Age of Onset and Nativelikeness in a Second Language: Listener Perception Versus Linguistic Scrutiny

Abstract

The incidence of nativelikeness in adult second language acquisition is a controversial issue in SLA research. Although some researchers claim that any learner, regardless of age of acquisition, can attain nativelike levels of second language (L2) proficiency, others hold that attainment of nativelike proficiency is, in principle, impossible. The discussion has traditionally been framed within the paradigm of a critical period for language acquisition and guided by the question of whether SLA is constrained by the maturation of the brain. The work presented in this article can be positioned among those studies that have focused exclusively on the apparent counterexamples to the critical period. We report on a large-scale study of Spanish/Swedish bilinguals (n = 195) with differing ages of onset of acquisition (<1-47 years), all of whom identify themselves as potentially nativelike in their L2. Listening sessions with native-speaker judges showed that only a small minority of those bilinguals who had started their L2 acquisition after age 12, but a majority of those with an age of onset below this age, were actually perceived as native speakers of Swedish. However, when a subset (n = 41) of those participants who did pass for native speakers was scrutinized in linguistic detail with a battery of 10 highly complex, cognitively demanding tasks and detailed measurements of linguistic performance, representation, and processing, none of the late learners performed within the native-speaker range; in fact, the results revealed also This study was made possible by a research grant to K. H. and N. A. from The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation (grant No. 1999-0383:01). We are greatly indebted to the participants of the study, who without hesitation agreed to go through the 4-hour long and quite demanding test session. We would also like to thank Johan Roos for carrying out the testing and data collection, Abrahamsson and Hyltenstam AO and Nativelikeness in an L2that only a few of the early learners exhibited actual nativelike competence and behavior on all measures of L2 proficiency that were employed. Our primary interpretation of the results is that nativelike ultimate attainment of a second language is, in principle, never attained by adult learners and, furthermore, is much less common among child learners than has previously been assumed.

The role of input in second language oral ability development in foreign language classrooms: A longitudinal study

“…In contrast, the students' pronunciation learning was mixed, either occurring over one academic year (for word stress, intonation) or being limited (for segmentals). This is perhaps not surprising, as it is claimed that pronunciation development requires much exposure to L2 input (Flege, 2009) and/or certain optimal individual difference profiles, such as early age of learning (Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam, 2009), high-level aptitude (Skehan, 2015) and professional motivation (Moyer, 1999). The limited effect of short-term instruction on pronunciation learning in FL classrooms is also consistent with previous FL studies (Muñoz & Llanes, 2014).…”

Practice for Second Language Learning: Don’t Throw out the Baby with the Bathwater

“…Proceduralizing and (at least partially) automatizing such distinctions takes a very large amount of practice. Of course no degree of teaching and practice in the classroom will lead to 'perfect' knowledge of the language; it would be utterly naïve to expect that, given that even many years of residence in the target environment do not (Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam, 2009;DeKeyser, Alfi-Shabtay, & Ravid, 2010;DeKeyser & Larson-Hall, 2005;Hyltenstam and Abrahamsson, 2003). We agree, therefore, that 'practice does not make perfect,' but only in the sense that it is a necessary, not a sufficient feature of language instruction: "communicative practice (…) is not sufficient to lead learners to a high degree of fluency and accuracy in all aspects of second language acquisition," but "[w]hen practice is defined as opportunities for meaningful language use (both receptive and productive) and for thoughtful, effortful practice of difficult linguistic features, then the role of practice is clearly beneficial and even essential" (Lightbown, 2000, p. 443).…”

Unveiling linguistic competence by facilitating performance

“…For Haznedar (2013, the boundary for adult L2ers is considered to be 7-10 years old. This is based on the debate with respect to the Critical Period Hypothesis (Lenneberg, 1967), which proposes that certain physiological changes in the human brain around the time of puberty preclude the possibility of target-like language attainment (for an empirical study testing this hypothesis, among others, see Abrahamsson & Hyltenstam, 2009). That is, for Haznedar, adult L2ers are defined as those who start to learn the TL after the alleged critical period for language acquisition ends.…”