Response prompt 4

Why do you think that it is so difficult for researchers to agree on the CPH (Critical Age Hypothesis). Give explicit examples from the readings. Also give examples from your own experience.
I think is difficult because as we have study results in the studies are in many cases inconclusive, there is not a definite answer. As s our readings presented, many researchers believe that there is a biological disposition in an individual that predicts if the ability is not learned at a certain age, with the correct stimuli, it will not be acquire. However, studies also show that many people who “over the hill” as Brown put it, are able to acquire the language at later age. There are successful ELLs in all age levels and there are other factors that play a role in the learning of L2. Brown talks about how experiences and background help people in their learning and how their schema can be an advantage to make connections and to use L1 strategies. In my own experience as ELL, I have always made use of my prior knowledge and experiences to build on them and to comprehend and extent the new information. On the other hand, in many cases my prior knowledge has interfered with the new information, and that is because I have mistakenly use vocabulary words in a different context.
Well, let me put it this way, which is the way I see learning language at different ages. Let’s say that a child who is learning a language for the first time is a blank canvas, the new information, accent, syntax, etc. all the factors that comprise language are place in the canvas for the first time and little by little they will be arrange to form the master piece, which in this case is the language. On the other hand, when a person is learning a language as their second one, he/she already comes with a variety of items in that canvas, the master piece is already finished and the new components will be integrated or accommodated to the old ones, as a result the piece will be an integration of the old picture and the new items from the second one. If we use that analogy with the CPH theory, then the theory would not be correct. To integrate new knowledge into the old one, there is not a time limit, if the theory was true, then adult ELLs would not be able to learn an L2.