Age acquisition Critical period of hypothesis. The role of gender between foreign language teaching methods

Age-related Differences between Young Learner and Old Learner
There are successful second language learners who started SLA after puberty and have been able to achieve native proficiency. Johnson and Newport (1989) states that the age of arrival was the significant predictor of success in their case study test about the Chinese and Korean who had been first exposed to second language either before or after puberty. They found there was a strong relationship between early start to language learning and performance in the second language. They state that there are few differences in their second language ability before age of 10 and older learners will not have native-like language skills and are more likely to differ greatly from one another in ultimate attainment. Therefore, it is true that most scholars would agree that there are differences between children and adults in final outcome of second language acquisition. Singleton and Ryan (1989, p. 85) addressed greater success for young learners on phonetic/ phonological performance. It can be concluded that there is the critical period hypothesis for attaining full native-mastery of a second language. Young learner will get the native accent when they are exposed to the foreign or second language at the early age. Herschensohn (2007, p. 141) presents evidences from late LIA and L2A researches that 1) learners have deficient phonology and grammar, and that early and late L2 learners are represented differently in the brain; 3) Older learners will make use of their first language learning strategies to learn the grammar and achieve good performance than young learners.

They also point to the view that children are better than adults only in some areas of SLA (e.g. at acquiring accent and basic interpersonal communication skills (ibid.). In addition, there is another evidence which can be cited that the importance of memory in young learners and of analytic abilities in older learners has been observed as the different (Harley & Hart 1997, p. 391). To summarize, there are age-related differences between young and old in their second language learning. They all show their superiority in processing second language learning. Therefore, it can be concluded that young learners are not really better but they will achieve excellent language outcome in the ultimate second language learning. Children will do some better performance than adults in some areas such as the native accent, but adults will be the fast language learner. Nevertheless, based on the Critical Period Hypothesis, it should be admitted that if young learners would be exposed to the second language learning earlier at their early stage, they will have the superior position in second language learning than adults and reach achievement in second language learning in ultimate attainment. Childhood is considered as the superior period for second language learning.
Gender
A closer look at the historical development of the gender in language studies will reveal that the philosophies underlying the research have changed overtime. Among researchers who comprehensively brought a historical-typological account of feminist linguistic approaches is Cameron (1995) who made a distinction between three models of language and gender: (1) the deficit model, (2) the dominance model, and (3) the cultural ifference model. In the deficit model, females are seen as disadvantaged speakers and communicators.



Accordingly, the speech of men is considered as the accepted norm, while the women’s speech is to be perceived as deficient (Aslan, 2009, p. 9). Along the same line, Swan (1989) found that “in contrast to the stereo type of the over-talkative women…it is men who dominate the talk…men have been found to use more interruptions…and simply to talk more than women” (cited in Gascoigne, 2002, p. 83). Along the same line, as reported by Holmes (1995), men use interaction as a means of gaining and exchanging information, whereas women use it as a way to connect to others (cited in Gascoigne, 2002, p. 83).Furthermore, studies of Ll classroom interaction have long shown that boys tend to dominate classroom interaction and that educators, at times, reinforce this type of behavior by giving additional time and attention to males (Gascoingne, 2002, p. 83). According to Holms (1995, cited in Gascoigne, 2002), it is “females who lost out. Their polite ways of participating in classroom talk means they are disadvantaged in mixed-sex classrooms”
Cultural difference model, as an alternative to
the dominance model, perceives men and women as belonging to separate but equal cultures which predate the development of individuals who are socialized into them (Block, 2002). In fact, unlike deficit model, it does not take the differences negatively (Aslan, 2009). As Block (2002) reports cultural difference model adopts a socially liberal position that men and women are different but equal: women’s speech and communication styles are not inferior to men’s; rather the relationship between the two are problematic at least in part because of culture clash (Block, 2002). Overall, if communication breaks down between men and women, it’s caused by misinterpreting the other party’s form of interaction (Tannen, 1993, cited in Aslan, 2009, p. 12). Seen from this stance, we are not in the
position to judge what our predecessors claim, but what is apparent is that the younger, the better is a myth; however, considering age, as a dominant factor is undeniable. Different ages of life present different challenges; these challenges are manifested in different psychological traits that make the process of learning easy or difficult. Handling these challenges is a guarantee to fulfill the demands of acquisition. A
child forced to build sets of defenses is rarely able to cope with the demands of learning. Furthermore, different genders see the world from their viewpoints. Female students did better on female topics. Generally, their attitudes and interests toward a certain topic will affect their learning. Thus, the width of their perspectives certainly facilitates the process of learning.

CONCLUSION

According to the Critical Period Hypothesis, age is proved to be the myth that young learners stand the advantage stage in second language learning. They will learn foreign language better than older learners in the ultimate attainment, though older learner is regarded as fast and efficient language learner. Immersing young learners into foreign language learning earlier will help them hold the favorable attitude on language learning in the long run. Therefore, we should teach learners’ foreign language as early as possible, especially at their early age. When they fist enter to the school, the foreign language courses should be introduced for them in the class. It would help them form the foreign language belief like their mother tongue. Because of their personality, they will show their interest to learn the foreign language. They can memorize words quickly because of their brain and can be easy to achieve the native accent. It is widely believed that young learners show their superior learning quality to acquire second language than older learners based on CPH