Age and Second Language Acquisition and Processing: A Selective Overview

Abstract

This article provides a selective overview of theoretical issues and empirical findings relating to the question of age and second language acquisition (L2A). Both behavioral and brain‐based data are discussed in the contexts of neurocognitive aging and cognitive neurofunction in the mature individual. Moving beyond the classical notion of “deficient” L2 processing and acquisition, we consider the complementary question of learner potential in postadolescent L2A.