Article 1: The Linguistic Development of Genie
Summary: This article describes how children who have grown up under severe isolation, also known as ‘wild’ or ‘feral’ children, have the most dramatic stories about language acquisition. Not only have these children shown signs of majorly decreased language capabilities, but also experience other sensory losses, especially those which must be acquired. This article briefly mentions the case studies of Victor Itard as well as Caspar Hauser, but because they are dated back more than a century and a half, they lack general information that linguists would research today. It goes into detail about Genie’s case study, which is the most recent, most conclusive case, as she was born in 1957. She was malnourished, appeared to be seven years old when she was 13 years and 7 months old, did not speak, cry, or make any vocal sounds, and could not chew food or stand erect. Her father had an intolerance to noise and physically punished Genie if she made any sounds whatsoever, explaining her silence. She had extremely limited human contact and was barked at instead of spoken to. When hospitalized, she grew rapidly, physically, mentally and emotionally. At the hospital, Genie had poor control over her speech organs as well as the muscular control needed for eating. Genie slowly acquired language. Through testing, it is concluded that she had learned about negation, coordinating conjunctions, prepositional relations, pluralization of nouns, modification, possessives, superlative and comparative, and relational adjectives. Genie learned through visual/written language (such as flashcards) as well as speech. Genie had enormous difficulty with controlling the speech organs as well as the air flow needed to produce her voice. Her speech is far from normal, but is much improved. The order in which Genie learned language and functions is listed and many examples are given. Language can be acquired after the critical age, but does not seem native-like after this age has passed.
Citation:
Susan Curtiss, Victoria Fromkin, Stephen Krashen, David Rigler and Marilyn Rigler, (Sep., 1974). Language. Vol. 50, No. 3, pp. 528-554
Article 2: Critical Evidence: A Test of the Critical Age Hypothesis for Second-Language Acquisition
Summary: This article describes a test done on data from a 1990 census. The census used responses from 2.3 million immigrants with Spanish or Chinese language backgrounds. The article wanted to test the key prediction of the hypothesis, which was that the age of immigration deeply affected the second-language acquisition. The results of the test on this was that the age did not make as much as a difference in acquisition as the authors had estimated, but there was a surprisingly linear effect for level of education before emigrating to America. This aspect shows that a higher level of education before immigration greatly improves the ability to pick up and acquire the language.
Citation:
Ellen Bialystok, Kenji Hakuta, Edward Wiley. (January 2003). Critical Evidence: A Test of the Critical Age Hypothesis for Second-Language Acquisition. Psychological Science,Vol. 14, No. 1
Article 3: A Test of the Critical Period Hypothesis for Language Learning
Summary: This article is about a study done that examines the relevance of the critical period for language learning. It specifically deals with critical age hypothesis for proficiency of English-speaking among immigrants in the United States. This study also uses census data from 2000. Four patterns emerged from this study. First, proficiency in English declines monotonically with age at migration for the immigrants. Second, within country of origin, the patterns are very similar for both men and women. Third, the variability in the proportion proficient in English across ages at time of immigration is greater the older the age. This may have occurred because there are fewer immigrants after middle age. Fourth, among non-Mexican immigrants, the decline in proficiency with age at migration is initially shallow (up to age 8), then shows a much sharper decline that gradually diminishes, until the marginal effect of age at immigration disappears after the age of 40. On the other hand, among Mexican immigrants there is a sharp decline in proficiency with age at immigration until about age 16, with little change after this. These patterns suggested important differences between immigrants from Mexico and all other countries. This study suggests that if a ‘critical period’ for language learning is defined as an age at which there is a sharp decline in the ability of immigrants to obtain proficiency in speaking English, no such critical period exists. Ability to become proficient in the language declines with the age of migration to America.
Citation:
Chiswick, Barry, Miller, Paul. (Feb, 2008). A Test of the Critical Period Hypothesis for Language Learning. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, Vol. 29, No. 1
Article 4: Age Effects on Second Language Acquisition: Critical Issues under Debate
Summary: This article is a synthesis of the information and studies that have been done regarding critical age hypothesis. It includes the ideas of four books. It states that there are five positions in the critical period hypothesis that other authors and researchers have studied. These include the following ideas: (1) The younger a person is, the better, overall, they will acquire the language. (2) The older the person is, the better, overall, for acquiring language. (3) The younger a learner is, the better for some respects. (4) The younger the learner, the better in the long run. (5) The qualitative change position, which details that after a certain age, qualitative changes occur in the learning process. The article then details what researchers have said and found in every idea related to the critical period. It concludes by stating that there are several viewpoints and supporting evidence for every view.
Citation:
Miraleix, I. (2011). Age Effects on Second Language Acquisition: Critical Issues under Debate. Language Teaching, Vol. 44, No. 1
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