I need help writing a summary of two sub-themes in article.”Learners’ chronological age” (pages 8-11) and “Conclusion” (pages 13-14)Please, USE…

I need help writing a summary of two sub-themes in article. “Learners’ chronological age” (pages 8-11) and “Conclusion” (pages 13-14) Please, USE YOUR OWN WORDS. DO NOT COPY FROM THE ARTICLE. Summary should be easier to understand than the article itself. THANK YOU!

Symmetriesand Asymmetries of Age Effects in Naturalistic and Instructed L2 Learning

The effects of age on second language acquisition constitute one of the most frequently researched and debated topics in the field of Second Language Acquisition. Two different orientations may be distinguished in age-relatednresearch: one which aims to elucidate the existence and characteristics ofnmaturational constraints on the human capacity for learning second languages, and another which purports to identify age-related differences in foreign

language learning, often with the aim of informing educational policy decisions. Because of the dominant role of theoretically-oriented ultimate attainment studies, it may be argued that research findings from naturalistic learning contexts have somehow been hastily generalized to formal learning contexts. This paper presents an analysis of the symmetries and asymmetries that exist between a naturalistic learning setting and a foreign language learning setting with respect to those variables that are crucial in the discussion of age effects in second language acquisition. On the basis of the differences observed, it is argued that the amount and quality of the input have a significant bearing on the effects that age of initial learning has on second language learning. It is also claimed that age-related studies in foreign language learning settings have yielded significant findings that contribute to the development of an integrated explanation of age effects on second language acquisition.

The distinction between naturalistic language learning and foreign language learning is often ignored in discussions of maturational constraints in second language acquisition. However, it is the contention of this paper that the differences in the amount and quality of the respective input of the two learning settings may have a significant influence on the effects that the age of initial learning has on the outcome of second language learning.

In simple terms, naturalistic second language learning may be characterized as learning through immersion in the second language environment, whereas foreign language learning may be characterized as formal learning in the classroom. To expand, a typical foreign language teaching/learning situation in the schools of many countries may be characterized by means of some or all of the following features: (i) instruction is limited to 2–4 sessions of

approximately 50 minutes per week; (ii) exposure to the target language during these class periods may be limited in source (mainly the teacher), quantity (not all teachers use the target language as the language of Applied Linguistics Advance Access published January 31, 2008 communication in the classroom) and quality (there is a large variability in teachers’ oral fluency and general proficiency); (iii) the target language is not the language of communication between peers; and (iv) the target language is not spoken outside the classroom.

While a binary distinction serves the aim of this paper of pinpointing symmetries and asymmetries between second language learning in the two different settings, it goes without saying that the situation varies from country to country. Likewise, although the paper will be focused on the two opposite ends of the distinction, it is expected that the discussion will be relevant to second language learning that takes place in school immersion situations, in which input and use of the target language may be said to be limited but to a much lesser extent.

In order to avoid confusion, in this paper the term second language learning will be used in its general sense to refer to both learning that occurs in a naturalistic setting and learning that takes place in a foreign, instructed or formal setting. When referring to the former situation, the term naturalistic learning will be used, in opposition to the terms foreign,bformal, and instructed,which will be used in reference to the latter situation. However, the terms learning and acquisition will be used as synonyms. Having drawn this first general distinction, we move now to a distinction that is specific to the field of age effects on second language acquisition—that between rate of learning nand ultimate attainment—and which is drawn from an extended review of research findings made almost three decades ago (Krashen et al. 1979). These early research findings, which have been corroborated by subsequent research, revealed that (i) older children, adolescents, and adults generally make more rapid progress in the first stages of the second language acquisition process than younger children, particularly in morphosyntactic aspects, and that (ii) the younger a L2 learner is when the L2 acquisition process begins, the more successful that process will be, that is, the more possibilities s/he will have of attaining native-like proficiency. Therefore, the distinction identifies two different age- related advantages: an initial rate advantage on the part of older learners over younger learners, and an ultimate attainment advantage of younger starters over older starters. Evidence from the latter comes from studies of naturalistic second language acquisition, the so-called immigrant studies, in which both phenomena are widely observed. Studies of formal learning in foreign language settings to date have only provided evidence of the former advantage, that is, the older learners’ initial rate advantage, in situations in which older starters proceed faster than younger starters with the same amount of instruction time (Garcıa Mayo and Garcıa Lecumberri 2003; Mun oz 2006b). The initial rate advantage is also observed in situations in which older learners begin instruction in the foreign language later than younger learners. In these cases, as Krashen et al. (1979: 579) note, the common finding is that children who start learning the foreign language later eventually catch up to those who begin earlier.

