Age and Foreign Language Learning in School

Amelia Lambelet is a Research Manager at the Institute of Multilingualism, University of Fribourg, Switzerland. Her current research expertise concerns mainly foreign/ second language learning at school and within extra-curricula activities with a particular focus on transfers, receptive multilingualism, individual factors having an impact on language learning and the age factor in relation to L2 learning. Raphael Berthele is Professor in Multilingualism at the University of Fribourg, Switzerland. He directs the MA programme in Multilingualism studies and co-founded the Fribourg Institute of Multilingualism in 2008. His research interests cover different areas from cognitive to social aspects of multilingualism. During the last years he has been focusing on the empirical investigation of receptive multilingualism and on convergence phenomena in the semantic and syntactic patterns in linguistic reference to space in multilinguals.

• Introduction 1. Key Concepts 2. Age and Language Development – Theories and Hypotheses 3. Age and Foreign Language Development – Empirical Evidence 4. Age and Foreign Language Development – Other Relevant Factors Conclusion