The Impact of Social Support, Age, and Education in Second Language Acquisition of Adults

Abstract: The topic of second language learning is frequently discussed in linguistics and social science, and several factors differentiate between second language learning in children and adults. Adults are faced with additional complications when learning a new language, including social factors, exposure to natural learning situations, and neurobiological factors. Learning a second language has been found to have many benefits for individuals, including social advantages and neurobiological benefits in terms of delaying cognitive aging and the onset of dementia. In this study, participants filled out a self-evaluation questionnaire regarding their social conditions and then took part in a reading comprehension exercise to search for a correlation between reading comprehension and the social conditions of adult second language learners. The correlation was also investigated between scores on reading comprehension and age, time spent in Sweden, education level, and age of arrival. The study found a significant correlation between education level and reading comprehension, but no significant correlation between reading comprehension and the remaining factors.