Around and Beyond the

Critical Period Hyphotesis

 ?

Age effects in Second or

additional language
learning.
The most common case :

Genie
The closing at puberty of the window of
opportunity to language acquisition
Maturation and Socialization
 Genie and Victor
 Late acquirers of sign language
 The down syndrome case : no improvements beyond 14 (standstill after
maturity)
 Other views: temporary plateau, stimulation
 Cph is only interested in age differences based on
neurobiological factors
 Other factors: social, environmental, affective and age of
acquisition.

 Role of input
 Influence of learners orientations on attainment
 Naturalistic vs instructed L2 learning
Limitations in CPH

 Context very broad

 Biographical variables info is scarce
 Learners experiences with L2
 Personal goals and expectations

Is non-nativelikeness a failure?
Learners’ Orientations

 Psychological Factors: Satisfaction with attainment and personal motivation

to acquire Fluency.
 Interaction with native speakers and affiliation with L2

What encourages you to engage in a

conversation with a native speaker?
 Dominance of L2 over L1 (transition, AoA,LoR)
 Pass for a native vs the protection of L1 accent
The impact of proficiency on L2
Representation and processing

 Late language acquisition and the brain

 Different parts of the brain are in charge of processing different aspects of
language

 Stronger activation is seen in late L2 learning