According to the speaker there is a widespread belief that children learn faster. McLaughlin makes the same observation, pointing out that this belief is usually justified by proponents of the critical period hypothesis. This hypothesis asserts that children's brains have the capacity to learn more easily because at a young age their brain is much more flexible, since the brain has not yet established specific mental pathways. McLaughlin goes on to point out, however, that the evidence for this hypothesis is somewhat questionable and that it may in fact be psychological and social factors that influence a student's ability to learn a second language. This idea of motivation (be it social or psychological) is mentioned by the speaker but discussed in greater depth by the writer. The speaker talks about the difficulty for children to be motivated to learn a second language since it is such a long term project, with very little possibility of gratification until the distant future and suggests that an adult may have a motivational advantage over younger children. McLaughlin discusses the fact that motivation may be higher in immigrant children since they are frequently placed in social situations - such as the playground or classroom, in which they are forced to communicate in the second language. By comparison, McLaughlin claims adults can often survive in their workplace with a limited vocabulary, relying on set expressions or phrases relevant to their immediate work. As a result, there is a perception that children learn more quickly, but it is not necessarily the case. The validity of the critical period in second language learning is raised by the lecturer and further research is presented in the article. McLaughlin also contests the idea of children learning more quickly than adults by questioning the parameters of the learning. He points out that there is often a greater expectation placed on adults to learn complex vocabulary and sentence structures, while the expectations for young children are commonly much simpler. In this way we might also wrongly form the impression that children are advancing more rapidly than adults. Another area that both writer and speaker mention is pronunciation. The speaker questions whether there is any validity in the belief that a learner will not develop native like pronunciation unless he or she starts learning at a young age. McLaughlin maintains that this is one area in which the critical period hypothesis could hold some truth, stating that the fossilization of motor patterns in adults can be an obstacle to producing new sounds. The speaker mentions a number of issues concerning Language Learning in his lecture. Which of these issues does the author address in the reading extract, “Language Learning”, and what answers does he give to the speaker’s questions? Which issue raised is the most important in your opinion?