Daily Excerpt: Achieving Native-Like Second Language Proficiency (Leaver): Factors Related to Venue and Time (Factor 2: Onset of Language Learning)
Today's excerpt comes from Achieving Native-Like Second Language Proficiency (Speaking) by Betty Lou Leaver. Factor 2: Onset of Language Learning The younger the language learner when he or she begins study, the more likely that learner is to reach native and near-native levels of foreign language proficiency. So goes the convention wisdom—and the conventional folly. What the data from this study show is that learning foreign languages in elementary school years is a positive thing; however, it will not bring anyone to a Level 4 any faster than learning the language as an adult. Indeed, in some areas, given their greater cognitive development and already existing linguistic system(s), adult learners, hour for hour, are generally much more efficient learners than children. Researchers sometimes are “fooled” because children are much better at eliminating a foreign language than are adults, and they appear to learn more language faster si...