As I seek to become a better English teacher, I am reading a book called Teaching English to Young Learners. While my primary purpose in reading it is to improve as a teacher, some of the information on language learning is fascinating for me personally, having spoken two languages since childhood and currently working on a third.
Citing multiple studies, Nunan writes in his book:
Ellis's conclusion (that in foreign language situations, if all other factors such as amount of exposure and instruction are constant, teenagers do better than young children and adults) is borne out by other research. [Emphasis mine.]He goes on to quote research saying that teenagers scored higher in early testing in every area except pronunciation, where adults scored highest. That goes against virtually everything I was ever told about language learning.
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