Unit-8-(1)-Interlanguage-and-the-Natural-Route

1Unit8Interlanguage--Associatedwiththe'natural'routeofdevelopmentPre-questions1.Whatisinterlanguage?2.IsthereanysimilaritybetweeninterlanguageandL1acquisition?Inpreviouslessons,wediscussedtheroleoftheL1onthelearningofaL2,whichinmostcasesisunavoidable.ItisassumedthatL2errorscomeoutofL1interferenceorL1transfer.InordertoidentifytheL2errorsandpredictwhereL2errorsmayappear,ContrastiveAnalysisisintroduced.ButCAhasdrawbacksorflawsinempirical,theoreticalandpracticalaspects,suggestingthatlearner-languagedoesnotallcomefromimitationandnotfromL1transfer,butisanindependentsystem,thatistheinterlanguage.8.1Interlanguage8.1.1DefinitionInterlanguageisthetypeoflanguageproducedbyasecond(or/andforeign)languagelearnerwhoisintheprocessoflearningalanguage.ItisanemerginglinguisticsystemthatisnotthesameastheoneofhisL1orofhisL2.TheL2learnerhasnotbecomefullyproficientintheL2yet,2butisapproximatingtheL2ashistargetlanguage,preservingsomefeaturesofhisfirstlanguage(L1),orovergeneralizingtargetlanguagerulesinspeakingorwritingthetargetlanguageandcreatinginnovations.VariationofInterlanguageAninterlanguageisidiosyncraticallybasedonthelearners'experienceswiththeL2.Itcanfossilize,orceasedeveloping,inanyofitsdevelopmentalstages.Theinterlanguagerulesarebelievedtobeshapedbyseveralfactors,includingL1transfer,transferoftraining,strategiesofL2learning(e.g.simplification),strategiesofL2communication(orcommunicationstrategieslikecircumlocution迂回累赘的陈述,兜圈子),andovergeneralizationofthetargetlanguagepatterns.8.1.2BasicpointsInterlanguageisbasedonthetheorythatthereisapsychologicalstructurelatentinthebrainwhichisactivatedwhenoneattemptstolearnasecondlanguage.Selinker(1972)isbelievedtohavecoinedtheterm“interlanguage”torefertothesystematicknowledgeofanL2whichisindependentofboththelearner’sL1andthetargetlanguage,althoughotherssuchasUrielWeinreichclaimtohaveformulatedthebasicconceptbeforeSelinker's1972paper.ParticularmeaningsThetermInterlanguagehascometobeusedwithdifferentbutrelatedmeanings:3(1)torefertotheseriesofinterlockingsystemswhichcharacterizeacquisition,(2)torefertothesystemthatisobservedatasinglestageofdevelopment(ininterlanguage),(3)torefertoparticularL1/L2combinations(forexample,L1French/L2EnglishvsL1Chinese/L2English).Othertermsthatrefertothesamebasicideaareapproximativesystem(Nemser1971)andtransitionalcompetence(Corder1967),and(4)torefertothecontinuumofL2learner’ssystemspanningbetweenhisL1anL2.Selinker’sobservationSelinkernotedthatinagivensituationtheutterancesproducedbythelearneraredifferentfromthosethatnativespeakerswouldproduceifhehadattemptedtoconveythesamemeaning.InotherwordsInterlanguagepossessestheseparatenessofasecondlanguagelearner’ssystem,asystemthathasastructurallyintermediatestatusbetweenthenativeandtargetlanguage.Interlanguageisneitherthesystemofthenativelanguagenorthesystemofthetargetlanguage,butinsteadfallsbetweenthetwo;itisasystembaseduponthebestattemptofthelearnertoprovideorderandstructuretothelinguisticstimulisurroundinghim.Byagradualprocessoftrialanderrorandhypothesistesting,thelearnerslowlyandtediouslysucceedsinestablishingcloser4andcloserapproximationstothesystemusedbynativespeakersofthelanguage.ComparisonoftheL1andL2revealsaseparatelinguisticsystem.Thissystemcanbeobservedwhenstudyingtheutterancesofthelearnerwhoattemptstoproducemeaninginusingthetargetlanguage;itisnotseenwhenthatsamelearnerdoesform-focusedtasks,suchasoraldrillsinaclassroom.Interlanguagecanbeobservedtobevariableacrossdifferentcontexts;forexample,itmaybemoreaccurate,complexandfluentinonediscoursedomainthaninanother(Tarone,1979;Selinker&Douglas,1985).ObjectofcomparisonTostudythepsychologicalprocessesofinterlanguagemakesitnecessaryforonetocomparetheinterlanguageutterancesofthelearnerwithtwothings:(1)Utterancesinthenativelanguagetoconveyamessageproducedbythelearner,(2)Utterancesinthetargetlanguagetoconveythesamemessage,producedbyanativespeakerofthatlanguage.AreasofcomparisonItispossibletoapplyaninterlanguageperspectivetolearners'underlyingknowledgeofthetargetlanguagesoundsystem(interlanguagephonology),grammar(morphologyandsyntax),5vocabulary(lexicon),andlanguage-usenormsfoundamonglearners(interlanguagepragmatics).ErrorsourcesInlanguagelearning,learner’serrorsarecausedbyseveraldifferentprocesses:(1)Borrowingpatternsfromthemothertongue,(2)Extendingpatternsfromthetargetlanguage,(3)Expressingmeaningsusingthewordsandgrammarwhicharealreadyknown.8.1.3ThevariableshapeofinterlanguageTheconceptofinterlanguagehashadamajorimpactonthefieldofSLA.StudiesoninterlanguagefocusonthelinguisticandpsychologicalaspectsofSLAresearch.PsychologicalaspectBehaviorist'sunderstandingTheinterlanguageconceptisimportantforthedevelopmentofthestudentsgrammarsystem.Languagewasnotconsidered(bybehaviorists)tobeamentalphenomenon.Likeotherformsofhumanbehavior,languageislearnedbyprocessesofhabitformation.Achildlearnshismothertonguebyimitatingthesoundsandpatternshehearsaroundhim.Byapprovalordisapproval,adultsreinforcethechild’s6attemptsandleadtheeffortstothecorrectforms.CognitiveunderstandingThebehavioristexp