It has been claimed that, from a theoretical point of view, the crucial notion in the distinction is ultimate attainment. The superior ultimate attainment of younger starters is seen as evidence of the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) (Lenneberg 1967) and, in general, for maturationally-based explanations of the biological constraints on second language acquisition. What is important for a theory of second language acquisition—according to Long (2005: 291)—is not short-term differences in performance, but rather long-term differences in capacity for acquisition, that is, ultimate attainment.

Although the term ultimate attainment has often been used as a synonym for nativelike proficiency, Birdsong (2004, 2006) points out that the term properly refers to the final product of L2 acquisition, whether this is nativelike attainment or any other outcome, that is, irrespective of the degree of approximation to the native grammar.

Although it is difficult to dissociate the two terms because of their strong association in the literature in this area, it is certainly desirable both methodologically and conceptually. In fact, more and more voices in the field of SLA now argue against the traditional view of nativelikeness and its characterization, claiming that a bilingual or multilingual competence cannot properly be compared with a monolingual competence (see Grosjean 1989, 1998; Cook 2002; Birdsong 2005, for a recent discussion of the nativelikeness standard in CPH studies). It could certainly be claimed that people who have acquired two languages simultaneously from birth constitute a better yardstick for comparison than monolingual native speakers.

In the case of foreign language acquisition, where the proficiency levels attained are known to fall very short of nativelike proficiency, the association of ultimate attainment and nativelikeness is clearly inappropriate. More importantly, not even the concept of final product can be transported or adopted. The first reason for this is that the definition of the final product in ultimate attainment studies may be said to entail the cessation of learning

(this is why we need a long period of residence to ascertain that L2 users are not still learning, as discussed below). As in studies of fossilization, or permanent stabilization (see Long 2003), a necessary methodological requirement seems to be that cessation of learning appears in spite of optimal learning conditions (see, among others, Selinker and Lamendella

1979; Han 2004; Han and Odlin 2005; Nakuma 2005). The requirement of the presence of optimal learning conditions (including input that is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively limited) is not met in foreign language settings. Failing this requirement, in the case of classroom learning the attribution of low achievement solely to starting age does not seem to be justified. In the same vein, the case for the crucial influence of intensity of exposure in second language learning has been recently reinforced by neurolinguistic research that has obtained evidence of the crucial role played by intensity of exposure in the neural representation of multiple languages (Perani et al. 2003).

Returning to the generalization concerning the higher ultimate attainment of younger learners in a naturalistic language setting, we can say that this implies that the initial advantage of older learners must be progressively reduced to allow the younger learners’ eventual advantage to emerge. In a naturalistic immersion setting, research by Snow and Hoefnagel-Hohle(e.g. 1978) provided evidence of the beginning of the process by which differences in test results between older and younger learners were being reduced in a period of approximately 1 year. When comparing children, adolescents, and adults who had been in the L2 community for 6 months, significant age differences were noticed in favour of the adolescent and adult learners. However, by the second and third tests, after 4- to 5-month intervals, the younger learners had begun to catch up with and, in some tests, overtake the older learners. These findings reinforced the generalization concerning a higher eventual attainment of younger starters in a naturalistic learning setting but, as observed by Harley (1998) twenty years later, no evidence has yet been found that the generalization of the higher eventual attainment of younger starters in naturalistic settings can be automatically extended to foreign language settings. This remains the case today. In other words, no evidence has yet been found that the proficiency of younger formal learners eventually becomes higher than that of older formal learners after the same amount of instruction.

It has been suggested that the reason why younger beginners have not been observed to overtake older beginners is that, in school conditions, there is less exposure to the target language and the experience is less intensive (Ellis 1994; Singleton 1995). That is to say, because of the differences in input in both learning contexts, the period of time needed for younger formal learners must necessarily be much longer than that needed in a naturalistic learning setting. It then follows that the older starters’ initial advantage as well as the younger starters’ eventual advantage must imply longer periods than in a naturalistic situation. Following this line of reasoning, Singleton and Ryan (2004) argue that the study by Florander and Jensen (1969) offers a small amount of evidence that the same phenomenon of progressive reduction of older L2 learners’ lead over younger learners also occurs in formal instructional settings. In that study the older learners’ lead diminishes after 320 hours, although it still remains signifi-cant. This may indeed constitute evidence of the progressive reduction of the older learners’ advantage, which has been observed recently with respect to some language dimensions and after a longer period (more than 700 hours of instruction; see Munoz 2006b), but it does not yet in itself constitute proof that younger learners will necessarily outperform older learners in the longer term. Indeed, if the older learners’ advantage is due mainly to their superior cognitive development, as is claimed in Munoz(2006c), no differences in proficiency are to be expected when differences in cognitive development also disappear with age. To summarize, there is still a lack of empirical evidence to date confirming that, after the initial stages of foreign language learning, younger starters overtake older starters in school settings.

