Article Type : Research Article
Authors : Fatema K
Keywords : CPH; Listening skill; Language exposure; Technology
The unending controversy of the
practicality of the critical period hypothesis and the presence of Language
Acquisition Device (LAD) is still a cryptic word to explore and the study will
put light on the phonological aspect of language acquisition keeping its focus
on the foreign accent. To justify the validity of the study the data have been
collected from the students of Bangladesh, who are studying home and abroad.
The findings of the paper will demonstrate first, examining and observing the
validity of the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) by analyzing the elementary
English language learners of Bangladesh and ended up with this conclusion that
even if during the period of Critical Period (CP) Bangladeshi learner of
English starts to learn English but they fail to communicate in English,
although for Bangladeshi learner learning English is a colonial legacy.
Ultimately it will focus on the statement that, there may be a critical period
but language exposure plays a more important role to learn or acquire any
language. Second, the paper will do another quantitative study on the English
language learners of Bangladesh taking higher education from home and abroad
that will deny the existence of CPH, suggesting certain ways to attain
native-like language skills after Critical Period (CP) if the learner is
preconditioned with proper language exposure using the technology-based
language teaching and learning.
It has been evident and also a popular belief
that children as L2 learners are ‘superior’ to adults, that is, the younger the
learner, the quicker the learning process and the better the outcomes to
achieve native-like pronunciation [1]. Researchers have found out the
relationship between age of onset (AO) of acquisition and ultimate attainment
(UA) is negatively correlated in speech [2-4]. Nevertheless, a closer
examination of how age combines with other variables reveals a more complex
picture, with both favorable and unfavorable age-related differences being
associated with early- and late-starting L2 learners. But at the same time it
is also proved that the earlier a learner starts to learn any language the
better outcome they will get means, they can attain native-like pronunciation.
Some studies have evidence against the critical period hypothesis (CPH). This
assumption has been also confirmed in numerous studies that have focused on
different aspects of language, like pronunciation, accent or morpho-syntactic,
lexical and collocational abilities that have been present in the papers
[5-12]. Recent proposals on language aptitude such as distinguished between
cognitive aptitudes for implicit and explicit learning. When an L1 learner
learns the language it is the only language that person acquires where no other
language interferes but when learning L2 or L3, L1 interfere consciously or
subconsciously, the process may be the same when it comes to learning the L3 or
L4, when L1 or L2 may interfere. Moreover, the learner also may not give proper
priority to learn the language as it is seen out of the observational study
that if a learner gets proper push to learn a language in an apt learning
environment then the person can learn almost native-like L2 or L3. The present
study did two quantitative studies, first on younger learners at home and
second on the tertiary level learners to validate the hypothesis native-like
language skill can be attained after CPH if the learner is preconditioned with
proper language exposure within their native land or in abroad. Moreover, the
present study suggests using technology the learners can experience an
artificial environment in the existence of CPH to attain native-like speaking
skills for the English language learner of Bangladesh.
Studies
in abroad
Eric Lenneberg’s Critical
Period Hypothesis (CPH) is one of the most critically analyzed debates that has
been taking place in the linguistic area. A recent study examined the
reliability of CPH and whether it is completely biological or other social construct
factors play that aid some L2 learners of Morocco to attain native-like
pronunciation despite the high unlikelihood of its occurrence. He has mentioned
the role of environment like spoke that features of the environment cannot
explain language development, which he proposed to be the knowledge of
linguistic structure, otherwise known as the human language faculty, and not
linguistic behavior. The CPH might function to link with the experience of
language present in the environment to the development of the brain language
system [13]. It was still believed that the plasticity
of the brain is somehow locked or fixed after a period known as the critical
period, which is usually associated with the age of puberty. However, emerging
evidence challenge this assumption, for instance, we have Alarcón’s
pronunciation and ultimate attainment, the statistical critique, and Lin’s CP
and phonological acquisition in addition to other major critics of CPH like
Krashen's Input Hypothesis [14]. The Critical Period Hypothesis in cognitive
psychology and language acquisition is the core of the ongoing debate
concerning the effect of the brain on language acquisition. It is also revealed
that learners who had arrived after that age did not present an age-related
pattern. This seminal study sets off a line of research that has featured
prominently in the field of L2 acquisition up till the present time [15-18].
