The critical period hypothesis.ppt

LOGO The critical period hypothesis 王雨萌 朱瑜 袁芬芬 李丽丽 The critical period hypothesis is the subject of a long-standing debate in linguistics and language acquisition over the extent to which the ability to acquire language is biologically linked to age. Contents 1 Original 2 3 4 Second-language acquisition Experimental and observational studies Effects of aging Hot Tip The Origin of The Critical Period Hypothesis( CPH) In 1967, Lenneberg, a pscho-biologist,suggested that there is a period during the human life span from infancy to puberty( age 2 to 13 ) that is critical to language learning, during which learning is successful and after which it is marginal. 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. If language input doesnt occur until after this time, the individual will never achieve a full command of language—especially grammatical systems. Diagram Second-language acquisition The window for learning a second language never completely closes, certain linguistic aspects appear to be more affected by the age of the learner than others. The theory has often been extended to a critical period for second-language acquisition (SLA), although this is much less widely accepted. Diagram In second-language acquisition, the strongest evidence for the critical period hypothesis in the study of accent, where most older learners do not reach a native-like level. That is, native speakers will be able to identify that the person is not a native speakers of that language. The hypothesis claims that there is an ideal window of time to acquire language in a linguistically rich environment, after which further language acquisition become much more difficult and effortful. Experimental and observational studies Recent studies have recognized certain aspects of SLA may be affected by age, while others remain intact. The o