What did Eric Lenneberg hypothesize on the critical period?
In his seminal book Biological Foundations of Lan- guage, Eric Lenneberg (1967) hypothesized that human language acquisition was an example of biologically constrained learning, and that it was normally acquired during a critical period, beginning early in life and ending at puberty.
What aspects of Genie’s case supported the critical period hypothesis?
While Genie was able to learn some language after puberty, her inability to use grammar (which Chomsky suggests is what separates human language from animal communication) offers evidence for the critical period hypothesis.
What do you think that Genie’s story tells us about language development with regards to critical periods of learning language?
Scientists studying Genie saw that she processed language in the right hemisphere of her brain even though she was right handed and there was no discernible damage to the left hemisphere. Research from Genie and late ASL learners seem to suggest a critical period exists in regard to grammatical development.
What is critical period hypothesis?
The critical period hypothesis states that the first few years of life is the crucial time in which an individual can acquire a first language if presented with adequate stimuli, and that first-language acquisition relies on neuroplasticity.
What is the Lenneberg theory?
Lenneberg argued that language acquisition needed to take place between age two and puberty – a period which he believed to coincide with the lateralisation process of the brain. (More recent neurological research suggests that different time frames exist for the lateralisation process of different language functions.
What is the critical period hypothesis and what was learned from Genie in regard to it?
2 The Critical Period Hypothesis He proposes that there is one critical phase between the age of two and about 13 years (before puberty) in which an individual is able to acquire first language (FL).
What does Genie’s case show us about brain development?
Genie’s case illustrates that the brain has critical periods of development and if these periods are missed, the individual is unlikely to develop normally in those areas of life. Once a child has reached the age of ten, their brains begin to reduce some of the connections between brain cells.
What does the critical period for language tell us about language acquisition in early childhood?
The critical period hypothesis (CPH) states that the first few years of life constitute the time during which language develops readily and after which (sometime between age 5 and puberty) language acquisition is much more difficult and ultimately less successful.
What is critical period example?
The best known example of a critical period in animal development is that young ducks will become imprinted on any moving object in their immediate environment at approximately 15 h after hatching. If they do not experience a moving object during this critical period they will fail to become imprinted at all7.
What does Lenneberg mean by the critical period hypothesis?
Lenneberg states that there are maturational constraints on the time a first language can be acquired. First language acquisition relies on neuroplasticity. If language acquisition does not occur by puberty, some aspects of language can be learnt but full mastery cannot be achieved. This was called the “critical period hypothesis.”
Who is the founder of the critical period hypothesis?
The critical period hypothesis was first proposed by Montreal neurologist Wilder Penfield and co-author Lamar Roberts in a 1959 paper Speech and Brain Mechanisms, and was popularised by Eric Lenneberg in 1967 with Biological Foundations of Language.
When did Eric Lenneberg study the CPH?
Eric Lenneberg (1967) – Studied the CPH in his book “Biological foundations of language”. – Children having a certain amount of time to acquire a language – Until the age of 13 language is present in both hemisphere.
Is the critical period hypothesis for second language acquisition?
The Critical Period Hypothesis in Second Language Acquisition. The theory has often been extended to a critical period for second-language acquisition (SLA), although this is much less widely accepted. Certainly, older learners of a second language rarely achieve the native-like fluency that younger learners display,…