Myth: Adult English Learners cannot learn and/or be fluent in a new language.
It has been widely known that after the ages of 17 and 18 years old the ability for an English Language Learner (ELL) to become fluent in English becomes nearly impossible. Although there is strong validity to this statement, it does not account for all adult ELLs. In a recent article, Scott Chacon (2018) discusses the results of a research published by Cognition an international peer-reviewed journal. In Chacon’s (2018) analysis of the data, he discusses, “students who started learning after the age of 20, there are a lot of late learners who outperformed many native English speakers.” The takeaway is that although it might be difficult to acquire the English language after the age of 18, it certainly not impossible, as long as there is dedication and full submersion by the adult ELL, similar to that of a K-12 ELL student.
Teachers, here is what you can do:
Teacher/instructor encouragement and continuous motivation to further increase the adult ELL’s confidence.
Encourage full immersion through daily activities, for example:
social life (daily interactions with family, friends, teachers)
media (television shows/movies, social media, music)
day-to-day interactions (stores, restaurants, work)
References:
Chacon, S. (2018). MIT Scientists prove adults learn language to fluency nearly as well as children. https://medium.com/@chacon/mit-scientists-prove-adults-learn-language-to-fluency-nearly-as-well-as-children-1de888d1d45f
Hartshorne, J.K., Tenenbaum, J.B., & Pinker, S. (2018). A critical period for second language acquisition: evidence from 2 /3 million English speakers. Cognition, 177. 263-277. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2018.04.007