Question

How does Genie support and refute the critical period hypothesis?

Answer 1

The Idea of Critical Hypothesis was developed by Lenneberg in the year 1967. He was doing various kinds of experiments to proof the importance of age factor in the language acquisition. His most experiments supported that, the concept of Critical period is changed from the sudden drop at the period of Puberty. According to Lenneberg , the Critical period can also be considered as the Sensitive Period. So by following the concept of Critical period Hypothesis we can say that, if a person starts to learn a language in the long-term basis then his or her language learning will be more appropriate. Here the Incident of Genie also supporting this notion.(Curtiss, 1981).

How Genie support the Critical period Hypothesis

The recent evidence of Critical period hypothesis is associated with a girl named Genie. She was founded by the social workers in Los Angeles, in the year of 1970. She was founded at the age of 13. She was abused and ignored for a long time that was the cause of her delayed development. She was never interacted with someone in those 13 years. When she was found she was not able to speak, walk and even she was unable to eat properly. After admitted in the health care center for several months, she has learned some words around 100 words. Genie has learned to spell individual words but she was unable to use any correct grammer and she was also unable to tell a meaningful sentence. After testing her brain it was founded that, her left side of the brain which is associated with the language development was not working. The reason behind this was that her brain’s left hemisphere was unused until the age of 13 and for this she had lost her ability of language development.(Johnson & Newport, 1989)

Here Genie’s inability of using the left hemisphere is the Evidence of Critical period Hypothesis.So according to this notion, delayed in learning language is the main reason of her difficulty in learning languages. This is how Genie Support the Critical period Hypothesis.

How Genie Refute the Critical Period Hypothesis

According to some researchers, Genie’s improper language development can be the reason of abused and ignorance. So according to them, her inability of language development can be reason of her brain damage. Her brain damage can be the reason of abuse and ignorance also. So there is no valid proof that delayed learning is the main reason of her inability to learning a language.(Fischer, 1998)

References- Johnson, J. S., & Newport, E. L. (1989). Critical period effects in second language learning: The influence of maturational state on the acquisition of English as a second language. Cognitive psychology, 21(1), 60-99.

Curtiss, S. (1981). Dissociations between language and cognition: Cases and implications. Journal of Autism and developmental disorders, 11(1), 15-30.

DeKeyser, R., & Larson-Hall, J. (2005). What does the critical period really mean. Handbook of bilingualism: Psycholinguistic approaches, 88, 108.

Fischer, S. D. (1998). Critical periods for language acquisition. Issues unre-solved: New perspectives on language and deaf education, 9-2.