On the other hand, even in studies where instructional time is not constant and younger starters have had greater exposure than older starters, the former do not succeed in showing a significant advantage. In this respect, Harley (1998: 27) notes that no explanation has yet been provided for why in school settings ‘the additional time associated with an early headstart has not been found to provide more substantial long-term proficiency benefits’. In contrast, studies comparing early and late immersion students in Canadian immersion programmes have observed long-term benefits, particularly in oral communication. While it is true that late immersion students have been observed to catch up in aspects of proficiency such as reading comprehension and writing skills (Lapkin et al. 1980; Swain 1981; Cummins 1983; Harley 1986; Turnbull et al. 1998) and that early learners have sometimes failed to demonstrate the dramatic long-term advantage that was expected of them., it can be argued that the massive amount of exposure provided by school immersion has had a significant influence on the results. That is, an early starting age produces long-term benefits when associated with greater time and massive exposure, as in immersion programmes, but not when associated with limited time and exposure, as in typical foreign language learning classrooms.

THE REQUIRED LENGTH OF EXPOSURE

In ultimate attainment studies, the length of time of residence (LoR) is the operationalization of the learners’ amount of exposure between age of acquisition (AoA) or initial age of learning and testing time. In foreign language learning studies, amount of exposure is operationalized either as the number of hours of instruction or as courses of instruction, although equating hours of exposure with hours of instruction is a gross generalization. Researchers have speculated about the length of time of residence or immersion in the L2-speaking environment that is required for a learner to have reached ultimate attainment in naturalistic learning settings. Importantly, the effects of the LoR variable appear to be limited to an initial period, after which they diminish or disappear. Krashen et al. (1979) suggest that length of residence plays little or no role after the first 5–10 years. This is in line with DeKeyser’s (2000: 503) argumentation that a minimum of 10 years should be required in ultimate attainment studies in order to ensure that it is ultimate attainment rather than rate effects that are being picked up. Likewise, using self-estimations of L2 proficiency from an extremely large sample of census data in the United States, Hakuta et al . (2003) found no

evidence of the effect of LoR on English in individuals who had 10 or more years of US residence. Stevens (2006) claims, however, that large-scale empirical analyses have uniformly shown that the positive relationship between LoR and measures of English language proficiency among adult immigrants in the United States extends well beyond 5 or 10 years of residence. This period of 10 (or even more) years would be a proxy—using Birdsong’s (2004) words—for ultimate attainment, or L2 end state, given the difficulty of determining when the end state has been reached. Because the issue of reaching the end state, as discussed in the previous section, loses its relevance in second language learning in a foreign language setting, deprived by definition of unlimited input, no conceptual symmetry can be traced here. In contrast, the length of instructional time is an important matter of contention in relation to the alleged long-term benefits of an early start, namely the higher eventual attainment of younger starters. The issue then is to identify the long-term in foreign language learning, that is, the amount of instructional time that may be considered sufficient for the study of long-term benefits. Unsurprisingly, studies that have aimed to observe the long-term effects of starting age in a foreign language classroom setting have looked for them at the end or close to the end of secondary education, although the long-term benefits sought have not been found (e.g. Oller and Nagato 1974; Burstall 1975). More recently, the BAF (Barcelona Age Factor) project has compared groups of learners after approximately 200, 400, 700, and 800 hours (Munoz 2006b; Nave s 2006). Other recent studies of foreign language learning have used similar periods (from 600 to 800 hours) in their longest-term comparisons (Garcı a Mayo and Garcı a Lecumberri 2003). Identifying the long term at the end of secondary education, the natural limit of most students’ foreign language learning process, has external validity because it represents the longest possible term for the majority of the population and enables the determination of relevant educational implications. In addition, it marks the point beyond which keeping a tight control of variables becomes more and more difficult. In this respect, studies whose informants are college students who began foreign language education in elementary or infant school might be credited with studying longer-term effects. In fact, the amount of exposure time observed may be more equivalent to the amount known to be required for younger starters to overtake older starters in naturalistic language acquisition (18 years, according to Singleton’s (1989) estimations on the basis of the findings made by Snow and Hoefnagel-Hohle (1978, 1979)). However, the drawback of these studies is that they may depend too heavily on self-reports, and they are therefore deprived of reliable information about the individual learning trajectories. They also inevitably contain significant inter-individual variability in exposure time in and out of the classroom. To complete this account of time requirements and age effects, it is also pertinent to note that experts in the area of L2 speech acquisition have suggested that simple estimations of LoR may not always constitute a valid index of L2 input. For example, the study by Flege and Liu (2001) shows that L2 proficiency increases with LoR only if the L2 speaker is participating in social settings, such as schools, in which they receive a substantial amount of input from native speakers of the L2. Thus, very young children who do not yet attend school may not be exposed to the L2 immediately after arrival, while some immigrants may reside in L1 ghettos, or may not have a job outside the home that requires use of the L2. In addition, immigrants are likely to hear different dialects of the L2, compatriots from the home country who speak the L2 with a similar foreign accent, and individuals from other L1 backgrounds with different L1-inspired foreign accents (Flege, in press). From his review of previous research that has revealed small or non-existent LoR effects (and significant age of arrival (AoA) effects), Flege infers that LoR may provide a valid index of L2 input only for immigrants who receive a substantial amount of native-speaker input. Hence, the quality in the input to which all learners are exposed must also be examined alongside the quantity of that input or LoR. In a foreign language learning setting, learners do not usually receive native-speaker input and, when they do, it is not substantial. Moreover, learners are not exposed to the target language during all hours of instruction, and the exact proportion of lesson time varies according to the different educational systems, schools, and teachers. As a result, it may be argued that the length of instruction alone may not be a valid index of L2 input either, and that the quantity and the quality of the input to which instructed learners are exposed must also be examined.

