Merve Yüksel 2nd first draft

THE OPTIMAL AGE FOR FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING

The proverb, ‘As the twig is bent, so grows the tree.’ illustrates how early experiences shape the future, and this is also especially true for learning foreign languages. This article will discuss why early learning is beneficial, examining biological, comparative and opposing viewpoints on language learning. Early childhood is the optimal time for foreign language learning, and the Critical Period Hypothesis, Brain Plasticity Theory, and various studies fundamentally support this assertion.

The brain during childhood, between infancy and puberty, is like a sponge easily absorbing information; however, after adolescence, this rapid learning process begins to slow down. According to Lenneberg’s Critical Period Hypothesis the brain usually undergoes functional specialization and lateralization after puberty. The Brain Plasticity Theory, which argues that the biological clock reduces the capacity and flexibility of the organisms to learn a new language with age. (Lenneberg, 1967) While there's no deadline for learning a new language, these findings support the idea that learning becomes more difficult the longer it is delayed.

The benefits of early language learning are not only biological; foreign language learning has been shown to improve the children's cognitive abilities, and these young learners are clearly more successful in multitasking situations. According to research by Bialystok, bilingual children performed better than monolingual children in cognitive skills such as reading and writing, cognitive flexibility, memorization and were found to be much more successful academically. (Bialystok, 2001) Studies using voxel-based morphometry (VBM) on individuals who learn two languages ​​early in life have shown evidence of increased neural activity and expanded neural pathway size in the early stages of language processing (Mechelli et al., 2004). From this, it can be argued that learning multiple languages ​​at a young age increases cognitive processing capacity. 

There are some views that adults can learn a language better than children, who learn it in a natural course, can learn more effectively by being more inclined to study systematically and using strategies. However, according to research conducted in America on native Chinese and Korean speakers aged 3-39, children learning a second language significantly outperformed adults' grammatical proficiency. (Johnson & Newport, 1989) Based on these findings, children's brain functions are quite different from those of adults and the functionality of a young brain can reach or even surpass that of adults.

In conclusion, the reasons why early language learning is biologically more advantageous have been clearly stated through hypotheses. Furthermore, children who learn a foreign language at a young age have been shown to be much more successful compared to monolingual children and research has shown that opposing views on early language learning are weak. Therefore, it is  evident that the most suitable time for language learning is pre-adolescent childhood.

References:
Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive Psychology, 21(1), 60-99.
Lenneberg, E. H. (1967). Biological Foundations of Language. Hospital Practice, 2(12), 59-67.

Bialystok, E. (2001). Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition. Cambridge University Press
Mechelli, Andrea; Crinion, Jenny; Noppeney, Uta; O’Doherty, John; Ashburner,

John; Frackowiak, Richard and Price, Cathy (2004), ‘Neurolinguistics: Structural

plasticity in the bilingual brain’,

Nature, 14.10.2004, p. 757.