The shape of this function continues to be a topic of debate [19-21]. Studies
examining learners’ UA after a long period of residence in an immigration
setting have shown the younger starters’ UA to be consistently higher than that
of older starters and in some cases native-like or near-native. In another
review of research, Acquiring L2 is still possible beyond CP, but the mastery
of the language is repeatedly less successful. “One strong prediction made by
some CPH exponents holds that post-CP learners cannot reach native-like L2
competences.” In addition to that, grammatical gender seems to be one of the
main challenges for adult L2 learners. This high unlikelihood for adult L2
learners to attain full mastery and fluency of L2 does not have to be deemed
decisively unattainable. If a successful incident has happened at least, once,
then clearly factors that are directly or indirectly responsible for the
success of post-CP L2 acquisition which indicates the exposure factors also.
Older learners were observed to be especially good at syntactic and
morphological rule acquisition, and also at meta-linguistic ability and vocabulary,
which reflected their superior cognitive development. Early arrivals’ advantage had been observed in a few
more recent studies. 5- year longitudinal study of 10 Mandarin-speaking
children and adolescents in America and observed the timing of the early
arrival advantage in six English morphological structures. It was found that
only by the end of the 5 years, younger AOA significantly predicted the average
performance on all the structures, though some were not yet fully mastered
[22]. The pattern resembles that of phonological acquisition found in several
studies investigated the effects of time on a large sample of Mandarin speakers
with a wide range of AOA and found that an early arrival advantage gradually
emerged in L2 (English) vowel perception and production after 3 to 5 years of
English immersion. It has been suggested that a minimum of 5 years of residence
or even 10 years may be necessary for CPH studies to methodologically ensure
measurement of UA rather than rate, that is, to safely assume asymptote. Along
these lines, suggests that after 10 years LOR ceases to be a determinant
factor. So it can be said that exposure plays a vital role in the hypothesis of
CPH when it comes to attaining native pronunciation. This paper mainly focusing
on that statement the paper did quantitative studies on the English language
learners of Bangladesh of elementary level and tertiary level education from
home and abroad that will deny the existence of CPH, suggesting certain ways to
attain native-like language skills after CP if the learner is preconditioned
with proper language exposure using the technology-based language teaching and
learning.
Majid (2000: 73-86) gave
us some important information that represents the English as a foreign language
situation in Bangladesh quite practically. The samples were then learners at
the Institute of Modern Languages. The paper revealed, "61% learners had
English grammar explained to them in Bengali all the time.” 36% people always
needed extra help (P. 74)" from outside the classroom. The majority also
said that they always rote-learned essays from books (P. 76)." 81% of
students were dissatisfied with the teaching method. They also expected proper
guidance from the teachers—an outcome of the close relationship of the
teacher-student. However, most of them thought to have knowledge in English
ranging from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘not bad’ finally, revealed, "These
learners had, therefore, very little practice in all the four skills of the
language and were dependent largely on the coursebook and the syllabus, the
teacher and the private tutors as the principal means of exposure to English
[23]." "Despite learning English for 1600 hours at the pre-university
level, students cannot use English, and have been perceived to be at least six
years behind the proficiency necessary to perform at the tertiary level of
education [24,25]." Hence the need for the change of method occurs. ‘The
students who pass and somehow get good marks do not seem to reflect their
achievement practically. They can neither speak fluently and naturally nor
understand English when they are not spoken to nor comprehend the meaning of
what they read nor can they interpret the reading materials [26]. But drew
attention to the role of the teacher in using the TL in the classroom saying.
