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LANGUAGE APTITUDE AND SECOND LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY INCLASSROOM LEARNERS OF DIFFERENT STARTING AGES

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 September 1997

Birgit Harley
Affiliation:
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto
Doug Hart
Affiliation:
Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

Abstract

This empirical study investigates the relationship between language aptitude components and second language (L2) outcomes among learners whose intensive L2 exposure began at different ages. The learners in this study are 65 11th-grade students in continuing early and late French immersion programs. Evidence is found to support the main hypothesis that in late immersion starting in adolescence there will be a positive relationship between L2 outcomes and an analytical dimension of language aptitude, whereas in early immersion beginning in grade 1 a positive relationship will hold between L2 outcomes and memory ability. A further hypothesis that early immersion students will have higher language aptitude as a result of their early L2 exposure is not supported by the findings.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
1997 Cambridge University Press

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