Age Limit of SLA and The Acquisition of English by Mandarin Speakers

Course Name
Second Language Acquisition
Students Name
Student Number
1 Introduction
The acquisition of a second language for an individual is affected by many factors. Therefore, this paper will focus on two studies: the timing and scope of maturational constraints of different children who were in the age limit of acquiring a second language (Granena & Long, 2012). Also, the acquisition of certain English grammatical morphemes by children who are native Mandarin speakers (Jia & Fuse, 2007). The results of this study will be compared to different theories regarding the acquisition of a second language and the manner in which the two studies contrast or have similarities.
2. FIRST STUDY
Synopsis
The first study was done by Granena and long was carried out to examine the manner in which the acquisition of a second language worked regarding pronunciation scores and language aptitude and the effect that the initial exposure to a second language had on them. Also, the effect of age advancement on the learning of a second language was examined. The study involved 65 individuals whereby, 12 of them were native Chinese speakers while the rest were trying to learn Spanish. It was divided into three groups of 3 to 6 years, 7 to 15 years and 16 to 29 years named as the age of onset (AO). The study was done on L2 phonology, lexis and collocation and morph syntax for respective three groups.
Results
The results of the study proved the original hypothesis that the ability of a person to acquire a second language declines as their age progresses. Among the tested groups morph syntax was the least affected by age while the phonology was the most affected. The results were plotted on a graph representing both the control group and the exact research group. As well, different correlations were found between pronunciation scores and language aptitude, and, as well as between colocation scores and language aptitude and lexis in the 16 to 29 age group.
Evaluation of the Results
The two questions asked for the study were sufficient enough to get the required results. The first question, which was about the existence of a correlation between the age of onset and the various language domains came out a success because the researchers were able to deduct that language acquisition declined with age increase. Also, the second question on whether language aptitude had a relation to their abilities when it came to language acquisition. However, this section was not fully sufficient because people have different abilities and therefore, it is difficult to come up with a control group for abilities as a variance. Therefore, the researchers should have used another variable in this case. In addition, the range at which the age groups were set is quite large, and this could have resulted in the different rates of language acquisition with the groups. Instead, they should have used equal age limits to get precise results.
Comparison of Findings with Class Readings
Research was done on the ability of certain students on learning a foreign language and the effect that the starting age on it (Munaz, 2014). The similarity of this study with the study that was done by Granena and Long is that both studies involved the ag...