INITIAL AGE OF LEARNING AS THE BEGINNING OF

SIGNIFICANT EXPOSURE

Further asymmetries are revealed when considering the initial point of learning. It has been argued that estimations of LoR should take as the initial point the beginning of significant exposure.

In naturalistic L2 acquisition studies, this corresponds to the age of acquisition, also referred to as age of onset. Birdsong (2006: 11) notes that age of acquisition is understood as the age at which learners are immersed in the L2 context, typically as immigrants.

This landmark is separated from the age of first exposure, which can occur in a formal schooling environment, visits to the L2 country, extended contact with relatives who are L2 speakers and so forth. Although age at immigration is taken as a proxy for age at onset of second language learning in studies of L2 acquisition among immigrants (see Stevens 2006), the age of acquisition may not coincide with the age upon arrival, because residence does not guarantee exposure to and use of the L2, as seen above. Therefore, precise estimations of the amount of L2 input are crucial because it is often observed to be confounded with age of acquisition, since early learners have typically used the L2 longer than late learners (Flege et al. 1999). The development of detailed questionnaires that measure amount of L2 (and L1) input (e.g. Flege and MacKay 2004) is an important recent contribution.

In studies of instructed foreign language acquisition, initial age of learning is equated with the age at which instruction begins. In order to decide whether this is ever significant exposure it is wise to examine what is meant by the term: significant exposure is widely conceived as immersion in the L2 context, which provides learners with a variety of contexts of use and interaction. In other words, it is considered that learners have significant exposure when they are able to carry out a variety of speech acts over a wide range of situations and topics, and to participate in social settings effectively dominated by the L2 (see Stevens 2006: 681). Following this argument, and because foreign language learners are deprived of significant exposure of this sort, initial age of foreign language learning may be equated with the age at which insignificant exposure begins. As in studies in naturalistic settings, however, it is also methodologically important to measure precisely the amount of L2 input because, in this type of setting, initial age of learning may be confounded with amount of exposure when groups of early and late learners with different amounts of accumulated instruction hours are compared. When learners move from one kind of language learning setting to the other, it may be possible to identify an age of first significant exposure that is different to the age of first insignificant exposure. As noted above, naturalistic learners may have had some instruction in the target language before moving to the L2-speaking community. In ultimate attainment studies there has usually been no role for prior insignificant exposure, and the age of initial exposure in classroom contexts has not usually been found to be strongly predictive. For example, in the study by Johnson and Newport (1989) the learners’ experience of formal learning before arrival in the L2-country did not correlate significantly with the test scores; see also Birdsong and Molis (2001). In contrast, the study by Urponen (2004) found that the age at which learning of English as a foreign language began prior to arrival in the L2-context, a significant predictor of ultimate attainment, was in fact better than age upon arrival.

