Auditory Memory and Perception in Younger and Older Adult Second Language Learners

Abstract

This study compared younger and older adult monolingual English speakers and bilingual (English/Spanish) speakers on aspects of language learning aptitude, specifically, measures of auditory perception and memory span, in English and Spanish. Multivariate analyses of variance revealed no age difference in auditory memory span in English; however, both older and younger bilinguals performed better than monolinguals on these tasks. Younger subjects performed better than older subjects on measures of auditory perception in English. Older and younger monolinguals performed similarly on a measure of auditory memory span in Spanish, whereas younger monolinguals demonstrated more accuracy on Spanish perception tasks. The Spanish proficiency of the younger bilinguals far exceeded that of the older bilinguals, and their performance was better on measures of auditory memory and perception in Spanish even when differences in proficiency were statistically controlled. However, a comparison of subgroups of older and younger bilinguals showing a similar level of Spanish proficiency revealed that the performance of the older bilinguals approached fairly closely the performance of the younger subjects on the Spanish auditory memory and perception tasks.

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