Chapter 5: Interlanguage

TABLE OF CONTENT:
Introduction
I. Error analysis
1. Mistakes and errors
2. Errors in Error analysis
II. Identifying and describing errors
III. Stages of interlanguage development
IV. Sources of error
1. Interlingual transfer
2. Intralingual transfer
3. Context of learning
V. Communication strategies
1. Avoidance
2. Prefabricated patterns
3. Appeal to authority
4. Language switch
VI. Fossilization

THE SUMMARY OF CHAPTER 5 – INTERLANGUAGE:

Interlanguage is a term that Selinker (1972) adapted from Weinreich’s (1953) term “interlingual”.
Interlanguage refers to the separateness of a second language learner’s system, which is neither the system
of the native language nor the system of the target language, which is a system based upon the best attempts of
learners to provide order and structure to the linguistic stimuli surrounding them.
This chapter will describe the study of learners’ interlanguage system – approach to the analysis of the
linguistic forms acquired by second language learners. It will focus on the significance of errors in learner’s
interlanguage systems or errors analysis.
I. Error Analysis:
Human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the making of mistakes.
Researchers and teachers of second language realizes that the mistakes a person made in the process of
constructing a new system of language needed to be analyzed carefully, for they possibly held in them some of
the keys to the understanding of the process of second language acquisition.
1. Mistakes and Errors:
In order to analyze learners’ errors in a proper perspective, it is crucial to make a distinction between
mistakes and errors.
- A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a “slip”, in that it is a failure
to utilize a known system correctly. (E.g.: spelling mistakes)
- An error is a noticeable deviation from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the
interlanguage competence of the learner. (E.g.: the third- person singular usage of modal auxiliaries – cans/
mays)
The learners do make errors and those errors can be observed, analyzed, and classified called error
analysis.
2. Errors in error analysis:
- place too much attention on errors, and lose sight of the value of positive reinforcement of clear, free
communication. (We must be aware of that the diminishing of errors is an important criterion for increasing
 language proficiency, the ultimate goal of second language learning is the attainment of communicative fluency
in a language.)
- overstress production data. (The comprehension of language is as important as production; and
comprehension data is equally important in developing an understanding of the process of second language acquisition)
- fail to account for the strategy of avoidance. (The learner avoids using a particular sound, word, structure,
or discourse that may be incorrect)
- can keep us too closely focused on specific languages rather than viewing universal aspects of
language. (The interlanguage system of learners may have elements that reflect neither the target language nor
the native language, but rather a universal feature of some kind.)

II. Identifying and describing errors:

N N

Sentence is overtly Sentence is covertly

C D E
Make well-formed Compare a reconstructed sentence with
Can a plausible interpretation be original idiosyncratic sentence. In what
put on sentence in context? Y reconstruction of sentence in OUT2
respect did rules for accounting for original
target language. and reconstructed sentence differ?

F G H
Translate sentence literally into Translate L1 sentence back into
Is mother tongue of learners
Y L1. Is plausible interpretation in Y target language to provide
known?
context possible? reconstructed sentence.

N
N

Hold sentence in store.

OUT3 A procedure for identifying erroneous or idiosyncratic utterances in a second language

In Corder’s model, a major distinction is made at the outset between “overt” and “covert” errors.
- Overtly erroneous utterances are unquestionably ungrammatical at the sentence level.
- Covertly erroneous utterances are grammatically well-formed at the sentence level but are not
interpretable within the context of communication.
Ex: Does John can sing?
 A. NO
C. YES
D. Can John sing?
E. Original sentence contained pre-pose do auxiliary applicable to most verbs, but not to verbs with
modal auxiliaries. OUT2
III. Stages of interlanguage development:
Based on observation of what the learner does in terms of errors alone, there are four stages of interlanguage
development:
1. The first is a stage of random errors (or “presystematic” in Corder’s word), a stage in which the learner
is only vaguely aware that there is some systematic order to a particular class of iterms.
Ex: The different city is another one in the another two
2. The second (or emergent), stage of interlanguage finds the learner growing in consistency in linguistic
production. The learner has begun to discern a system and to internalize certain rules though these rules may
not be correct by the target language standards.
At this stage, the learner is still unable to correct errors when they are pointed out by someone else.
Ex: Learner (L): I go New York.
Native speaker (NS): You’re going to New York?
L: (doesn’t understand) What?
NS: You will go to New York?
L: Yes.
NS: When?
L: 1972
NS: Oh, you went to New York in 1972.
L: Yes, I go 1972.
3. The third stage is truly systematic stage in which the learner is now able to manifest more consistency
in producing the second language.
At this stage, the learner is able to correct their errors when they are pointed out to them.
Ex: L: Many fish are in the lake. These fish are serving in the restaurants near the lake.
NS: (laughing) The fish are serving?
L: Oh, no, the fish are served in the restaurant!
4. The final – the stabilization stage is a stage in which the learner is able to pay attention to and self-
correct some certain errors without waiting for feedback from someone else.
However, it should be made clear that these stages do not describe a learner’s total second language system.
For example, one might be in a second stage with respect to the perfect tense system, and in the third when it
comes to simple present or past tense.
IV. Sources of error:
Determining the source of error is the final step in the analysis of learner speech