Editing Second language (section)

===Effect of age===
The defining difference between a first language (L1) and a second language (L2) is the age the person learned the language. For example, linguist [[Eric Lenneberg]] used ''second language'' to mean [[language acquisition|a language consciously acquired]] or used by its speaker after puberty. In most cases, people never achieve the same level of fluency and comprehension in their second languages as in their first language. These views are closely associated with the [[critical period hypothesis]].{{sfn|Pratt|1991}}{{sfn|Beerten|Billiet|Maddens|2003}}{{sfn|Jacob|1995}}{{sfn|Krashen|Long|Scarcella|1979}}

In acquiring an L2, Hyltenstam found that around the age of six or seven seemed to be a cut-off point for [[Multilingualism|bilinguals]] to achieve native-like proficiency. After that age, L2 learners could get ''near-native-like-ness'' but their language would, while consisting of few actual errors, have enough errors to set them apart from the L1 group. The inability of some subjects to achieve native-like proficiency must be seen in relation to the ''age of onset'' (AO).{{sfn|Hyltenstam|1992}} Later, Hyltenstam & Abrahamsson modified their age cut-offs to argue that after childhood, in general, it becomes more and more difficult to acquire native-like-ness, but that there is no cut-off point in particular.{{sfn|Hyltenstam|Abrahamsson|2003}}

As we are learning more and more about the brain, there is a hypothesis that when a child is going through puberty, that is the time that accents ''start''.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2024-01-24 |title=Critical Period In Brain Development and Childhood Learning |url=https://www.simplypsychology.org/critical-period.html |access-date=2025-03-22 |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Liu |first=Dingfei |date=2023 |title=The Critical-Period Hypothesis and its Implications from Western Scholars |url=https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/abs/2023/06/shsconf_essc2023_03017/shsconf_essc2023_03017.html |journal=SHS Web of Conferences |language=en |volume=157 |pages=03017 |doi=10.1051/shsconf/202315703017 |issn=2261-2424|doi-access=free }}</ref> Before a child goes through puberty, the chemical processes in the brain are more geared towards language and social communication. Whereas after puberty, the ability for learning a language without an accent has been rerouted to function in another area of the brain—most likely in the frontal lobe area promoting cognitive functions, or in the neural system of hormone allocated for reproduction and sexual organ growth.

As far as the relationship between age and eventual attainment in SLA is concerned, Krashen, Long, and Scarcella, say that people who encounter foreign language in early age, begin natural exposure to second languages and obtain better proficiency than those who learn the second language as an adult. However, when it comes to the relationship between age and rate [[Second-language acquisition|SLA]], "Adults proceed through early stages of syntactic and morphological development faster than children (where time and exposure are held constant)".{{sfn|Krashen|Long|Scarcella|1979|p=573}} Also, "older children acquire faster than younger children do (again, in early stages of morphological and syntactic development where time and exposure are held constant)".{{sfn|Krashen|Long|Scarcella|1979|p=573}} In other words, adults and older children are fast learners when it comes to the initial stage of foreign language education.

Gauthier and Genesee have done research which mainly focuses on the second language acquisition of internationally adopted children and results show that early experiences of one language of children can affect their ability to acquire a second language, and usually children learn their second language slower and weaker even during the critical period.{{sfn|Gauthier|Genesee|2011}}

As for the fluency, it is better to do foreign language education at an early age, but being exposed to a foreign language since an early age causes a "weak identification".{{sfn|Beerten|Billiet|Maddens|2003|p=241}} Such issue leads to a "double sense of national belonging," that makes one not sure of where they belong to because, according to Brian A. Jacob, multicultural education affects students' "relations, attitudes, and behaviors".{{sfn|Jacob|1995|p=364}} And as children learn more and more foreign languages, children start to adapt, and get absorbed into the foreign culture that they "undertake to describe themselves in ways that engage with representations others have made".{{sfn|Pratt|1991|p=35}} Due to such factors, learning foreign languages at an early age may incur one's perspective of his or her native country.{{sfn|Pratt|1991}}