Influence of Age on Language Abilities

Influence of Age on Language Development
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Influence of Age on Language Abilities

After the drastic growth spurts of infancy, childhood, and adolescent years, the brain reaches the peak of its performance at 25 years. At this time, the brain is the heaviest (1.3 kg) and strongest it will ever be at recalling, cross-referencing, and storing information (Gauvrit et al., 2017). These abilities, research shows, begin to deteriorate in the 30s through to the senior years (above 65). If this argument is anything to go by, then it means the brain's ability to comprehend, internalize, and produce language should also fade. Assuming that 25 – 35 years is the peak performance period, it would imply that the years before 25 (developmental years) have stronger language abilities while the years beyond 35 should demonstrate a reduction in language development ability.

In other words, children and adolescents have a stronger hand while senior citizens have a lower hand, based on the progressive deterioration of brain activities across the human development cycle. However, mixed research outcomes suggest that, when it comes to language abilities, this is not necessarily the case; those adults are equally capable of language abilities. These outcomes suggest that there is no definitive answer to whether language abilities improve or decline with age. Therefore, the purpose of the current paper is to review current primary research literature to argue that language ability declines, and does not improve, with age.

Methodology

            The current study aims to internalize primary research outcomes that have attempted to answer the current research question or have findings that may influence internal discussions. These articles were obtained from online databases, including PsychINFO, PubMed, Psychology database, linguistic database, and Linguistic and Language Behavior Abstracts (LLBA). These databases were preferred because they collected on human development, psychology, brain development, and linguistics, among others, key domains that inform the current paper. Using keywords like age, language, language ability, brain development, and language behavior, 68 articles were obtained. Thirty-eight articles were ignored because they did not have primary research findings. A further 20 did not meet the age criteria, which required articles published within the past five years. Such articles are vital because they provide the newest or improved information. Thus, the current paper relied on these ten articles to support the thesis, as discussed in the literature review section that follows.

Literature Review

Language Development in Children: Acquisition of Foreign Language

            In recent years, age has become a critical factor in determining a language ...