A different type of change of language learning setting occurs when learners in regular school programmes with limited exposure later join immersion programmes, as in the study by White and Genesee (1996) in which French-speaking Canadians who had studied English as a compulsory school subject for at least the period of secondary education joined an English-medium university. White and Genesee (1996: 242–3), arguably (see Long 2005), took this latter point in time as the age of onset, on the basis that this was the first significant exposure to the target language. A change of language learning setting may also take place for only a limited period of time, as when foreign language learners spend a few weeks in the target language community, usually attending language classes and sometimes living with a host family. In such circumstances, the stay-abroad experience may provide significant exposure even if only for a short period of time, and in some cases the experience is repeated periodically over the years. Clearly, research is needed that looks into the impact that these short stays make on learners’ L2 proficiency in relation to their initial age of learning (with limited exposure) and their age at the beginning of significant exposure.

Turning now to examine the relationship between age of acquisition and second language outcomes, in naturalistic studies there is a wide consensus about the importance of initial age of learning on second language achieve-ment (for recent reviews of experimental studies, see Birdsong (2005) and DeKeyser and Larson-Hall (2005)). For many researchers who defend the existence of a maturationally defined critical or sensitive period, a necessary though not sufficient condition for nativelikeness (see Hyltenstam and Abrahamsson 2003) is to begin learning the second language during the sensitive period (see also Flege et al. 1999). For example, in Long’s (1990) formulation of the maturational state hypothesis, it is explicitly stated that even beginning to learn (my emphasis) the second language during that period is sufficient.

In contrast, in foreign language learning studies the consensus concerning the relationship between age of acquisition and second language outcomes is that older starters have a faster rate of learning (e.g. Cenoz 2002, 2003; Garcıa Lecumberri and Gallardo 2003; Garcıa Mayo 2003; Lasagabaster and Doiz 2003; Munoz 2003, 2006c; Naves et al. 2003; Perales et al. 2004; Alvarez 2006; Miralpeix 2006; Mora 2006; Torras et al. 2006). As seen above, no evidence exists that an early start in foreign language learning leads to higher proficiency levels after the same amount of instructional time, and even younger starters with more instructional time have often failed to show a particularly substantial advantage in terms of long-term proficiency benefits.

To discuss this asymmetry one can turn to the formulation of the maturational state hypothesis above. It can certainly be argued that the condition that it is sufficient to begin learning the second language during the sensitive period could only be relevant to foreign language learning if, during the privileged period, children have access to significant exposure, which marks the beginning of acquisition. Similar considerations have led researchers to argue that the CPH is irrelevant to formal language acquisition (Patkowski 1994, 2003; Lightbown 2000; DeKeyser and Larson-Hall 2005:101). DeKeyser’s argument (e.g. 2000, 2003) is based on an interpretation of the CPH according to which it applies only to implicit language acquisition (acquisition from mere exposure to the language). Children necessarily learn implicitly, DeKeyser argues, and implicit learning requires massive input. But in regular school programmes children are not provided with the massive amounts of input which constitute a necessary condition for triggering the implicit learning mechanisms that characterize their language learning capacity (2000: 520). Further, while a lack of significant exposure in the classroom deprives young learners of the possibility of using implicit learning mechanisms, the older learners’ superior cognitive development allows them to make more efficient use of faster, explicit learning mechanisms (Munoz 2001, 2006c).

To conclude, turning again to the maturational state hypothesis and its applicability to foreign language learning settings, it is arguable that age at the initial point of learning has as much influence in that context as in naturalistic learning settings. In fact, with low intensity of exposure, foreign language learning proceeds in a slow cumulative way through multiple and discontinuous short amounts of limited exposure. Therefore, in a low-intensity or distributed programme, the whole age range that extends during the period in which foreign language learning takes place may have a stronger influence on the process and the outcome of second language learning than the initial point of learning.

