Now let us continue our session with some flashbacks. Do you still remember what we have learnt in our Linguistics class?? What did Mr. Nazriq teach us? Acquire Language before puberty is easier than after puberty. After we met Mr. Woong Ho, we can see what we have learnt in class is not wrong at all. It is really true that the process of acquiring language before puberty is easier like what had experienced by Mr. Nazriq's friend, Mr. Woong Ho. Here is our drawing about his life's journey.
Then, he followed his father moved to Scotland and they lived there for about a year. He knew alphabets and the only word he knew at that time was "Apple". After a year staying in Scotland, he could learn English naturally and he acquired Scottish accent.
Again, he and his family came back to Korea when he was nine but then he still could speak Korean because his parents did not speak English at home. He could not speak Chinese after coming back from Scotland as he preferred using Korean language most of the time.
When he was 20 years old, he went to Japan for exchange students programme. We wish we could go to Japan too. Just for fun! :) According to Wong Ho, it was easier to learn Japanese and Korean language as they share same grammatical structures. At the first time he went to Japan, he knew nothing about the language. Then, he studied and joined Japanese language class to acquire the language. However, after one week joining the class, he felt boring and skipped the class. (Do not try it in CFS IIUM, otherwise, you will be barred)
One year later, he went to China as a language student. He stayed there for about half year. He said that it was hard for him to learn Chinese language at that time. He did not memories all Chinese letters. So, he needed to study it again. After six months staying in China, he came back to Korea.
Then again, he flied to Japan and working as an engineer for two years. However, he used English when he was there because his manager was from Western. His friends also used English in their daily conversations.
When he was 31 years old, he came to Malaysia to study his first degree in chemical engineering course in University of Malaya which is a stone's throw away from CFS IIUM. Now, he joins French class.
Hence, the Critical Period Hypothesis that has been recognised by Eric Lenneberg is solid true.
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| Lenneberg stated this period is from early childhood to adolescence |
Easy to learn language < Puberty > Hard to learn language
The Case Study of Genie Wiley is an example of Eric Lenneberg & Noam Chomsky's theories. Genie Wiley did not acquire any language before her puberty period. She still could learn words but she could not pick up the words like normal children did.
Laura-Ann Petitto, a professor from University of Toronto explained that early exposure to a language is necessary for really good syntactic competence and phonological competence. What had happened to Mr. Woong Ho was really similar to the Critical Period Hypothesis theory.
So, what have we learnt in class is true! Mr. Nazriq is not a liar. :)