The critical period hypothesis holds that a person can achieve native-like fluency in a language only if they acquire it before a certain age, after which the brain's capacity for language learning declines. It was first proposed by the Montreal neurologist Wilder Penfield and his co-author Lamar Roberts in their 1959 book Speech and Brain Mechanisms, and was popularized in 1967 by Eric Lenneberg's Biological Foundations of Language. The hypothesis remains the subject of a long-running debate in linguistics and second language acquisition over how tightly the ability to learn language is tied to developmental stages of the brain, with direct bearing on when and how second-language instruction is best introduced.
Facts
Core ClaimA person can achieve native-like fluency in a language only if it is acquired before a certain critical age, after which the capacity for language learning declines. 2 Classification
Education LevelEarly Childhood Education (ISCED 0) 1 FAQs
Does the ability to learn a language end sharply at puberty?
The window appears to close gradually through the late teens, not sharply at puberty.
Large-scale modern research suggests it does not. Eric Lenneberg proposed that a loss of brain plasticity at about the age of puberty explains why learners after that point tend to keep a foreign accent. A 2018 analysis by Hartshorne, Tenenbaum and Pinker of an online English grammar quiz taken by roughly 669,000 people found that grammar-learning ability stayed high through childhood and adolescence and then fell off around age 17 to 18. Reaching near-native grammar still required starting immersion by about age 10 to 12. The source's summary is that there is a real, bounded window for learning grammar, but it closes gradually in late adolescence rather than snapping shut at puberty, and researchers still debate whether maturation or changing social and educational circumstances cause the late drop.
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Source Wikipedia: Critical Period Hypothesis
Source Wikipedia: Critical Period Hypothesis
Sources
1. Critical period hypothesis (Wikipedia)
- the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language...estimates ranging between 2 and 13 years of age
- estimates ranging between 2 and 13 years of age
View the Source2. Wikipedia: Critical Period Hypothesis
Wikimedia FoundationWikipedia Critical period hypothesis, lead paragraph, sentence 1
The critical period hypothesis is a hypothesis within the field of linguistics and second language acquisition that claims a person can achieve native-like fluency in a language only before a certain age.
Wikipedia Critical period hypothesis, lead section, origin-attribution sentence
The critical period hypothesis was first proposed by Montreal neurologist Wilder Penfield and co-author Lamar Roberts in their 1959 book Speech and Brain Mechanisms.
Developed By: Wilder Penfield, Lead
The critical period hypothesis was first proposed by Montreal neurologist Wilder Penfield and co-author Lamar Roberts in their 1959 book Speech and Brain Mechanisms, and was popularized by Eric Lenneberg in 1967 with Biological Foundations of Language.
Developed By: Eric Lenneberg, Lead
The critical period hypothesis was first proposed by Montreal neurologist Wilder Penfield and co-author Lamar Roberts in their 1959 book Speech and Brain Mechanisms, and was popularized by Eric Lenneberg in 1967 with Biological Foundations of Language.
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