A Critical Examination of the Beliefs about Learning a Foreign Language at Primary School

efficient learning time and the question therefore arises whether time spent
early is necessarily time spent best. Carroll (1975) clearly emphasised that an
early start did not have any special advantages in itself and suggested that:

"If necessary, the start of instruction can be delayed more than normally if
more intensive instruction is given." (Carroll, 1975: 277)

As with all other discussions around the age factor, who learns what, where and
why would seem as important for bilingual and immersion contexts as for any
other contexts. Before this chapter is brought to a conclusion a number of
unanswered questions and problem areas will be addressed.

2.7 Some Unanswered Questions and Problem Areas

A number of questions remain unanswered. If it is possible for post-puberty
learners to achieve native-like competence in any or all aspects of a second
language, is it because the innate language principles and mechanisms which
children employ in the acquisition of their first language remain accessible after
puberty and adults do have access to Universal Grammar? Is it because they
employ other ∞gnitive and general problem solving strategies instead or
because they access UG but supplement it with general problem solving
mechanisms as suggested by Felix (1985)? Ellis (1997a: 69) discusses a
range of possibilities on access to universal language principles: 'complete'
access, where learners 'switch to the parameter settings of the second
language and achieve full native speaker competence, 'no' access, where
Universal Grammar is not available and adult learners rely on other cognitive

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