Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition

            Table 2.3. Length of residence (LOR) and second language acquisition (SLA)
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Study                Subjects        Duration of LOR            Linguistic environment; does LOR = CI?^a
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Studies claiming LOR relates to SLA:
Fathman (1975)        Children         1-3 years                Public school/playground; yes
Walberg et al.        Children         0-12 years^b              Public school/playground; yes
 (1978)
Murakami (1980)       Adults           Not reported             Full-time university; yes
Oller et al.          Adults           Not reported             Full-time university; yes
 (1980)
Carroll (1967)        Adults           1 yr/summer              "Junior year abroad"; yes

Studies showing weak or no relationship between LOR and SLA:
Ekstrand (1976)       Children         Medium = 10.5 months     Public school/playground; yes^c
Krashen et al.        Adults           Mean = 4 years           Variable, including some with very little; not
 (1978)                                                           necessarily
Chihara and Oller     Adults           Not reported             "Travel abroad"; not necessarily
 (1978)
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CI = comprehensible input.

Average LOR = 3-4 years.

No relationship between LOR and SLA presumably due here to relatively short LOR.