In conclusion, we have explored and discussed the differences in L2 acquisition between Adults and children in the areas of learning environments, physiological characteristics, cognitive abilities, self-consciousness, motivation, regularization, overregularization, ability to attain native-like proficiency in L2, grammar, and speech perception. These areas of differences are based on the understanding of the critical period hypothesis. It is also important to note that although current research show that these various aspects of language learning exhibit differences between children and adults, often the boundary of what is defined as “child” and “adult” is unclear, hence future research could be improved in this area.

References