The Age Factor. The Role of Age in Second Language Phonological Acquisition

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Seminar paper from the year 2018 in the subject English Language and Literature Studies - Other, Christian-Albrechts-University of Kiel, language: English, abstract: "Age is but a number", so it is widely said. This paper seeks to examine if that can be held true true in regard of the question if age does indeed affect the pronunciation of a native-like pronunciation.In the first section, this research paper will present the role of age on L2 phonological acquisition by explaining the strong and weak version of the critical period hypothesis. Furthermore, it will give insight into important studies that either support or decline the opinion of age being a relevant factor for a native-like acquisition of a second language phonology. Subsequently, in the last section it will be sketched to what extent other socio-motivational circumstances among L2 learners can cause individual differences throughout the acquisition of an L2 phonology.Both sections critically examine the relevance of the L2 learner's age regarding the acquisition of an L2 phonology in order to find an answer to the question if age does affect the acquisition of a native-like pronunciation. As a last step, the main points and findings of this research paper will be summarised in the conclusion.