"The fact that not all learners had much experience in responding in the
class in English is less serious than the fact that very little English was
being used in the class. Teacher did not use the TL in the classroom, the
language becomes to the learners “rather like numbers in a mathematics lesson,
a series of ciphers embedded in normal speech. It thus failed to convey to the
learner the message that language is something alive and creative that could
serve real purposes, instead of something mechanical to be studied only for
passing exams a fictional writer and journal wrote in a journal “Dhaka
Tribune”, “We learn English for about 12 years and yet we don’t learn it
properly. Does that mean we are not interested enough to learn it? Does that
mean there’s a methodical flaw in teaching it? I had learned English from grade
I to grade XII, but struggled with it when I went to university.” The aim of
the present study also found out the overruling influence of language exposure
plays an important role along with the reason for failure to obtain the English
language learning capability of English language learners of Bangladesh at home
and the success of learning a new language learner of Bangladesh studying
abroad. It also suggested the vital role of using technology to create an
artificial atmosphere learning English, especially on speaking skills [27-30].
The
study tried to find out the answers of
·
Why
Bangladeshi Learners of the English Language fail to acquire English even if
they start learning during the CP?
·
Which
factor then plays the most important role while learning Language even after
CP?
·
What
resource do we need to create a favourable exposure to learning native-like
English in Bangladesh?
The researcher adopted
both quantitative and qualitative approaches to find out the outcome of the
analysis. A Comparative Quantitative study was done first, on the elementary
level students’ Teachers’ following a questionnaire and the Guardians perspective
following a personal interview towards the reason to find out is their children
failing to learn to communicate in English or not and then why Bengali learners
fail to attain native-like speaking skills in English though they start to
learn or acquire language during their formal education along with Bengali at
the age of onset. Second, another questionnaire for the tertiary level students
of Bangladesh who are studying abroad is done to find the factor that plays the
most important role in acquiring language even after CP. Finally, an
observational study and with the suggestion that technology could create such
exposure to learning the based on that a qualitative study had been done
[31-35].
Most of the data had been
collected from randomly selected institutions English language teachers of
Kindergarten, English medium, Bengali medium, Madrasah, and English and Bengali
version schools of Pre-school sections to class or standard 5 of Bangladesh to
find out why the young learners are failing to speak English fluently and
native-like, although they are learning English at the critical period which
has been proved in different research mentioned in the earlier part of the
paper. The researcher chooses to do a teacher questionnaire as the learners are
way too naïve to put their opinion on paper or to attain any proficiency test.
Also, most of the past papers somehow seem to blame somewhat the teacher as a
responsible figure for the young learners failing to learn to speak English. So
the questionnaire includes the teacher’s opinion on it too. As for parents, an
informal individual interview has been followed to cross-check the teacher’s
opinion. The second questionnaire had been made and the data collected from the
different learners of Bangladesh who are studying abroad of different majors to
find out how they are doing adapting themselves in a foreign land with a
foreign language. The participant of this study was 50 participants from
different universities who are studying abroad and 30 primary level English
language teacher’s opinion along with the guardians. But as the parents’
interview was collected, when they came to the school, due to a shortage of
time, the researcher only keep 5 questions for them to answer in ‘yes’ or ‘no’.
Among the 50 students studying abroad, there were undergraduate students, some
of them majoring in English. Most of them were multilingual (90 percent knew
two languages, 4 percent knew three, and the rest know 4 languages). This group
had at least 10 years of English language learning experience studying mostly
from their native land. The second questionnaire has been done on the learners
of Bangladesh studying abroad in different countries to find out their skills
of learning a new language (formally and informally) where they are staying on
the purpose of the study. For that 50 students have been chosen to study mostly
in China, America, Australia, the Philippines, and Italy. Finally, the paper
suggested the use of technology not replacing teachers but as a media, to
create an exposure attaining native-like speaking skills to communicate in
English within the atmosphere of Bangladesh. A questionnaire has been designed
to follow the Likert scale such, 5- Always, 4- Often, 3-Sometimes, 2-Rarely,
and 1- Never. The data are analyzed using SPSS.25 Descriptive Statistics to
find outcomes [36-38]. The mean scores were used to determine the overall
opinion as well as the ability of the young and adult learners’ condition when
it comes to speaking English [39-42].
