Effect of Age on the Learner’s Ultimate Attainment of English Vocabulary and Grammar

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between the age of onset of learning English and the ultimate attainment in that language. To this end, it tests the lexical and morphosyntactic competence of intermediate school students (n=62), who have different points of onset. They have to do a grammaticality judgment test and a vocabulary test, each of which consists of 50 questions. Using the methods of descriptive statistics, the result shows that late starters have outperformed early starters in all aspects of the language, except in the fact that early starters have shown conspicuous individual differences. Furthermore, the result of the study has also indicated that there is a relatively weak correlation between the age of headstart and the ultimate attainment in both levels of language tested. The correlations between the age of exposure and vocabulary attainment is (r = 0.2), whereas it is (r= 0.18) between age of exposure and morphosyntactic knowledge. It is also found in this study that there’s a strong positive correlation between Early starters (ESs) and Late Starters (LSs) grammar and vocabulary (r= 0.75).