IELTS Reading Practice: Age and Language Learning
IELTS · ReadingA passage on children, adults and second languages, with True / False / Not Given questions.
1Read the text
Many people believe that children learn languages more easily than adults. The idea has a scientific version, known as the critical period hypothesis, which proposes that there is a window in early life during which a language can be acquired fully, and after which it becomes much harder to reach a native-like level.
The evidence is more complicated than the popular belief suggests. Studies of people who move to a new country find that those who arrive in childhood usually end up with the most native-like pronunciation. However, the same studies show that adults often make faster progress at the start, because they can use their experience of studying, their larger vocabulary in their first language and their ability to understand grammar rules.
Researchers also point out that children and adults learn in very different conditions. A child may spend the whole day surrounded by the new language at school and play, with no pressure to produce perfect sentences. An adult learner is more likely to study for a few hours a week, to worry about mistakes and to rely on the first language during the rest of the day. These differences in exposure may explain part of the gap that is usually attributed to age.
This does not mean that age has no effect. Pronunciation does seem to be harder to master later in life. But many adults reach a very high level in the grammar and vocabulary of a second language, and the most consistent finding is that the amount of regular practice matters greatly, whatever the age of the learner.
2True, false or not given Tap an answer. You see why straight away.
1. The critical period hypothesis suggests there is an early window for acquiring a language fully.
2. Adults never make faster progress than children at the start of learning a language.
3. People who arrive in a new country as children usually have the most native-like pronunciation.
4. Children are usually under more pressure than adults to produce perfect sentences.
5. Adults who study with a private tutor learn faster than adults who study in a class.
6. Most adults who move abroad reach a native-like level within five years.
Done. Your first lesson is on its way.
Answer key — IELTS Reading Practice: Age and Language Learning
- TRUE — The passage says it "proposes that there is a window in early life during which a language can be acquired fully."
- FALSE — The passage says "adults often make faster progress at the start."
- TRUE — The passage says those who arrive in childhood "usually end up with the most native-like pronunciation."
- FALSE — The passage says a child has "no pressure to produce perfect sentences", while an adult is more likely "to worry about mistakes."
- NOT GIVEN — The passage never compares private tutors with classes.
- NOT GIVEN — The passage says many adults reach a high level, but it gives no figure or time period for reaching a native-like level.