The Role of Age in Language Learning: Children Versus adults, Revisited

Rajabi, P., Koohafkan, M., & Abedi, M. (2018)

Abstract:

It is a common agreement that the best age to learn a new language is while you are young; however, the reason is not that clear. Many believe that the ultimate success in language learning depends on how early a person is exposed to a certain language. With the introduction of the idea of critical period hypothesis in the late 1950s, the idea of a biologically based time for language acquisition tried to explain the supposed success of children and the failure of adults in learning a second language. It is out of question that personal learning capacities vary from learner to learner. Still, research has shown that adult learners simply have greater cognitive and linguistic capabilities than younger learners.  As to learning vocabulary and language structures, being an adult learner is more of a benefit than a disadvantage. The present study aims to discuss the role of the age in language learning. This research has been carried out with a library and research methodology and an examination of the ideas and opinions of scientists in this field. In this research, the researcher tried to examine the influence of age and its impact on language learning.