The Relationship Between Age Onset Factor Of English Learning And Learning Achievements

The second language acquisition is a hot issue in the academia, and there are many factors that can affect the results of second language learning. Many studies have shown that age is one of the most important factors in the process of second languages as well as the focus that linguists concerned and debated.The theoretical basis of this paper is the Critical Period Hypothesis which is raised by the famous psychologist Lenneberg in1967. He pointed out that natural language acquisition can only occur during the critical period that is from the age of two to puberty. This hypothesis was originally proposed for the first language acquisition, and later, it was extended to the field of second language acquisition (including the study of foreign language). On one hand, some researchers believed that, in the process of second language acquisition, compared with those adults who begin learning the second language later, children have more advantage and will make better achievements. On the other hand, some other researchers believed that, from the long-term perspective, the children who begin learning the second language very early do not get better achievements than those children who begin learning the second language from adolescence. According to the influence of the Critical Period Hypothesis on first language acquisition and second language acquisition, this paper mainly discusses the effect of age factor in the process of second language learning as well as whether is it true that the earlier learners start to learn English, the better achievements they will make.In order to investigate the role of age onset factor in the process of second language acquisition, the author did a research about the relationship between the age onset factor of English learning and English achievements among non-English major students who were enrolled in Nankai University in2008. Based on the information collected from the questionnaires and their different age onset factor of English learning, the author chose some suitable subjects and divided them into three groups. English tests, including English grammar tests as well as reading comprehension tests, were given to the subjects and the results of the tests were analyzed.From the data analysis of the tests, the author does not find great differences among the three groups, that is to say that none of the three groups have advantage over the other two groups. The thesis comes to a conclusion that there is no direct relationship between age onset factor of English learning and learning achievements.