Second, adults might not be that unsuccessful. With first language literacy and knowledge about the world, adults learn English faster than children do. Not only can adults learn and retain more vocabulary items, they may spend less time learning grammatical and other linguistic concepts because of high abstract thinking capabilities.
Therefore, the popular assumption is not necessarily accurate. A super-early start in learning English is not really necessary. Some experts view eight or nine as the optimal age to learn a second language because subject matter knowledge and literacy in the first language can accelerate second language acquisition.
The earlier the better holds true in many aspects of learning, but it does not mean that young kids can acquire English entirely devoid of efforts. There are no shortcuts and learners of all ages have to pay their dues.
Perhaps the issue of how early EFL students start to learn English is not that pivotal. The crux of the matter is whether or not the students will continue to acquire English after school. I've interviewed numerous adult learners who began to learn English after 13 and now have a native-like proficiency. The one thing they have in common is that they use English every day, whether it be watching TV programs or movies, reading English newspapers or popular novels, or other methods.
Therefore, English teachers need to ponder a more crucial issue: how to make their students still willing to involve English in their lives after leaving school.
Kao Shih-fan is an assistant professor at Jinwen University of Science and Technology.
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