Pax all!

I completely agree than full language acquisition
(listening/speaking/reading/writing) cannot be accomplished through
passive listening alone. What I am looking at here is how the brain
learns the "sounds" of a language only (auditory phonetics), and nothing
more.

That being said, do we have any evidence, yea or nea, about how the
brain hears and remembers specific sounds in any language, L1 or L2?
Unless someone here is privy to very new and advanced research on the
brain, we may not have the answer. Until we have that research,
anecdotal evidence may be our only choice.

And is there a "critical period" for acquiring language sounds? Steven
has said the he disagrees, but I am not convinced. Is it 100%? No, but I
cannot help but feel that an infant is somehow "hardwired" for learning
new sounds (a vital skill for a new human). When one tries to acquire a
second language later in life, has something changed in our brain from
infancy which makes it harder?

And if, if that is true, is there anything we can do in infancy to lay
groundwork for later sound acquisition? Again, I must state that this is
regarding phonemic awareness only.

Then, what about adults learning new sounds? In your classes, do you
teach specific problem sounds to your students, and how? In my classes,
I try to identify my students' specific speech problems, then try to get
the student to see their problems themselves. The "first step to solving
a problem is admitting you have one" sort-of-thing.

Most of us here are teachers. What do you think about this? What
anecdotal evidence is there?

Ciao!
Martin