关键期假说及其对我国英语教学初始年龄的启示

关键期假说源于生物学,后引申至语言学领域。在一语和二语习得框架下,众多学者提出了各自的正反理据。一语习得关键期假说得到的肯定似乎超过了否定的声音,但苦于研究对象的匮乏,无法获取有说服力的充分理据;而二语习得中的年龄研究往往拘泥于关键期的生物机制,忽视了认知、情感、心理、环境等因素的作用。虽然儿童学习二语有着不可忽视的相对优势,但考虑到我国学习者的个体、语言和文化等因素,英语教学的初始年龄定为9~12岁较为理想。

Critical Period Hypothesis and Its Implications on the Starting Age of China's English Language Teaching

After a brief introduction to the biological and linguistic origins of Critical Period Hypothesis(CPH),the paper expounds both positive and negative evidence of CPH under the frameworks of first language acquisition and second language acquisition.It has been found that CPH in the first language acquisition seems to get more supporting voice,but still lacks adequate convincing evidence due to the shortage of research subjects.In terms of CPH in the second language acquisition,it tends to focus on the constraints of the biological mechanism but ignore other contributing factors such as cognition,psychology and environment.Although a child is supposed to have an advantage in acquiring a second language,the optimal starting age of English language teaching should be set between 9 and 12,taking the Chinese learners’ personal,linguistic and cultural factors into account.