How native is near-native? The issue of ultimate attainment in adult second language acquisition

A number of studies have reported that there is a negative correlation between age of L2 acquisition and performance on a variety of measures of L2 ability, and that individuals who begin learning an L2 after approximately 15 years of age fail to attain native-like levels of competence. These results have been interpreted as support both for the hypothesis that there is a critical period for L2 acquisition and for the hypothesis that there is a maturational decline in access to Universal Grammar (UG). We argue that extant results are not an adequate test of the critical periods hypothesis because they are based on the performance of learners who have not necessarily achieved native-like proficiency in the L2. In this study, we develop criteria to establish whether an L2 speaker has achieved native-like proficiency. We compare the performance of three groups (near-native speakers of English, non-native speakers and controls) on two tasks designed to tap aspects of UG which have been claimed to be subject to critical period effects. We found no significant differences between our near-native group and native speakers on either of the tasks. We conclude that native-like competence in an L2 is achievable, even by older L2 learners.

[1]  René Coppieters.  Competence Differences between Native and Near-Native Speakers , 1987 .

[2]  J. S. Johnson,et al.  Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language , 1989, Cognitive Psychology.

[3]  Jacquelyn Schachter,et al.  On the issue of completeness in second language acquisition , 1990 .

[4]  J. S. Johnson,et al.  Critical Period Effects in Second Language Acquisition: The Effect of Written versus Auditory Materials on the Assessment of Grammatical Competence† , 1992 .

[5]  E. Lenneberg.  Biological Foundations of Language , 1967 .

[6]  Michael H. Long.  Maturational Constraints on Language Development , 1990, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[7]  John T. Lamendella,et al.  GENERAL PRINCIPLES OF NEUROFUNCTIONAL ORGANIZATION AND THEIR MANIFESTATION IN PRIMARY AND NONPRIMARY LANGUAGE ACQUISITION1 , 1977 .

[8]  Harald Clahsen,et al.  Agreement and null subjects in German L2 development: new evidence from reaction-time experiments , 1995 .

[9]  Vivian Cook,et al.  Timed Comprehension of Binding in Advanced L2 Learners of English , 1990 .

[10]  Elissa L. Newport,et al.  Critical period effects on universal properties of language: The status of subjacency in the acquisition of a second language , 1991, Cognition.

[11]  Dominique Sportiche.  BOUNDING NODES IN FRENCH , 1981 .

[12]  A. Sorace.  Incomplete vs. divergent representations of unaccusativity in non native grammars of Italian , 1993 .

[13]  Nicholas Sobin,et al.  The variable status of comp-trace phenomena , 1987 .

[14]  David Birdsong.  Ultimate attainment in second language acquisition , 1992 .

[15]  S. Krashen.  THE CRITICAL PERIOD FOR LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND ITS POSSIBLE BASES , 1975 .

[16]  S. Pinker.  The Language Instinct , 1994 .

[17]  Jacquelyn Schachter,et al.  Second Language Acquisition and Its Relationship to Universal Grammar , 1988 .

[18]  G. Ioup,et al.  Reexamining the Critical Period Hypothesis , 1994, Studies in Second Language Acquisition.

[19]  Harald Clahsen,et al.  The availability of universal grammar to adult and child learners - a study of the acquisition of German word order , 1986 .

[20]  James J. Asher,et al.  The Optimal Age to Learn a Foreign Language , 1969 .

[21]  D. Molfese,et al.  Hemisphere and Stimulus Differences as Reflected in the Cortical Responses of Newborn Infants to Speech Stimuli. , 1979 .

[22]  M. Patkowski.  The sensitive period for the acquisition of syntax in a second language. , 1980 .

[23]  Sascha W. Felix,et al.  The accessibility of Universal Grammar in adult language learning , 1988 .

[24]  Lynn Eubank,et al.  Sentence matching and processing in L2 development , 1993 .