Age and the critical period hypothesis

There is a popular belief that children as L2 learners are ‘superior’ to adults (Scovel 2000), that is, the younger the learner, the quicker the learning process and the better the outcomes. Nevertheless, a closer examination of theways inwhich age combineswith other variables reveals amore complex picture, with both favourable and unfavourable age-related differences being associated with earlyand late-starting L2 learners (Johnstone 2002).