This was a really interesting article. This article argued against the critical period theory. The author suggested that though there are some truths to the theory, it cannot rule out that adults cannot achieve master of an L2 language.
I thought the author's arguments were well thought out pointing to many factors that determines an adult's success with an L2 language. Some factors are the environment (is the adult given opportunities to have communcative experiences?), support and individual ability to learn a new language.
At the end of the article the author talked about introducing foreign language in the early years of school. I found this part to be relavent to my school district right now. Last year we started a pilot program in five schools introducing Spanish in the first grade. The district has decided to continue the program. I think the author pointed out some very important factors that will determine the effectiveness of the program. If students are learning an L2 language at a young age for a few years and stops then they will lose the language. Therefore, the investment was a lost. To make the program successful there must be a systematic plan to encourage an on-going use and learning of the language.
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Learning an L2 at any age and then stopping will cause that language to be lost. People always say, "oh I took (fill in a language) in (high school, college, etc) and I can't speak a word of it anymore." They always seem to think they can't remember anything therefore they weren't any "good" at learning languages. Those people never continued using that language. Why don't people say just that, "I didn't continue using it so I lost it."
use it or lose it.
I think rote is more susceptable to this kind of attrition than learning that comes from meaningful communication activities - but regardless - use it or lose it.
nice dialogue.
I definitely agree that language needs to be taught continuously after it has been started. No matter how early you start, if you don't practice it, it will fade. I am all for students being required to learn a language from early grade school through high school. I think it would really benefit this country, seeing as the world is becoming so globalized and we're losing jobs to outsourcing; not to mention the huge number of non-English speaking or bilingual immigrants here. I think being a bilingual country would be awesome.
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