A Reflection on the Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Learning

1.A brief review of the research on children's language acquisitionBehaviorists,e.g.Skinner,believe thatlanguage,like any otherlearned behavior,is learntby aprocess of habit-formation.They see language development as a result of adults' reinforcement andgradual shaping of infants babbling (Gleason,1 993 :1 48) .According to Littlewood(1 984:5 ) ,theprocess may be like this:the child imitates the sounds and patterns which he hears around him;peo-ple recognize the child' s attem pts and reinfor…

A Reflection on the Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Learning

This paper reviews the second language (hereafter L2) acquisition hypothesis and theories, examines the Critical Period Hypothesis, and, taking English as an example, briefly discusses the problems confronting Chinese adult L2 learners.