LEARNERS’ CHRONOLOGICAL AGE

Learners’ chronological age at time of testing (AT) is a biographical variable that has drawn the attention of a number of researchers, most of whom have been critical of the methodologies used in studies of the effects of age on second language acquisition. It has been argued that AT may impact on ultimate attainment by confounding with cognitive factors, education, and other background variables (Bialystok and Hakuta 1999). Hakuta et al. (2003) attribute the steady decline across the life-span (from age 5 to 60) in their census data to cognitive declines of older learners, which ‘gradually erodes some of the mechanisms necessary for learning a complex body of knowledge, such as a new language’ (2003: 31). The learning abilities that are relevant to language learning include, according to Hakuta et al. (2003), the ability to learn paired associates (Salthouse 1992), the ability to encode new information (Craik and Jennings 1992) and to recall detail as opposed to gist (Hultsch and Dixon 1990). In a similar vein, Birdsong (2006) has highlighted the difference between the effects of aging on L2 learning (i.e. effects in the temporal-associative areas of the brain, particularly) from the effects of maturation on L2 learning, that is, the probability of nativelike ultimate attainment if learning begins before the end of the sensitive period. Other researchers, however, have argued against the claim that the confound between age of onset or age on arrival and age at testing may partly explain the inverse correlations found between AoA and test scores in some ultimate attainment studies. Such a claim would diminish the strength of the effects of maturational constraints. Specifically, DeKeyser (2000)

reports a study in which the correlation between test scores and AoA is still significant with age at test partialled out, whereas that between test scores and AT is non-significant.

A new perspective on the interplay of these variables has been brought to the field of SLA by Stevens’s (2006) discussion of the linear dependency of age at immigration, length of residence, andage at testing.

The linear dependency among trios of variables has been extensively discussed by demographers in relation to what is known as the age–period–cohort problem or conundrum (see e.g. Wilson and Gove 1999). This linear dependency is expressed by Stevens (2006: 672) by means of an equation, which can be rewritten as AT + LoR = AoA. A methodological consequence is that the age–length–onset problem cannot be unambiguously addressed by correlational analyses, and hence it requires a more careful consideration of the concepts and conceptual processes that these three variables index. Stevens (2006) uses Johnson and Newport’s (1989) landmark study to illustrate how difficult it is to reach unambiguous conclusions when investigating the relationship between age at arrival and L2 proficiency among adult immigrants. Although that classic study considers only age at arrival and length of residence, Stevens argues that the interdependence between age, length of residence, and age at onset entails a negative relationship between chronological age and L2 proficiency, which provides grounds for some ambiguity about the conclusion concerning the importance of age at onset, interpreted as the only predictive factor. In addition, Stevens claims that the negative relationship may be explained by the fact that the participants in Johnson and Newport’s study were faculty and students at a university; the older participants in the study were more likely to be faculty and the younger ones to be students. The types of experience the two groups have with the language may be very different and much more intense and demanding in the case of students than for the faculty, which may explain, at least in part, the relationship between age at immigration and success in L2 acquisition found in the study (see also Bialystok and Hakuta 1994, 1999).

In instructed foreign language learning, AT may also be seen as confounding with age of onset, but in this case it has a negative effect on the performance of the youngest learners in comparison with older learners in school settings, and thus contributes to the positive relationship betweenb L2 proficiency and older age of learning. Specifically, AT may have an impact on test-taking skills, favouring older children, adolescents, and adults over younger children when taking language tests. In consequence, the older learners’ higher scores in cognitively-demanding tests might be attributable not only to a language proficiency advantage over younger learners, but also to their superior cognitive development, which helps them achieve a better understanding of the task in comparison with younger learners as well as choose better strategies for accomplishing the learning task. This highlights the importance of the type of tasks that can be used with different-age learners in order to ensure that the effects of AT are not confounded with AoA effects (see Munoz 2006c).

