Ultimate Attainment in Second Language Acquisition among Children, Adolescents and Adults Free Essay Example, 3000 words

Major focuses of the field of second language acquisition are the achievement of native-like proficiency as the ultimate attainment in second language acquisition. This term is not clearly defined in all studies but is generally assumed to mean speaking the language to the extent that one cannot be differentiated from a native speaker. While some learners achieve a native-like proficiency in the language, most do not. Consequently, one of the research aims of studies into second language acquisition is to determine what drives this difference. There are many different aspects of the manner of ultimate attainment of a second language that is considered, with the main factors being pronunciation and grammatical structure. The two main competing theories for this are the critical period theory and universal grammar. The manner in which an individual acquires their first language (L1) is distinctly different than that of their second language (L2), and the two situations meet with signi ficantly different outcomes. For first language acquisition, the outcome is usually the success, while for second language acquisition the outcome is much more variable. In most cases, adults learning a second language fail to acquire the grammar of the target language. We will write a custom essay sample on Ultimate Attainment in Second Language Acquisition among Children, Adolescents and Adults or any topic specifically for you Only $17.96 $11.86/page