Early and Late Language Start at Private Schools in Turkey

This study examines the interaction effect of age in L2 attainment. It explores whether success in foreign language learning at early childhood grades varies depending on age. It also addresses the beliefs of foreign language teachers regarding the variables under review. Eighty-three 11 year-old language learners who started learning English at different ages were placed into two groups. The initial exposure of the early starters was 5-6 and of the late starters, 9-10. A set of language proficiency tests covering all four-language skills were given to the participants to determine the possible differences in the proficiency of the two groups. Also, qualitative data was collected from 6 teachers through a questionnaire that aimed to elicit their beliefs regarding the effect of age on L2 attainment. The findings showed that the early starters did not perform significantly better than the late starters in any of measures. The teachers, however, indicted that the early language learners had more positive attitude towards English compared to the late starters. Findings underscore that language attainment may involve a lot of variables and that early age may not take account of the whole issue.