ORAL LANGUAGE PROFILES OF ENGLISH SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNERS IN ADOLESCENCE

It is often claimed that child English L2 learners take up to seven years to attain English skills commensurate with those of monolingual peers; however, existing research is insufficient to know if this claim is valid for oral language abilities in particular. This study examined the lexical and morphological abilities of English L2 learners and their monolingual peers (ages 12–15; N = 227) in Canadian middle schools to determine the timeline for convergence with monolinguals, and what factors predict individual differences among L2 learners. Having seven or more years of schooling was insufficient for all L2 learners to converge with monolinguals on all measures; moreover, growth in English abilities slowed after seven years. Regression analyses revealed that use of English with friends, parental education, and cognitive skills predicted individual variation in the L2 learners’ English abilities and, thus, contributed to their potential for convergence with monolinguals.