Explanations Of The CPH From A Neurolinguistic Perspective Based On The Investigation Of Sampling Groups Of Chinese Non-English Majors

It was the neurologists Penfield and Roberts who first proposed "brain plasticity" formula in 1959. To popularize this academic achievement, Lenneberg inherited the essence of their principles and developed it into "Critical Period Hypothesis" (CPH), that there is a critical period, roughly between age 2 and puberty, for the acquisition of language, which chiefly involves cognition of the relationship between language and thoughts, discernment of the implications for the design and timing of programs for language education and habilitation. Since its birth in 1967, it has been a long-term heated issue among the L2A researchers and scholars over the last 40 years. Their attention now is focused on when the critical period comes to an end and whether age factor is one main demographic variable in L2A process. Tremendous efforts are made, yet no unanimous conclusion has been drawn. The objective existence of a 'critical period' is doubted. In general, however, there is some evidence for an age-related decline in L2 learners' abilities. Various new explanations of the CPH have been put forward in recent years. Birdsong (1999) presented a number of possible explanations that testify "the unmistakable centrality of the CPH in L2A research".However, there exists a strong tendency that most of the studies concerned have been drawn on the basis of L2A studies in English-speaking countries, it is thus a question if there is a critical period for Chinese students in foreign language learning. And whether age factor is one main demographic variable in Chinese students' ELL process? We must guard against a simplistic assumption that factors influencing western learners in their L2A are necessarily of the same degree of importance in influencing the EFL processes of Chinese students. In my opinion, it is not a good way to simply carry on western acquisition theory in English teaching or learning in China because English in China has its Chinese features. The purpose of this paper is to explore, in a tentative fashion, whether there is a critical period for Chinese students in English language learning, based on some relevant theories. About 800 third-year non-English majors from 7 different colleges of Jilin University get involved in the survey. After a weighty study of questionnaire, the author did correlation analysis of age variables and self-reported CET4(College English Test Band 4) test scores of Dec.2002 through SPSS 12.0 . The main discussion will be focused on the complex issue by first examining effects of age on Chinese students, finding out the evidence of the CPH in Chinese Students' ELL processes and then turning to explanations from neurolinguistic perspective. The quantitative approach is adopted to investigate the age-related differences in ELL of Chinese students. The relationship between age and English attainment is examined through the SPSS 12.0 statistical analysis system. Relevant results are stated from the analysis of the data. From the results, the author draws the following conclusions of Chinese students age-related difference in ELL: The optimal age for Chinese students to learn English is about 11—14, i.e. around puberty; very young children are not more efficient learners except acquiring pronunciation; adults who begin to study English after puberty can not learn language as well as children when given the same opportunities. This is consistent with the hypothesis that there is a critical period for the acquisition of language and the ultimate level of attainment depends on in part the age at which learning begins. These results are compatible, at least in part, with aspects of Lenneberg's (1967) original hypothesis that puberty marks a significant point in language learning capacity. Consulting the new trends of research of the CPH, this paper explains the CPH from neurolinguistic perspective. Hemispheric lateralization and plasticity remain to be the focus of neurolinguistic studies on second language acquisition. Lenneberg (1967) claims that puberty is...