To find out the answer to the first question about the reason behind young learners who are learning English at the critical period but still failing to speak English properly had been found out through the Teacher’s questionnaire in the different institution as follows (Figure 1).
Table 1: Teacher’s Questionnaire
|
N |
Minimum |
Maximum |
Mean |
Std. Deviation |
Skewness |
|
Statistic |
Statistic |
Statistic |
Statistic |
Statistic |
Statistic |
Std. Error |
|
a. As
an English teacher, I speak which almost native-like. |
30 |
1.00 |
3.00 |
2.4667 |
.77608 |
-1.067 |
.427 |
b. I
speak mostly English while in class. |
30 |
1.00 |
3.00 |
2.0333 |
.80872 |
-.063 |
.427 |
c.
I make sure children
are getting a favorable environment to learn English |
30 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
3.2667 |
1.11211 |
.074 |
.427 |
d. My
students can follow my instruction in English properly |
30 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
3.0333 |
1.12903 |
.701 |
.427 |
e.
Student only
communicate in English in class |
30 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
2.8667 |
1.10589 |
.936 |
.427 |
f.
Students English
pronunciation is native like |
30 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
2.6667 |
1.06134 |
1.106 |
.427 |
g.
As a Teacher I make
sure pronunciation even while teaching the English Alphabet has been given
importance. |
30 |
1.00 |
4.00 |
2.4333 |
1.00630 |
-.131 |
.427 |
h. Student doesn’t feel uncomfortable to speak
in English |
30 |
3.00 |
5.00 |
4.4000 |
.72397 |
-.794 |
.427 |
i.
Student doesn’t have
any English phobia |
30 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
3.7000 |
1.02217 |
-.793 |
.427 |
j.
Student more or less
understand when any audio or video in English is played on PowerPoint |
30 |
2.00 |
4.00 |
3.0000 |
.87099 |
.000 |
.427 |
Valid N (listwise) |
30 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Table 2: Student’s Questionnaire.
|
N |
Minimum |
Maximum |
Mean |
Std.
Deviation |
Skewness |
|
Statistic |
Statistic |
Statistic |
Statistic |
Statistic |
Statistic |
Std.
Error |
|
a. I
speak English fluently, here in abroad |
50 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
4.0800 |
.77828 |
-.954 |
.337 |
b. I
think I am attaining almost native-like pronunciation. |
50 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
3.6600 |
.89466 |
-.684 |
.337 |
c.
My English is getting better in this
foreign context |
50 |
3.00 |
5.00 |
4.6000 |
.60609 |
-1.260 |
.337 |
d. My
English now doesn’t have much influence on my native language |
50 |
1.00 |
5.00 |
2.2200 |
.73651 |
2.178 |
.337 |
e.
I don’t feel uncomfortable speaking
English in this foreign context like my native land |
50 |
1.00 |
5.00 |
2.2200 |
1.16567 |
.839 |
.337 |
f.
I can communicate in English but not
native like |
50 |
3.00 |
5.00 |
4.7800 |
.54548 |
-2.468 |
.337 |
g.
Learning a foreign language (like
Chinese in China) in that environment
f is more helpful to learn the language even as an adult |
50 |
4.00 |
5.00 |
4.9200 |
.27405 |
-3.193 |
.337 |
h. I
have enough English vocabulary but cannot use properly |
50 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
3.6000 |
.83299 |
-.662 |
.337 |
i.
I can speak English better in this
foreign land rather my native land |
50 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
4.4400 |
.86094 |
-1.406 |
.337 |
j.
Speaking English was difficult in your
native land |
50 |
2.00 |
5.00 |
4.1800 |
.77433 |
-.602 |
.337 |
Valid N (listwise) |
50 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Figure 1: Numbers of Teacher.
Figure 2: Interviewing the teachers and parents.
