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SimoneE.Pfenninger,DavidSingleton
theyexperienceafasterrateoflearning(e.g.,ofmorphosyntacticdevelopment)
thanyoungerlearnersintheinitialstages.Thisphenomenonisoftenascribed
totheircognitiveadvantagesattesting.However,thereisalsoamotivational
dimensiontothispicture.Thegeneralimpressionisthatlatestartersseemto
feeltheurgetoachieveproficiencyquickly.SnowandHoefnagel-Höhle(1978)
hypothesizethatthesuperiorinitialperformancebylatestarters(andthusolder
learners)isperhapsduetothegreateracademicdemandsplacedontheselearn-
ersbytheschools,creatinghigherlevelsofmotivationinthemthaninyounger
learnerstolearnthelanguagenecessaryforsuccessinschool.
Tangentialtomotivation,attitudes,andlearners’beliefs,forexample,pre-
conceivedideasabouttheagefactorandearlyvs.lateFLprogramscanaffect
learners’approachtolanguagelearning,butatthesametime,newexperiences
canleadtochangesinattitudeandapproach(seeMoyer,2014).Inotherwords,
becauseoflearningexperiences,feedbackrelatingtothedevelopmentofFL
skills,andothersalienteventsinthecourseofprimaryandsecondaryschool,
attitudestowardstheagefactorarelikelytobere-evaluatedandconsequently
reformulatedaswellasrevised.Since“theearlierthebetter”or“thelaterthe
better”arespecificbeliefsthatcanbeallocatedtoasetofbeliefsthatHorwitz
(1988)called“difficultyoflanguagelearning,”whichincludesbeliefsaboutthe
timeinvestmentnecessarytobecomefluentinlanguagelearningdifficulty,we
believethisisanemergingareaofinterestinage-relatedresearch,albeitstill
grosslyunder-researched.
Methodology
Participantsandprocedure.Thepresentstudyispartofalarger,longi-
tudinalinvestigationconductedinSwitzerlandbetween2008and2015onthe
effectsofageandage-relatedfactors,duringaperiodwhentherecoexistedfor
sometimestudentswhoweresubjecttooneortheotheroftwoeducationalpoli-
ciesthatwereimplementedbeforeandaftertheSwissConferenceofCantonal
MinistersofEducationissuedanewsetofguidelinesforforeignlanguage
(FL)instructionthroughoutSwitzerland(seeEDK,2004).200Swisssecond-
aryschoolstudents(89malesand111females)tookpartinthelongitudinal
componentofthisproject,allofwhomhadsimilarcharacteristics:theyhadthe
samebiologicalage,thesameL1(Swiss/StandardGerman)andadditionalFL
(French),andthesameSES,schools,classesandteachers,therebyallowingus
toisolatetheinfluenceofstartingage(andco-occurringamountoftargetlan-
guageexposure)atthelevelofEFLcompetenceattainedatthebeginningandat
theendofsecondaryschoolinGerman-speakingSwitzerland.Theparticipants
