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Due to the booming of freelance jobs, the amount of adults learning new languages to live and work in other countries, or to work in their home has increased: It is not the same teaching a young student than teaching an adult, but that does not mean that adults cannot learn a second language, despite their age or native language. A second language can be acquired as a child – just like the native language, and as an adult as well. When teaching a second language, there are different factors that are taking in account: age, motivation in learning, culture, second language level. When it comes to age, there are two distinctions: young learner and adult learner. And the young learners are classified in 3 categories as well: the “very young” learners – 7 years old and less, the “pre-puberty” learners – 8 to 12 years old, and the “early teen age” learners – 13 to 17 years old. The adult learners are 18 years of age or more. The motivation in learning that each classification has varies depending on the age because young learners do not decide to learn a second language on their own, it is an obligation for them therefore are less motivated. But, adult learners need to acquire a second language due to their job, their career, if they want live in another country. So, they are more motivated and the temptation to use their native language will be less than the young learners, especially in the early teen age stage when they are unwilling to take risks or experiment with language. Though, the adult learners are more “corrupt” by the native language, this is also a benefit because they can compare grammar structures between the languages making their path easier. Acquiring a second language as a child is decided by the parents or it could be that the child is in an environment that requires the use of two languages. According to François Grosjean in Bilingual: Life and Reality to develop a language, the children require a certain amount of input, in a variety of situations, but usually when they start going to school, they learn a second language. Before this, the children have to acquire their native language, and, Grosjean also said, if they feel they need a particular language, and other psychosocial factors are favourable, they will develop that language. So, there is no difference between the improvement of native language and second language on children. What vary is the amount of input the children are expose to. There is a misconception that the earlier a second language is acquired, the more fluent a child will be in it, and an adult could not learn it as well. Extracted from the dataset of the paper “A Critical Age for Second Language Acquisition” published in the journal Cognition, there are a high amount of students who started learning after the age of 20 and outperformed many native speakers. And the researcher Stefka Marinova-Todd, along with two co-authors, from the University of British Columbia in their paper “Three misconception about age and L2 learning” argue against the impossibility of acquiring a second language at certain age. They also point out that some researchers misattribute language proficiency due to differences in the brain organization of early and late second language learners. And, they also point out that a second language is acquired through the same neural structures responsible for the native language acquisition. In conclusion: acquiring a second language as an adult it is not impossible – it helps previous knowledge on the second language but it is not mandatory. What makes it hard it is not the age, or the brain, is the amount of time dedicated to it due to jobs, families, responsibilities. The native language, instead of being a difficulty, is a helpful tool in which the learners can relay to acquire a second language. References: In and out of bilingualism (Chapter 14) and Family strategies and support (Chapter 17) in Grosjean, François (2010). Bilingual: Life and Reality. Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press. Marinova-Todd, S. H., Marshall, S. D. & Snow, C. E. (2000). Three misconceptions about age and L2 learning. TESOL Quarterly, 34(1), 9-34.