The questionnaire
designed for 5 questions where teacher opines their way of teaching like
whether they use English in class to the instructor not, whether they speak
English with the learners or not, whether their pronunciation is native-like or
not or they make sure the learners are learning English with correct
pronunciation or not. Rest 5 questions were on teacher’s opinions on their
learners’ capability of using English in class. As the table present (Table 1).
From the analysis of the
teacher’s questionnaire, it’s pretty clear that neither the teacher nor
according to the teacher, their learner is not enough proficient to speak
English because neither of them is getting enough exposure to use English while
speaking. But only in English Medium school teachers responded that their
speaking skill may not be native-like but they speak only English with the
learners. Even they think their learners may not all, can speak English. But even
when it comes to pronunciation even the English medium teachers said they
remain not that conscious as they are not trained to pronounce English
vocabulary properly. So the young learners learn English speaking with some
influence of their native tongue. As the paper, and many more papers revealed
that even after graduating in English the learner of Bangladesh fails to speak
English, although the learners start to learn English formally along with their
mother tongue from the Critical Period. The teacher’s questionnaire in this
study found out even the CPH fails if certain facts like exposure to use the
language, teacher’s teaching method and training, students getting the proper
environment to learn English, and so on also plays a vital role to acquire of learning
any foreign language. To cross-check the validity and reliability of this
survey researcher took an informal interview of parents of the young learners
(Figure 2).
The interview with both
teacher and parents opine almost the same about the overall conditions of the
learners speaking skills. But comparatively English medium school’s learners
could speak English without any feeling of uneasiness due to exposure, opined
by both parent and teacher. From above all discussion, it can be said that the
hypothesis of the Critical Period failing in Bangladesh mostly due to lack of
exposure mostly and also for another fact when it comes to speaking English or
speaking English like a native. To find out the answer to whether the exposure
has any role to solve the problem that the English language learners of
Bangladesh are having when it comes to speaking. For that, a survey has been
done on the students of Bangladesh who are studying abroad not only English as
a major but also studying in different majors (Table 2).
Out of 50, almost 20 students of Bangladesh are studying in Australia, America, and Italy and they were enough confident to say that their speaking is almost native-like. 30 students studying in China and the Philippines also show the same confidence but some were an English major. It’s not difficult to say the reason behind their improvement of speaking skill in English, was the exposure and proper atmosphere to use English as a media of communication. Even in China where the learners from Bangladesh studying there, said that they could even learn Mandarin Chinese, the hardest language, within two years and use it near fluently. Where in Bangladesh the learners learning English for at least 12 years but fail to communicate and the same situation seems in many foreign language contexts. So all the survey were indicating only that foreign language could be learned best if the exposure of that language and proper atmosphere to use that language, like the English medium learners of Bangladesh and the students studying abroad were getting, could be assured in every class of English in Bangladesh, then it’s possible to attain native-like speaking accent even after CP [43-46].
Native-like
accent and creating artificial exposure
Now the question arises,
how we can create an artificial native-like exposure or atmosphere within the
country. For that, it won’t be wrong to suggest that technology can play a
vital role to create such an artificial atmosphere. As most of the teachers of
English doesn’t possess a native accent, but with the increasing use of
technology like showing conversation in English, different videos related to
text, songs, digital games, movies, and so on, not only make the learning
enjoyable for all kinds of learners but also would help the learners grasp the
accent of native when it comes to learning the foreign language like English.
Even the teacher’s and parent’s interview session’s final question revealed
that the young learners learn new vocabulary and expression by watching
cartoons in English, at the same time they engage themselves to use them
frequently. Due to the unavailability of certain resource researcher could not
work on this suggestion to prove my statement but in the future researcher will
work on it.
In the foreign language
context of Bangladesh, the hypothesis of the Critical Period seems inactive.
Out of the statement of the teachers and parents, it could be said that even in
CP, a child learner also need the proper exposure and atmosphere for language
and also other factors. Also, CP may not exist as even the adult learners can
attain an almost native-like language accent if they are provided with suitable
exposure to use the language without any phobia to use it either correctly or
incorrectly. Because if learners start to use the language fluently they will
sooner learner to use it accurately with time.