Human Growth and Development / Unit 7 HGD 0975 short lesson, about 20 seconds
Second Language and the Sensitive Period
Captions available
The idea
Children learn new languages more easily than adults; learners who start before about ten are often indistinguishable from native speakers, a sensitive period rather than a critical one.
In practice
Grammar learning staying strong until about seventeen or eighteen, in one large study.
Where people slip
Only about twenty percent of US children study a second language in school; most European countries require one.
Your place on the trail
Every lesson rests on earlier ones and opens later ones. Tap any to jump.
Builds on
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