A. TELL B. WASTE C. USE D. PASS CHOOSE THE CORRECT ANSWER TO EAC...

Câu 35: A. tell B. waste C. use D. pass

Choose the correct answer to each of the following questions.

In the exploration of the linguistic life circle, it is apparent that it is much more difficult to learn a second

language in adulthood than a first language in childhood. Most adults never completely master a foreign

language, especially in phonology - hence the foreign accent. Their development often 'fossilizes' into

permanent error patterns that no teaching or correction can undo. Of course there are great individual

differences, which depend on effort, attitudes, amount of exposure, quality of teaching, and plain talent,

but there seems to be a cap for the best adults in the best circumstances.

Many explanations have been advanced for children's superiority: they exploit the simplified,

repetitive conversation between parents and children, make errors unself-consciously, are more motivated

to communicate, like to conform, are not set in their ways, and have no first language to, interfere. But

some of these accounts are unlikely, based on what is known about how language acquisition works.

Recent evidence is calling these social and motivation explanations into doubt. Holding every other factor

constant, a key factor stands out: sheer age.

Systematic evidence comes from the psychologist Elissa Newport and her colleagues. They tested

Korean and Chinese-born students at the University of Illinois who had spent at least ten years in the U.S.

The immigrants were given a list of 276 simple English sentences, half of them containing some

grammatical error. The immigrants who came to the U.S. between the ages of three an seven performed

identically to American-born students. Those who arrived between the ages of 8 and 15 did worse the

later they arrived, and those who arrived between 17 and 39 did the worst of all, and showed huge

variability unrelated their age of arrival.