Are Kids Really Better at Language Learning than Adults?

Or, do children possess squishy genius brains that can pick up any language effortlessly while language-learning adults are doomed to imminent failure?

Everyone has their own theory when it comes to age and language learning. Some people think that after you hit a certain age, you will never be able to learn a language in a way that “sounds like a native speaker.” Others believe that children shouldn’t be exposed to too many languages at once because they might not be able to learn them all as effectively. And some think the opposite, claiming that kids are a sponge who soak up languages effortlessly, and should be exposed to as many as possible from a young age.

So what’s the right answer? Are children really the most skilled at learning a language? Is there any hope at all for the adult reading this newsletter who wants to learn a new language and become decently proficient? Or are your efforts in vain?

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Hidden Genius? (Van Gogh, 1888, Portrait of Marcelle Roulin)

The Critical Period Hypothesis

One of the most highly debated hypotheses amongst language acquisition researchers (and ordinary people!) is the critical period hypothesis (CPH). In its more extreme form, the CPH claims that after a certain age, it is impossible to acquire a language in a native-like proficiency. The weaker form of the CPH points to a “sensitive period” rather than a “critical period,” in which some features (like phonology, or sounds) might be harder — but not impossible — to acquire once the sensitive period has passed.

If you think about the people in your own life, you might believe this hypothesis to be true. I can certainly think of both adults and children who seem to reflect this dichotomy between “native speaker” proficiency and “non-native speaker” proficiency, based on how old they were when they learned a language. But does the fact that adult learners seemingly achieve lower proficiency levels actually mean that there’s an age-related “critical period” for effective language learning?

Rethinking the “Native Speaker”

The first thing that needs to be challenged before investigating the CPH is what exactly we mean by “native speaker” proficiency. Certainly, a “native speaker” of a language would possess a high level of linguistic competence, reflected by extensive lexical (vocabulary) knowledge, accurate grammar, and pragmatic skills (or, knowing how to use language appropriately).

But more likely than not, you weren’t thinking too much about all those things. What is often singled out as being the true marker of a “native speaker” is accent. “Non-native speaker accents” are commonly used as the butt of the joke in movies and TV, as well as in real life. Accents have come to symbol not just a mark of identity, but a mark of proficiency or skill in using a language. And when we hear someone speaking “with an accent,” we tend to immediately associate them with having low language competency (and on the more extreme side, even low intelligence).

But even native speakers of a language will have an accent that deviates from the “standard” (in fact, no one really speaks in a truly “standard” or “accent-free” way). As a native English speaker who grew up on the west coast of the United States, I will freely admit that I desperately scramble to turn on captions almost any time I watch British TV shows. And this problem isn’t just me; just take a look at the confusion on the floor of British Parliament due to regional accents despite every member being a “native” English speaker.

So right off the bat, our way of distinguishing “successful” language learning from “unsuccessful” language learning may be inherently flawed.

In the End, Is It Really About Age?

Aside from accent, it would be misleading not to consider other aspects of language that can help determine fluency. There are multiple systems that attempt to categorize language users on a continuum, from beginner to advanced, with detailed criteria defining different proficiency levels. When we consider linguistics features other than accent, we can certainly find differences in language users’ knowledge of the language, along with the skills to use them appropriately.

But when we examine the language skills of children who acquired languages from a young age, we often tend to hyper-focus on the age of the learner. In doing so, we neglect other significant factors in language learning that can add to why children appear to do so much better at learning languages than adults. While age can certainly have an effect when it comes to language acquisition, researchers will often point to how overemphasizing age as the most important factor is sometimes misguided.

When you think back to your own language learning experiences, what factors were at play that contributed to your own “success” in learning the language? You might find factors such as:

• Learning environment. Did you learn a language through a structured class, or on your own? How often did it meet? Was the classroom more teacher-centered or student-centered? Was it a positive learning environment or a negative one? How often did you interact with other language users? If you did not learn in a classroom setting, how much of the language were you exposed to out in the world?

• Motivation. How motivated were you to learn the language on your own? This relates not only to what happens in the classroom, but also how much you were motivated to practice at home, seek out media in the language, engage with speakers, etc.

• The responsibilities of being an adult. Life as an adult looks quite different from the life of a kid. Children spend hours a day at school, participate in engaging activities at home and in the world, and do not have the responsibilities of an adult in day-to-day life. Adults can struggle to come up with the time and energy to focus on language learning compared to a child who might encounter those opportunities rather naturally (and for much longer periods of time in a day).

• Metalinguistic skills. As an adult, your metalinguistic skills are more acute compared to when you are a child. For example, as a Mandarin speaker, I can now understand much more of the Taiwanese Hokkien that my grandparents speak just from context clues & decoding phonological and tonal differences. I did not have as much metalinguistic awareness as a child, and most of the Hokkien was totally lost on me (save for my grandparent’s most frequent phrases like “time to eat” and “I’m sleepy"). This metalinguistic awareness also helped me significantly when I studied languages with some commonalities to Mandarin such as Cantonese.

• Affective filter. A hypothesis proposed by Stephen Krashen, the affective filter is like a wall composing of the learner’s emotions such as anxiety, discomfort, and low self-esteem. If raised, the affective filter can make language learning more difficult. Adults might experience these emotions more than children, as they are more susceptible to embarrassment and self-consciousness when it comes to using the language compared to a child. (Although liquid courage can also help.)

This is not to say that age does not have any effect on language learning, but there are other factors that we must consider that are related to age. For example, most adults do not have access to sustained classroom environments to learn language, with many opting for self-study instead (often ending quickly and leading to disappointment).

The neuroscience behind age and language learning ability also remains somewhat inconclusive. The research has generally found that languages learned as a child are located in a different part of the brain as opposed to languages learned as an adult. But does this difference necessarily mean that there is a difference in processing or performance? While this difference does exist, when we examine age difference and brain localization, we don’t find much evidence to support a critical period for effective language learning.

Finally, some people will argue that while there may not be a “critical period,” children can learn languages faster than adults. However, the hard data shows that children actually learn languages slowly and effortfully when compared to adults and adolescents.¹ In the initial stages of learning a language in particular, older learners are much faster and more efficient than children, due to factors like heightened metalinguistic awareness. If you’re interested in reading about the specifics, I highly recommend the Marinova-Todd et al. article in the footnotes below.

There Is Hope!

Sometimes it feels like kids have something magical that allows them to learn languages effortlessly. For many children around the world, growing up bilingual and multilingual is the norm. But this does not happen simply by throwing a kid in a Chinese-speaking preschool for an afternoon or two. This requires sustained efforts to expose the child to as much natural language as possible — considering both quantity and quality — and it can take a lot of time. Like, years and years.

If you’ve ever been demoralized when it comes to learning a new language as an adult, don’t be discouraged! Just because you are an older learner does not mean that achieving high proficiency in a new language is impossible. What’s more important is that you stay consistent (perhaps through attending a class if you have the option), keep your motivation up, and seek out sustained opportunities to communicate authentically.

What do you think? Are children naturally more skilled in language learning? Are you a proponent of the CPH? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. Don’t forget to like this post if you’re interested in this kind of topic!

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Thank you for reading, and I’ll see you next Tuesday.

1. Marinova-Todd, S., Marshall, D. & Snow, C. (2000). Three Misconceptions about Age and L2 Learning. TESOL Quarterly, 34, 9–34. 10.2307/3588095.