For several decades linguistics tried to come up with a conclusion how
human beings are able to acquire one or more languages. They succeeded in the
explanation of the language acquisition and the language learning as two
entirely different things. Language acquisition usually refers to the mother
tongue or to the first language that we are exposed as children. The language
acquisition is connected with one phenomenon called the Critical Period
Hypothesis, which was and still is an interesting life stage for
investigating.
The term critical period refers to a
critical phase of life between the age of two and before beginning of the
puberty when each individual is able to acquire the first language. After this
critical period the acquisition of the first language is far more difficult and
will never reach the perfect status of acquired language. On the other hand
Critical Period Hypothesis aims to investigate the reasons between first
language acquisition and second language acquisition. Many researchers believe
that there is a critical period in each human’s development in which second
language learning may occur to certain level that the individual may become
able to speak the additional language as a native speaker. It is believed
that after the period of puberty it is nearly impossible for each individual to
acquire the second language to a higher degree of proficiency. Over the past
few decades the researchers perform a lot of studies in order to see how valid
this hypothesis is. Some of them confirm the existence of the critical period
and some dismiss the same. The main question is does the Critical Period
Hypothesis really exist?
