Multilingual Early Language Transmission (MELT) - Mercator ...

There are vocabulary advantages; children grasp the meaning of a word better.
During early (second) language acquisition the relation between and development of
‘maturation’ and the ‘critical period of age’ are important. De Groot (2011) describes the age
effects of early bilingualism and claims that early in life humans have a superior capacity for
language learning which declines with maturation, even if the language-learning capacity is
exercised early in life (De Groot).
De Groot (2011: 63) quotes: “Early in life, humans have a superior capacity for acquiring
languages. This capacity disappears or declines with maturation” (Johnson & Newport,
1989).
After describing the two versions of the critical period hypothesis of Johnson & Newport
(1989), De Groot (2011) claims that children are better at second language learning than
adults. Brain resources of young language learners are still largely uncommitted and can
therefore be easily recruited for the learning task. She also states the older the learner is,
the more neural tissue already is committed to other knowledge and processes, and
recruiting neurons to subserve new knowledge and tasks becomes increasingly difficult (De
Groot, 2011).
Following above descriptions and statements the partners of the MELT project see the
importance of multilingual early language learning. In the next chapter, a definition will be
formulated and will be discussed.
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