INTERLANGUAGE THEORY

LESSON 10

INTERLANGUAGE THEORY

WHAT IS INTERLANGUAGE?

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INTERLANGUAGE

• “the intermediate states (or interim grammars) of a learner’s language as it moves toward the target L2”.
• “a creative process, driven by inner forces in interaction with environmental factors, and influenced both by L1 and by input from the target language”.
• “a third language system in its own right which differs from both L1 and L2 during the course of its development”.

Larry Selinker (1972)

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•Systematic: internal grammar with a system of rules (some rules differ from both l1 and l2)•Dynamic: The system of rules which learners have in their minds changes frequently, resulting in a succession of interim grammars. Selinker views this change not as a steady progression along a continuum, but discontinuous progression “from stable plateau to stable plateau” (1992, p. 226).•Variable: both the process of development of IL and the final state of IL are different in each learner.•Reduced system, both in form and function: The characteristic of reduced form refers to the less complex grammatical structures that typically occur in an IL compared to the target language (e.g. omission of inflections, such as the past tense suffix in English). The characteristic of reduced function refers to the smaller range of communicative needs typically served by an IL

characteristics of interlanguage

How does IL develop?

•Language transfer from L1 to L2.•Transfer of training, or how the L2 is taught.•Strategies of second language learning, or how learners approach the L2 materials and the task of L2 learning.•Strategies of second language communication, or ways that learners try to communicate with others in the L2.•Overgeneralization of the target language linguistic material, in which L2 rules that are learned are applied too broadly. (from McLaughlin 1987, p. 61)

Selinker (1972): 5 types of cognitive processes involved

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Language transfer from L1 to L2.

Transfer of training, or how the L2 is taught

Strategies of second language learning

Strategies of second language communication

HAVE A LAUGH

Overgeneralization of the target language linguistic material

FOSSILIZATION AND BACKSLIDING

Watch this video on fossilization

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Read about interlanguage and fossilization

Introducing Second Language Acquisition pp. 40-3

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1. Suppose you want to buy a blender and you don’t want how to say this in English. Explain 3 different communication strategies that you may resort to in order to communicate this to the shop assistant.
2. The video on fossilization proposes 9 methods to stop fossilization. Select the ones you would use and say in which case these could be effective.

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