This book examines the assumptions that are customarily made about the role of age in second language acquisition. The evidence and arguments presented in the book run counter to the idea that an early start in second language learning is either absolutely sufficient or necessary for the attainment of native-like mastery of a second language.

David Singleton holds his primary degree from Trinity College Dublin and his doctorate from the University of Cambridge. He is currently Senior Lecturer in Applied Linguistics at Trinity College Dublin. He has been active in both the European Second Language Association and the International Association of Applied Linguistics. His principal research interests are language transfer, the L2 mental lexicon and the age factor in language acquisition and he has produced numerous publications on all these topics. He is the author of Language Acquisition: The Age Factor (Multilingual Matters, 1989). Zsolt Lengyel is a graduate of Debrecen University, Hungary, where he studied Hungarian, Russian Studies and General Linguistics. At present he leads the Department of Applied Linguistics at Vesprem University. His main research area is psycholinguistics - specifically in relation to first and second language acquisition. He is the author of several books on Hungarian child language and on the psycholinguistic problems of Hungarian children engaged in second language learning, including a pioneer study of the genesis of written language, with particular reference to psycholinguistic aspects of the acquisition of literacy skills by Finnish and Hungarian children.