Résumé:
The present study tries to shed light on the effect of the age factor on second language
pronunciation learning. To meet this objective, and on the basis of the Critical Period
Hypothesis, an experiment was conducted on three groups of learners from different ages
(n= 42) at Fly High private school of languages. The first group consists of eleven (11) year
old learners (before puberty), the second group is composed of thirteen (13) year old learners
(age of puberty) and the third group includes fifteen (15) year old (after puberty). The
participants were given a pre-test to determine their prior level, and then they had had six
sessions on pronunciation learning before they were given a post-test which provided an
overall view on the level of improvement for each group. Following a quantitative approach
to data collection and analysis, it is hypothesized that Algerian learners may learn better
pronunciation if they are exposed to the target language in an early age. The findings of the
experiment show that there is a huge gap in terms of improvement from the pre-test between
the three groups. The first group shows the highest level of improvement followed by the
second group while the third group shows the lowest level. It can be concluded, then, that the
younger the learners are, the better and the quicker they attain the pronunciation of the target
language.
