Group 6

Members :
1. Elizenda Jacob
2. Grace Labetubun
3. Adia Sari Ollong
Chapter 6

Children vs. Adults in

Second – Language
Learning
Children are better : a common
belief
1. Psychological
 Intellectual processing
 Memory
 Motor skills

2. Social
Basic psychological factors affecting
second-language learning

1. Intellectual processing: explication and

induction
• Explication
 The nature of explication
 Why a language cannot be learned completely by
explication
 Explication is rarely applicable to young children
 Teaching simple and complex rules
• Induction

2. Memory
 Vocabulary learning and rote memory
 Syntax learning and episodic memory
 Children’s memory ability
Psychological Factors:
Motor skills
a. Articulation of Speech
Motor-skill involve in the use of the
articulators of speech (tongue, lips, vocal
cord) for the production of the sound of a
second language.
b. Decline In General Motor-skills
- Somewhere around the Age of 12 years old
Causes:
1. Change in central functioning in the brain
2. Hormonal Changes

c.The Ability For New Articulations

Children have the flexibility in motor-skills that
adults generally lost
 Psychological Factors:
Motivation
1. Motivation (according to situation)
At the age of 1-2: no motivation
At the age of 4-5: need motivation
The planned learning situation (classroom): need
motivation

2. Other Variables involved in second language learning:

Intergroup attitude and climate, Social situation
Personality, self-confidence, desire.
Psychological Factors:
Attitude
1. Attitude: negative vs. positive

2. Other variables involved in second

language learning:
Status, cultural background.
Social Situations affecting
Second-language learning.

The Natural Situation

1. Characteristics of the natural
situation

2. With age, language is more

essential for social interaction

3. Older children can have problems

Social Situations:
the Classroom Situation
1. The classroom is isolated from
other social life
2. Learning language as part of a
group and not as an individual
Social Situations:
Who is better? Children or
adults?
- In a natural situation
Memory Motor skills Induction Natural situation

Children high high high high

Adults medium low high low
Social Situations:
Who is better? Children or
Adults?
- In the classroom situation
Cognitive Memory Motor skills
experience
Older child low high high
Adults high medium low
Environment for the Second
Language Learning

1. ESL: English as a second language

2. EFL: English as a foreign language

Is there a critical age for second-
language learning?
 Adults CAN Learn
a Second Language

SYNTAX PRONUNCIATION
 SYNTAX
 According to:
- Patkowski (1980)
- Johnson & Newport(1989)
- Mayberry & Lock (2003)
Believed that children learn
grammar better than adults
 According to:
- Mayberry & Lock (2003)
- Birdsong (1992)
- White & Genesee (1996)
- Birdsong & Molis (2001)
Refute the claim of critical
period for grammar acquisition
 PRONUNCIATION
 According to:  According to
- Mack, 1986 and Perani
et al. 2003
- Neufeld (1978)
- Sebastian-Galles & - Bongaerets et al.
Bosch (2001) (1995,1997)
- Thomas Scovel (1988)
- Matsui (2000)
Believe that adult learners
CAN’T speak a foreign Believe that adults can
language without losing their have native-like
native accent
pronunciation
THANK YOU