Learning Language

Dora the Explorer. Go Diego Go. Ni Hao Kai-Lan. These are just three of the plethora of television shows geared towards teaching kids a different language. In each episode, children as young as 2 or 3, learn colors, numbers, and words for everyday objects. Why? Because studies show that learning a new language becomes more difficult with age. Similarly, David Myers in our text said that young children have a readiness to learn language. Although there is not "critical period" to learn a second language, thoses who learned it before age 8 understood the grammar as well as native speakers.

In order to test the validity of these studies, I did a little experiment of my own.. Once again, Alex (age 4) came in handy along with my dad (age 41). I taught them each 10 basic spanish vocabulary words at the same time so the teaching was the same for both. The teaching consisted of showing them the word along with correctly pronouncing it. I also asked them to repeat the word. They both had a little difficulty with this :). 30 minutes later, I separately quizzed each of them by saying the word in English then asking them to translate it to Spanish. While my brother got 7 correct, my dad only got 3 correct... Even though this study may not be very reliable, the results were pretty significant. It definitely displayed to me that learning a second language is best done when young. This is probably why in recent years, many tv shows have popped up claiming to teach a second language. Do they work? No one will know until the children watching the shows grow up and society can see how their language skills have developed compared to previous generations. But it is an interesting topic to think about...