Age of Arrival

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Length of Residence and Age of Arrival
Causal Variables Affecting Second Language Acquisition

length of residence에 대한 이미지 검색결과

Length of residence (LOR) is considered a singular criterion for determining fossilization. Five years is usually considered the cut-off point to determine whether learning has ceased.

Washburn’s (1991) study:
Learners who had lived in the target language community and were exposed to reasonable amounts of L2 input were placed into two groups “fossilized” and “non-fossilized.” Learners were given picture narration tasks and their oral performance was assessed. Washburn concludes:

“On the short term learning task, the non-fossilized subjects will learn (become able to learn) to produce the task utterance more accurately and efficiently than the fossilized subjects, as measured by the number of turns needed and the maintenance of accuracy of form.” (1991:78)

More evidence:
Flege’s (2001) study:

Flege studied different groups of Chinese adults who differed in LOR to determine the role of input in facilitating successful acquisition of a second language. The results of his study indicated that “the lack of an effect of LOR in some previous studies may have been due to sampling error. It appears that adults’ performance in an L2 will improve measurably over time, but only if they receive a substantial amount of native speaker input.” (2001: 527)

It is worth noting that LOR has often been used in conjunction with age of arrival (AOL) to index L2 ultimate attainment and age-related effects in second language acquisition. It is suggested that an English language program control these two causal variables and place English as a Second Language (ESL) students in appropriate levels accordingly. An experimental study can be designed based on the LOR and AOA criteria.







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