Annotated Bibliography 2

Annotated Bibliography 2
Bongaerts, Theo. et al (1995). Age and Ultimate Attainment in the Pronunciation of a Foreign Language. SSLA, 19, 447-465.

This article reports on two studies which aim to find out whether late L2 learners can achieve authentic, nativelike pronunciation of a foreign language. The experiments are conducted to provide some evidences that former theory on a critical period for second language acquisition needs reviewing. In the experiments, experienced and inexperienced native speakers of English are asked to rate the pronunciation of highly successful Dutch learners of English.

The writers start the article with the review of Lenneberg’s argument (1967) on the impossibility of complete mastery of L2 owing to the loss of neural plasticity around the onset of puberty (p. 447). Then, Schovel (1988) beats the predictions of the critical period hypothesis for some superexceptional learners (p. 450-451). To examine both opinions of the critical period hypothesis, the writers design two experiments with a carefully selected group of highly successful Dutch learners of English. The result of the studies reveals that some individuals in both groups can achieve nativelike pronunciation despite the fact that they already passed their puberty when starting learning L2. This fairly exceptional phenomenon may relate to some factors. Firstly, these individuals have greater neurocognitive flexibility than normal population of late L2 learners. Then, they constitute very highly motivated learners. Most of them are English teachers at the university levels. Therefore, being able to speak English without a Dutch accent is very important. Another important factor is that all learners in both groups have received intensive training both in the reception and in the production of the speech sounds of British English (p. 462-463).

The reader would find difficulties to understand the article if she did not have prior knowledge of Critical Period Hypothesis in SLA. The explanation of how the experiments are done is easy to follow. It enhances the reader’s comprehension of the issue. However, the reader suggests that a further study be conducted with late L2 learners whose mother tongue is not typologically related to English. The findings might be different. In addition to this, “pronunciation is the language performance that has a neuromuscular basis” (p.448). Thus, the reader believes that every late L2 learner will achieve different level of attainment in the pronunciation of L2 from the other learner due to their different neuromuscular system.