Chronological age is not just an indicator of biological processes associated with senescence; it is also, as illustrated in the discussion above, an excellent indicator of life cycle stage, strongly associated with motivations and oppor- tunities to speak and to maintain or improve proficiency in an L2 (Stevens 2006: 684). In instructed foreign language learning chronological age may also be seen as associated with attitudes towards learning the language, the teacher, and the classroom. A confound between initial age of learning and chronological age may also be suspected in studies that analyse learner motivation in relation to age. To illustrate, it may be argued that adult beginners who choose to enrol on a foreign language course may possess stronger motivation than younger learners following compulsory education courses, as it has been argued that students in late immersion programmes may be more strongly motivated than students in early immersion programmes (Turnbull et al. 1998). On the other hand, it has often been reported that younger school learners have a more positive attitude towards a foreign language than older school learners, as shown by their answers to questionnaires on motivation, and that this is a definite advantage of an early start (e.g. Hawkins 1996; Blondin et al. 1998). However, the young learners’ positive attitude may be seen as associated with chronological age rather than, or as well as, age at onset. It is well known that young children are more eager to please the adult than pubescent and adolescent learners and, consequently, the former may be more inclined than the latter to respond positively to motivation-related questions. Thus, the relatively common finding that younger starters have a more positive attitude towards learning a second language than older starters may be a result of their chronological age (they are younger) when they answer the motivation questionnaire rather than or in addition to their earlier start. This is clearly an empirical question since evidence could be provided by studies that asked attitudinal questions to learners with different AoA when they were the same chronological age. It was mentioned above that the amount of formal education at AT has been observed to be a very good predictor of second language learning among immigrants. Strong evidence has been provided by the large-scale study using census data in US conducted by Hakuta et al. (2003). Flege and coworkers have also considered the amount of education in the host country in their studies of L2 speech learning. For example, in the study conducted by Flege et al. (1999), AoA effects disappeared when education was controlled. In a more recent study, Flege et al. (2005) observe the influence on foreign accent of variables that were confounded with AoA and find that AoA was correlated with length of residence in Canada, which was correlated with years of education in the host country. In instructed foreign language learning, the type and characteristics of formal education may have a strong influence on learners’ proficiency levels. For one thing, in many countries, socioeconomic background may determine a child’s initial age of foreign language learning through the choice of schools (privately- or state-funded) as well as the amount of extracurricular exposure learners can enjoy (in the form of extracurricular lessons, technological devices in the home, and studies abroad, mainly). More importantly, the educational level of parents has a significant influence on children’s foreign language learning success (see for example the PISA report in Europe 2003), which suggests a parallel with the role played by the formal education of immigrant learners in studies of naturalistic L2 acquisition. Because children of parents from different socioeconomic backgrounds and with different educational levels are not homogeneously distributed in all types of school, the effects of AoA may be confounded with the effects of socioeconomic and sociocultural variables which result in varying availability of curricular and extracurricular exposure to the foreign language (Munoz 2006a).

CONCLUSION

This paper has presented an analysis of symmetries and asymmetries that exist between a naturalistic learning setting and a foreign language learning setting with respect to those variables that are crucial in the discussion of age effects in second language acquisition. The analysis has highlighted important differences that have largely been ignored in such discussion; the reason being that due to the higher theoretical relevance granted to ultimate attainment studies in the field of SLA, the findings of classroom studies have been interpreted in the light of the assumptions and priorities of the former. One notable asymmetry is derived from the different status of ultimate attainment or final product in the two types of learning setting. Studies of age effects on naturalistic second language learning compare younger and older starters in terms of the final product of their second language learning process, bounded by a minimum length of time (i.e. at least 10 years of residence). In contrast, age-related studies in a foreign language setting, in which the conditions for reaching the end state are not met, compare the gains of younger and older learners after different lengths of time with an emphasis on long-term benefits. In such studies, long-term benefits are often temporally bounded by the educational system itself, which does not usually require foreign language learning beyond secondary education. In con- sequence, the amount that can be learned in such a limited period and with such limited exposure—that is, rate of learning—becomes a crucial concern. In relation to the long-term benefits of an early start, it is important to underline the absence of empirical evidence to date confirming that younger starters overtake older starters in school settings with the same amount of input. Nevertheless, the generalization has been accepted in the field of SLA and extended beyond the field that, as occurs in a naturalistic learning setting, younger starters will overtake older starters in the long run. Likewise, it has been tacitly agreed that when younger starters show better outcomes than older starters in situations in which the former have had a greater amount of exposure or instruction, this is due to the learners’ earlier starting age and not to the greater instruction time to which they have had access due to their earlier start, ignoring this methodological flaw in variable control.

Noticeable asymmetries are also found in the amount of exposure between the two types of learning setting. While in naturalistic second language learning settings input is generally unlimited, in foreign language settings input is, by definition, limited and it is usually distributed in very small doses. Therefore, it may be hard to find equivalent amounts of exposure, and research that takes into account such long periods of time (i.e. 18 years of uninterrupted instruction) is difficult to conduct with methodological rigour. Similarly, it has been pointed out in this paper that while in naturalistic second language learning studies initial age of learning is taken to be the age of first significant exposure, foreign language learning studies irremediably take as the initial age of learning the age of first insignificant exposure. A consequence of these considerable differences in amount and type of exposure is that a foreign language learning setting cannot provide the optimal learning conditions (input that is neither quantitatively nor qualitatively limited) that constitute the methodological requirement for establishing the cessation of learning. Notwithstanding, the generalization has again been made that the compara-tively lower levels of language proficiency in classroom settings are due to starting age, and that they will automatically be improved by lowering the initial age of learning, disregarding the crucial role played by intensity of exposure in language learning.

