A Study Of Age Influence On English Learning For Students In China

Some researches show that age is one of the most important factors that affectlanguage learning. Age factor is a hot topic in the field of applied linguistics, psychologyand physiology and other subjects. The research of the relevant age factor in China has akey significance for foreign language education policy and foreign language course setting.It is widely accepted that “the younger, the better” for children to learn a foreignlanguage, which gets the support from the research of the Critical Period Hypothesis. TheCritical Period Hypothesis means young learners are more easier to learn authentic secondlanguage because they are growing physiologically and psychologically, and their brain hasa great potential. But adults who have fully developed gradually lose brain plasticity afterthe fittest age for learning a second language. Therefore, it is more difficult to learn asecond language for them.However, language researchers have not reached an agreement on how the CriticalPeriod Hypothesis works in the field of second language acquisition. The focus of thedebate is whether children are superior to learning a foreign language than young andadulthood. Debate parties hold their own opinions and do experiment for themselves.The thesis is composed of five chapters. The first chapter is to introduce thebackground, research results at home and abroad, some key terms and significance of theresearch etc. The second chapter is concerned with basic information of the Critical PeriodHypothesis and Sensitive Period Hypothesis. It also shows representative researches ofthem. In Chapter three the author makes a survey and analyzes the data and tries to explorethe starting age of learning English for Chinese students. It also tries to study therelationship between early exposure to English and Attainment as well as English skills andoptimal age. The results show that the students who learn English early have no obviousadvantages than those who learn English later. According to the actual situation of China, itis not the sooner, the better for the Chinese students to learn English. Then, the next chaptermainly studies the causes of age factor influencing the foreign language learning fromdifferent dimensions such as biology, society and cognition. It also shows implications forsome aspects of foreign language teaching and learning. In chapter five some ideas aboutCPH are offered and it also indicates the limitations of thesis. The author concludes foreignlanguage learning is not only associated with the starting age, but also other factors. Tomake the age factor into play, it needs to combine internal and external factors, such as personal study habits, the style of unified teaching curriculum and materials, teachingassurance of time, the establishment of the language environment, qualified teachers, theeffective connection of the teaching materials, and so on.