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Reference: Timothy Brockley, The Language Works Articles, It’s All Academic, Age and the Pronunciation Barrier, 2-10-2007. |
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Age and the Pronunciation Barrier |
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Can children really pick up a language more quickly than adults? Unfortunately for adults, the answer is: "Probably, yes." Of course there are always exceptions. There are slow young learners and adults with an aptitude for language. The general consensus goes like this: the younger a student is when acquiring a new language, the more accurate her/his pronunciation will be in the target language. According to Virginia P. Collier:
"Studies examining students' pronunciation after more than five years of exposure to the second language consistently find that the large majority of adults retain their accent when the second language is acquired after puberty, whereas children initiating second language acquisition before puberty have little or no foreign accent."
According to researchers, this has to do with brain "plasticity." This doesn't mean our brains slowly turn to a hard, dull plastic up to the point of senile dementia; on the contrary, it suggests that the human brain has the ability to change and develop (adapt) over time in relation to new information. The focus is on "neuronal circuits that respond to diverse stimuli and process information." In most cases, young learners have more plasticity as Yvonne F. Stapp points out:
...in early second language acquisition (L2) beginning at between approximately age five or six, children often achieve native-like pronunciation and syntax within a relatively short period of a year or two. The ability of young children to achieve native-like proficiency in a foreign language in a rather short time is a reflection of a type of neural plasticity, and it appears to be related to the distinct characteristics of the young brain.
More here:
Neural Plasticity and the Issue of Mimicry Tasks in L2 Pronunciation Studies
The pronunciation factor will depend on a student's ability to adapt to the sounds (phonemes– roughly, ‘letter sounds’ and morphemes– roughly, ‘syllable sounds’) a new language demands. This is most often unique to each individual. There is an actual physical change that takes place in the muscles required to produce new sounds (through ‘exercise’) and a simultaneous change in the processes of the brain (through understanding). While some will manage it more quickly, every human being has the potential to become intelligible in a second language.
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