lateralization? (Lenneberg)
CPs exist in animals, including humans
Critical vs. sensitive
L1 CP: strong evidence from special cases: Genie, feral children
Deaf children: cochlear implants, late ASL

3. 2.2 Julie, an exceptionally successful late L2 learner of Arabic
AO = Age 21 (moved to Cairo from UK)
No formal instruction
Arabic use dominant after 3 years
Phonology: fooled 7/13 NSs
Morphosyntax: translation, GJ, anaphora
Errors, but only 1 different from all NSs
Laura also outstanding, but instructed.

4. 2.3 Are children or adults better L2 learners? Questions of rate
Adults faster than children (Snow & Hoefnagel-Höhle)
Children catch up after 1 year (Long et al.)
Not in FL: AO 11 > 8 for over 5 years
(Muñoz, 2006 in Cataluña)
FL/L2 difference: intensity/quality of exposure

5. 2.4 Age and L2 morphosyntax: Questions of ultimate attainment
After long LOR (Length of Residence), pre-CP have NS-like GJs; post-CP not
AO & UA are statistically co-related
(Somewhat) conflicting results
Johnson & Newport, DeKeyser vs.
Birdsong & Molis, Flege et al.
How native is near-native?
Coppieters vs. Birdsong

6. 2.5 Evidence on L2 morphosyntax from cognitive neuroscience
Late bilinguals less lateralized (Dehaene & P)
Late biL different syntactic processing:
e.g. content vs. function words (Neville)
Syntactic vs. semantic anomalies (Hahne)
Computational vs. associative learning (Ullman)
But…word length & active use can explain
Activation patterns change easily
Direction of brain/experience influence??

7. 2.6 L2 phonology & age
Speech is special, because physical & neuromuscular (Scovel)
Use/education affect morphosyntax more than pronunciation (Flege et al.)
After 5-7, biology or L1 filter?
Near-native late pronouncers (Bongaerts)
Again, How native is near-native?

8. 2.7 What causes the age effects? Maturational & other explanations
More L1 development, more L2 influence
Socio-educational/motivational forces
Yes on biology…
classic: lateralization, plasticity
recent: myelination, estrogen
Fits Fundamental Difference Hypothesis
(Bley-Vroman)

9. 2.8 A bilingual turn in SLA thinking about age
Age effects may be very early (pre 4-6)
Low L2 activation may block BiL success
Monolingual standard may be misguided
Better to compare pre-/post-pubertal L2ers

10. 2.10 How important is age in L2 A, and (why) does it matter?
Overall understanding of human language
Advocacy for L2 users
Refute sink-or-swim policies
Problematize (overly) early start programs
More resources for excellent, motivating late instruction