MOTIVATIONAL AND EMOTIONAL FACTORS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE LEARNING WITHIN THE FRAMEWORK OF THE CRITICAL PERIOD HYPOTHESIS
Keywords:
Critical Period Hypothesis, motivation, emotion, second language acquisition, affective factors, pedagogy.Abstract
The Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) has long been recognized as a key concept explaining age-related differences in foreign language acquisition. While the hypothesis traditionally emphasizes biological and neurological constraints, recent studies have shown that motivation and emotional factors can play a compensatory role in overcoming these limitations. This paper examines the interaction between affective variables—such as intrinsic motivation, self-efficacy, anxiety, and emotional engagement—and the age factor in language learning. Drawing on psycholinguistic and pedagogical perspectives, the study explores how emotional climate, teacher feedback, and learner attitude influence success at various developmental stages. It is argued that although children possess neurocognitive advantages during the critical period, adults can achieve high proficiency levels when their motivation and emotional involvement are sufficiently strong. The paper concludes that emotional intelligence and sustained motivation can act as “affective catalysts,” bridging the gap between biological readiness and lifelong language learning potential.Downloads
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