ERIC Number: EJ745652
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2005-Nov
Pages: 17
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0019-042X
EISSN: N/A
The Critical Period Hypothesis: A Coat of Many Colours
Singleton, David
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), v43 n4 p269-285 Nov 2005
Research on age-related effects in L2 development often invokes the idea of a critical period--the postulation of which is customarily referred to as the Critical Period Hypothesis. This paper argues that to speak in terms of the Critical Period Hypothesis is misleading, since there is a vast amount of variation in the way in which the critical period for language acquisition is understood--affecting all the parameters deemed to be theoretically significant and indeed also relating to the ways in which the purported critical period is interpreted in terms of its implications for L2 instruction. The paper concludes that the very fact that there are such diverse and competing versions of the Critical Period Hypothesis of itself undermines its plausibility.
Descriptors: Second Language Learning, Age, Linguistic Theory, Developmental Stages, Second Language Instruction, Persuasive Discourse
Walter de Gruyter. P.O. Box 960, Herndon, VA 20172-0960. Tel: 800-208-8144: Tel: 703-661-1589; Fax: 703-661-1501; e-mail: degruytermail@presswarehouse.com; Web site: http://www.degruyter.de/rs/384_392_ENU_h.htm.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Opinion Papers
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A