Evaluating the Existence and Nature of the Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition

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2022
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Swarthmore College. Dept. of Linguistics
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en
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Full copyright to this work is retained by the student author. It may only be used for non-commercial, research, and educational purposes. All other uses are restricted.
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Abstract
This paper seeks to investigate the existence and nature of the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) in Second Language Acquisition (L2A). I conduct an extensive literature review into many studies spanning five decades into many domains of research. I advocate for multiple critical periods (CPs) for various aspects of language acquisition (morphology, syntax, phonology, phonotactics, grammar, semantics, pragmatics) each with their own unique discontinuity between ultimate attainment (UA) and age of acquisition (AoA). I expose gaps and highlight sources of debate within current literature such as the validity of (UA) as a yardstick for evaluating L2A proficiency, problematic statistical methodology for modeling the discontinuities in the AoA-UA function, language acquisition transfer interference from first language acquisition into L2A, individualistic traits such as language aptitude and motivation. I examine methodological differences in existing literature with a particular focus on incorrect assumptions and statistical techniques that lead to false conclusions being drawn about the shape of the age of acquisition (AoA) and ultimate attainment (UA) function, in testing for the CPH. Ultimately, I advocate for the re-analysis of past studies using different methodological techniques to generate new AoA-UA function graphs to discern if there are real discontinuities or not. I hypothesize that correct and repeatable statistical modeling and proper experimental design will facilitate the discovery of multiple CPs that occur in a robust sequential order with unique onsets, offsets, and discontinuities to each CP. I also hypothesize that individuals with common L1s and interlanguage systems share unique predictable CP onset and offsets that are robust within the group. This paper adds to the existing literature by first presenting an updated in-depth analysis of the current literature and proceeds to discuss how statistical errors in the existing literature may be contributing to the lack of robust evidence for multiple CPs in L2A.
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