Second Language Acquisition: The Effect of Age and Motivation

This paper looks into the competence of second language acquisition by investigating how second language is acquired. Furthermore it explores the age factor in learning another language other than mother tongue and also attempts to answer if there is enough current evidence that can demonstrate clearly that starting young makes any real difference in achieving better language competence. Moreover, research such as on motivation in relation to the learning environment along with language exposure and attitudes will be discussed and data analysed to find out if it plays any significant role in aiding learners to achieve successful second language competence. It has been a common belief that starting young to learn a second language makes a significant difference in language learning. However, results indicate that this is not entirely true in all cases since there are further factors that affect successful second language acquisition achievement such as language exposure and motivation. Consequently, if there is not enough language exposure, this might prevent the learners from succeeding in learning the language. Clearly, those factors, motivation and exposure, seem to play a more important role in the learning process than the age factor and therefore it is extremely important to implement motivation and provide sufficient language exposure to the learner right from the start of the learning journey regardless of how old the learner is