1. Children vs. adults in second-language learning
Children are better: a common belief
Most people believe that children are better than adults in learning a second language. This seems to be backed up by the common observation that young second-language learners seem to pick up another language quickly, just by exposure and without teaching. Whether this is truly the case is the focus of this chapter.
Factors involved in second-language acquisition can be divided into two categories: (1) psychological, and (2) social.
1. Psychological. In this section, we shall consider: intellectual processing, which is involved in an individual’s analytical determination of grammatical structures and rules; memory, which is essential if language learning is to occur and remain; and motor skills, which concern the pronunciation of the sounds involved in the second language, i.e. the use of the articulators of speech (tongue, lips, mouth, vocal cords, etc.). We shall further consider the role of motivation and attitude regarding the learning of a second language. In Chapter 8, we will consider how the similarity between a first language and the target second language can affect learning, also known as transfer problem.
2. Social. The types of situations, settings, and interactions which an individual experiences can affect the learning of a second language. Thus, we will be concerned with where and with whom exposure to the second language occurs. In particular, the natural situation (family, play, workplace) in contrast to the classroom situation will be focused on. In addition we will consider whether the second language is learned in a foreign community (the EFL situation), or in the community of the first language (the ESL situation).