Apt to change: The problematic of language awareness and language aptitude in age-related research
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Date
2014-10
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Zakład Filologii Angielskiej Wydział Pedagogiczno-Artystyczny Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Kaliszu
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Abstract
Language awareness and language aptitude
often crop up in discussion of various
second language acquisition phenomena, including age-related phenomena. There
is a troublesome and ongoing definitional and theoretical problem in this connec-
tion: Different researchers have different perspectives on what is to be included in
the respective notions; on how do to measure language awareness, on the one
hand, and language aptitude, on the other; and on how or whether to differentiate
the two constructs in terms of innateness versus experience. This article begins by
addressing the entire problematic of the conceptualization of language awareness
and language aptitude. The language awareness/aptitude issue features in the mat-
urational debate in connection with two claims. First, it is discussed in relation to the
view that second-language (L2) learning of older individuals is explicit (whereas that
of younger individuals is implicit). Second, it is referred to in regard to the notion
that there are older L2 learners who appear to be able to “beat” the critical period
thanks to high levels of language aptitude. The article critically explores both these
propositions and concludes that neither is particularly safe, especially given the uncertain state of the relevant research context
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Keywords
language awareness, language aptitude, explicit learning, implicit learning, critical period
Citation
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2014, vol. 4, no. 3, pp.557-571