Abstract
Based on a substantial amount of empirical research conducted on second language acquisition, it has been theorized that learners are best able to achieve the critical skill of learning a second language at some point fairly early in their maturational development. This claim is known as the "critical period hypothesis," which postulates that there is some maturational period for language learning that maximizes one's degree of proficiency in the language beyond that of other maturational periods. This study examines whether the critical period during which children are best able to learn English as a second language is before six years or age. To this end, the study compares the English proficiency levels of two groups of eighth grade ESL learners, a group that had begun to learn English before they were six years of age and a group that had begun to learn English after six years of age. Because the nature of language required in school is complex, a fairly complex assessment was made of English proficiency, namely English proficiency was assessed using the Quick-Start in English Written Language Assessment (QSE). The study shows that there are higher proficiency levels for those children who learned English before six than for those children who learned it after six years of age.

Table of Contents:
The Problem
Background
Problem Statement
Significance
Limitations
Null Hypothesis
Review of the Literature
Introduction
Critical Period Hypothesis and the Best Age of Second
Language Learning: The Pertinent Research
Conclusions
Subjects, Materials and Methods
The Setting
Subjects
Materials
Methods
Methods Used To Obtain Permission To Conduct Research
Data Gathering Methods
The Findings
Conclusions and Recommendations
References
Appendix A
Letter Mailed From Researcher to Supervisor
Appendix B
Letter From Supervisor
Appendix C
Letter Sent to Mark's Middle School Principal
Appendix D
Letter received from Mark's Middle School Principal

From the Paper
"While many claims have been made as to what precise age/age group constitutes the critical period, some recent research conducted in Germany, Doll (1996) stated that this critical period takes place during kindergarten or first grade. In other words, the period occurs sometime before the child is six years of age. What is interesting about Doll's findings is that they are in conflict with the majority of the earlier research in the area; this research tending to show that the critical period for effectively learning a second language is between the ages of eight and ten years (Bialystok, 1997)."

Tags:cognitive, development, vocabulary

Abstract
This paper examines how socio-linguistic study shows that men and women use language in different ways, which all too often leads to male-female mis-communication. It looks at how, although the dominance approach and the difference approach are the two main viewpoints in analysing gender and language, some linguists have taken a position somewhere in between the two. It explores these theories and concludes with the author's viewpoint on the subject.

From the Paper
"The dominance theory emphasizes the idea that linguistic differences in women and men's language exist as a result of men's power and women's subordination. The dominance approach considers linguistic differences to be a result of traditional social differences i.e. that of man in the role of power, and woman in the role of submission. Man's authority and woman's inferiority are mirrored through their linguistic behaviour. This research focuses mainly on a variety of features, such as the use of tag questions, interruptions, questions, standard forms and minimal responses."

Tags:approach, difference, dominance, gender

From the Paper
"How does a child begin to speak? Why? These are questions that many linguists set out to answer as they explore the world of language acquisition. Three credible linguists, Ann M. Peters, Noam Chomsky, and Roger Brown, all have different opinions and theories of language acquisition. All of them address influences, grammar, and patterns of speech in their theories, but in different contexts. Chomsky believes it is genetic, Peters believes it is totally up to the environment, and Brown believes it is due to positive reinforcement and trial and error. All three theories are credible and have provided great insight into the ways children do acquire language. Language acquisition is a widely researched topic, and will continue to have new theories evolve as long as children keep talking. This paper assesses and describes different aspects of each linguists' theory in detail and offers the author's opinion on which theory proves to be the most successful and credible based on research."

Tags:grammar, patterns, speech, utterances

Abstract
This paper presents an examination of the English language and its origins. The author traces through the three stages of Old English, Middle English, and Modern English and examines the development of language.

From the Paper
"The English Language has been built on the backs of great nations and as these nations rose they brought with them a language that has evolved over many generations and is spoken all over the world. The history of the English language is an extensive and colorful one that has filled the lives of the linguistic scholars who have studied it with many hours of reading material. The English language and its origins will be traced through the three stages of Old English, Middle English, and Modern English. The stages will be studied in order to understand what influences have played a key role in the development of English. Also in this paper a look will be taken at the ways slang, jargon, and Colloquialism continue to the changes that English is even now under going."

Tags:development, english, history, midle, modern, old, language, words

Abstract
The paper shows that when we think about communication, we think about the spoken word and that our thoughts are always about the words people use and their fluency of speech. Yet, at the same time, we are also taking in information from nonlinguistic sources. The author notes that people's mannerisms, clothing, and appearance are also important, as well as their tone of voice. Researches have estimated that, in face-to-face communication, as much as 90 percent of the social meaning may be carried in the nonverbal message and that facial appearance and response may contribute more to our meaning of their message than all their words. The paper explores the importance of both types of communication and how they are put across.

From the Paper
"As popularly used, language refers to a system of words. This development is not surprising, since words distinguish human communication from that of lower animals. Words, as symbols, usually convey information in a quite deliberate, no instinctive way. For this reason, language is sometimes treated as a set of verbal symbols."

Tags:symbol, coding, culture, language

Abstract
This paper studies the critical period hypothesis which suggests that languages cannot be learned after the age of twelve. However, an evaluation of evidence from many different sources suggests that this is not accurate. It examines sources such as: Studies of second language learning methods, wild children studies and the theories of Noam Chomsky and Stephen Krashen. Factors which make it easier for children to learn language, such as parentheses, are also discussed.