In summary, for a number of years now in the field of SLA there has been a tacit acceptance of sweeping generalizations of findings from natural settings to classroom settings that have not been upheld by research into the latter. An inferential leap has been made in the assumption that learning age will have the same effect on learners in an immersion setting as on students of a foreign language, when the latter are exposed to only one speaker of that language (the teacher) in only one setting (the classroom) and for only limited amounts of time (Munoz 2006b). However, recent studies conducted in foreign language settings have clearly illustrated the role of input and exposure in the equation: an early start leads to success but only provided that it is associated with enough significant exposure.

Not only have findings been generalized; the aims and priorities of research in naturalistic settings have also been extended to research in classroom settings. As has been discussed in this paper, the aim of age-related classroom-based research cannot be the same as that of ultimate attainment studies, namely, to provide ‘evidence for the existence, scope or timing of maturational constraints on the human capacity for learning second (including foreign) languages’ (Long 2005: 288). This recognition frees age-related classroom research from endeavours which strictly belong to the area of CPH studies and provides it with a clearer focus. Similarly, legitimate priorities for research in foreign language learning settings that should have implications for guiding age-related classroom research may be: (i) to determine the amount of input that is required for an early start to be effective in promoting language learning; (ii) to focus on the relative gains of different-age pupils with different types of time distribution, that is the advantages of intensive learning programmes that may be plausible in schools; (iii) the distinction between short-term and long-term benefits of starting at different ages; and (iv) the comparative study of the learning rate of different-age learners, which should inform educators about what to expect after 4, 8, or years of foreign language instruction from different-age learners. To conclude, the field of SLA should now be mature enough to recognize that it is ultimately the findings of studies in actual classrooms that are most relevant to decisions concerning the time and timing of second language instruction. It is these findings that have yielded a more complete picture of the factors that lead to success in second language learning, providing evidence of the essential role of input, and thus contributing to the development of an integrated explanation of age effects on second language acquisition.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This work was supported by research grants HUM2004–05167 and 2005SGR00778. The author, thanks Teresa Naves, two anonymous reviewers, and the editors for their comments on the manuscript.

NOTES

1 The term second language will be used in this paper in a general sense to include all its different aspects (from phonology to discourse) not- withstanding the differences in the way they are learned and the speed and degree of success with which they are learned.

2 For example, in Europe the average number of foreign language classes is between 30 and 50 in primary educa- tion, and a little over 90 hours in secondary education (see Eurydice 2005). This amounts in many coun- tries to around 800 hours by the end of compulsory education.

3 For example, in a study assessing pupils’ skills in English in eight European countries (Bonnet 2002) it is observed that ‘in most countries it is basically the teacher who does the talking’ (p. 93) and that teachers’ use of the target language varies among countries: only 15% of the Spanish teachers state that they always speak in English in their lessons, whereas 40% of teachers from Norway, Sweden, or Denmark usually do so.

4 For example, in the study referred to in note 4 (Bonnet 2002) only 8.5% of pupils state that they work in groups and talk in the target language most of the time.

5 Variation among countries is large and in the case of English the situation is more correctly depicted as a gradient or a cline (Berns 1990). See also Bonnet (2002).

6 Other terms used more or less interchangeably in the literature on naturalistic L2 learning are end state, final state, steady state, and asymptote. (see Birdsong 2006: 11).

7 On the other hand, and on the basis of their recent research findings, Abrahamsson and Hyltenstam (2006) argue that nativelikeness alone may not be enough to assess the CPH, and claim that language aptitude seems crucial for reaching nativelikeness.

8 Cummins (1980, 1981) and Cummins and Swain (1986) argued that older learners show greater mastery of L2 syntax, morphology and other lit- eracy-related skills, such as vocabu- lary and reading comprehension, due to their greater cognitive maturity. 9 MacWhinney (2005: 136) qualifies it as serious exposure.

10 In that respect, Long (2005) argues that estimations of LoR should take as the initial point the beginning of significant exposure even in cases in which periods spent in the L2 environment are interrupted or discontinuous, such as when learners spend different periods of residence in the L2 community.

11 This is not exactly parallel to the divide between pure and applied research in SLA (see, for example, Sharwood-Smith 2004: 5), although some of the features of the latter may be reminiscent of it, such as the direct use of results from basic theoretical L2 research in dealing with applied questions generated in instructional language learning situations. I thank an anonymous reviewer for the suggestion.