The Influence Of Age On Second Language Acquisition

The study of the second language (L2) acquisition has drawn more and more attention since the 1960s. Penfield and Roberts, the two cooperators, and Lenneberg brought neurological and physiological theories into linguistics. From then on, a lot of researchers started to shift their studies from the process of teaching to the process of learning. Learner-centred study took more learners' individual differences into consideration, such interior factors as intelligence, attitude, learning style and strategies, personality and motivation. They tried to analyze the phenomena in L2 acquisition by utilizing the research findings in the fields of neuropsychology, psycholoinguistics and sociology.This paper tries to explore the influence of learners' age factor as well as the otherfactors related to age in L2 acquisition. Some of the researchers believe that the youngerlearners with the biological predominance can acquire L2 more easily than the older ones.This kindled a controversy over the three hypotheses: the optimal age, the critical periodand the sensitive period. Considering the fact that most learners are adolescents and adultsthe current foreign language education, we find it quite necessary to compare andialyze their advantages and disadvantages in foreign language learning and theirlearning styles, so as to improve their foreign language learning efficiency. Aquestionnaire is carried out among children, adolescents and adults to examine theircharacteristics respectively and their influences on language learning.