From the Paper
"The "critical period" hypothesis cites a commonly observable phenomenon, the fact that children find language learning much easier than adults, and learn language remarkably quickly, to claim that language learning is more difficult, or impossible after puberty. The concept of "critical periods" was initially introduced in the study of animal behavior, where it was noticed that certain behavioral responses only emerged when stimulus was given within a particular time frame. This concept has been applied to many species, including humans, with regard to the development of specific emotional responses such as stress. In 1967 Lenneberg proposed that this concept also applied to human linguistic development, seeing language as a response, and exposure to language as the stimulus. There are two versions of this hypothesis: the "strong" version, which claims that no language acquisition is possible after puberty, and the "weak" version, which maintains that language learning will be much more difficult. A distinction is often made between "language acquisition", the way in which children unconsciously learn their native tongue, and "language learning" which implies formal instruction, and Lenneberg maintains this distinction himself."

Tags:chomsky, immersion, krashen, language, learning, linguistics, pinker, second, teaching

Abstract
This paper explores the notion of identity through various viewpoints in contemporary modernity. This paper explores the way language, power and culture shapes the concept of the I by examining Foucaldian concepts, lingual construction and cultural studies.

From the Paper
"With the impending future of global culture, the way in which the concept of the "I" is constructed through an inter-connective culture becomes more obvious, since it affects the process through which the world consistently enriches itself through individual interaction with contemporary society. The concept of "I" as an identity, fuelled by a wide range of philosophical, lingual and cultural discourses, can be seen as an interactive system inseparable with subjectivity, or, as Giddens proposes, a narrative which is able to build up a consistency of biographical continuity (1991; 75). In these terms is possible to view identity as a personal collective project, influenced by the light of circumstance, self-reflexivity and interaction. These elements, inherently produced through the social facets of power, language and culture, form the basis to the perception of "me" as both socially as well as privately constructed. To comprehend this nature of identity as a construction of these facets, then, it is crucial to analyze the way in which power, language and culture interact and serve as the sociological truism in which the "I" is understood, through social roles, discourses and disciplines exploring the perception of the self as a cultural product."

Tags:foucault, globalisation, identity, linguistics, modernity, panopticon, postmodernism

Abstract
This paper discusses that it is possible as well as beneficial to combine focus on form with focus on meaning in English language teaching. The writer examines two studies from an output enhancement point of view. The first, by Kowal and Swain (1997) experimented, in a French immersion classroom, with two tasks that were intended to assist learners in moving from semantic processing to syntactic processing. The second, Doughty and Varela (1998) experimented with corrective recast (i.e., repetition and recast) in an ESL content-based classroom.

From the Paper
"The history of second language teaching has witnessed changing perceptions of corrective feedback (Celce-Murcia, 1991). Views on the role of corrective feedback can be highly diverse, even polarized. The Audiolingual Approach, for example, advocates minimal or no tolerance of learner errors and suggests that every effort be made to prevent them. On the other hand, the Natural Approach considers error correction unnecessary and counterproductive. The latter view is also shared notably by the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach that has come to dominate second language classrooms since the early 1970s."

Tags:approach, error, esl, tesol

Abstract
Second Language Acquisition is a field of inquiry that abounds in theories, while at the same time no single approach has adequately explained how language acquisition takes place. One reason for this might be that linguists interested in SLA have been trained in different disciplines, such as linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics and neurolinguistics. The paper explains that, naturally, they have approached SLA from very different perspectives and treat all the variables involved in the learning process differently. The situation appears to be very confusing and frustrating. All the present theories, hypotheses, and models are all preliminary work done toward the ultimate goal of a true theory. The paper shows that in this sense, the different approaches taken by linguists and researchers are never worthless. They have uncovered bits and pieces of the whole complexity of language acquisition. Hopefully, the continuing and combined efforts made by linguists and researchers will lead to the ultimate success of establishing the true theory in language acquisition as well as in SLA.

From the Paper
"Linguistics is one of the newest fields of scientific inquiry. It was developed into an independent discipline of social science in the United Sates first "as an offshoot of anthropology" in the first half of the twentieth century in an attempt to investigate into the disappearing American indigenous languages (Lakoff, 2000, p. 2-3). Traditionally, it has been concerned with the analysis of language, namely its phonology, morphology and syntax. Following this tradition, Norm Chomsky in the 1950s put forward his milestone transformational generative grammar (TGG), which assumed "an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-community" unaffected by any external factors in his exploration of the Universal Grammar (UG), the general rules of language (Chomsky, 1965, p.3). This is basically an asocial or theoretical view in linguistic studies as opposed to the social view which claims knowing a language also means "knowing how to use that language"(Wardhaugh, 2002, p.3) in social contexts. Adopting either or both of the two views, linguistics and researchers alike have postulated a multitude of theories, approaches, and models in the inquiry into the nature of language and language acquisition, which appear to be conflicting ones fighting against one another."

Tags:Noam, Chomsky, Universal, Grammar, TGG, Connectionism, CAH

Abstract
This is an intensive paper looking at both slang and rock music. The two have much in common and the author goes to great lengths to divulge their common threads. It's an 'All you need to know' paper looking at the history of slang, its many uses, youth subcultures and rock subcultures of the 20th - 21st century. The author includes a handy dictionary of slang terms.

From the Paper
"Slang fills a necessary niche in all languages, occupying a middle ground between the standard and informal words accepted by the general public and the special words and expressions known only to comparatively small social subgroups. It can serve as a bridge or a barrier, either helping both old and new words that have been used as "insiders' " terms by a specific group of people to enter the language of the general public or, on the other hand, preventing them from doing so. Thus, for many words, slang is a testing ground that finally proves them to be generally useful, appealing, and acceptable enough to become standard or informal. For many other words, slang is a testing ground that shows them to be too restricted in use, not as appealing as standard synonyms, or unnecessary, frivolous, faddish, or unacceptable for standard or informal speech."

Tags:rock, n, roll, gang, rebel