The Critical Period in the Acquisition of L2 Syntax: A Partial Replication of Johnson and Newport (1989)

Abstract

The present study was conducted as an attempt to partially replicate the Johnson and Newport (1989) study (JN89). Given that JN89 yielded the most clear-cut evidence demonstrating the presence of the Critical Period (CP) in the domain of L2 syntax, it has been regarded as one of the landmark CP investigations. This study sought to ascertain whether the evidence provided in JN89 is replicable with a different population of 34 Korean native speakers of English. The results, although not in complete agreement with those of JN89, provide some modest support for the existence of the CP.