Interlanguage
Interlanguage is a concept in the study of second language acquisition that describes the evolving language system that learners create as they progress in their language studies. This term refers not only to the developing language used by learners but also to the unique process of learning a second language, which differs significantly from acquiring a first language. Interlanguage encompasses the influence of a learner's native language on their second language performance, highlighting phenomena such as positive transfer—where similarities aid learning—and negative transfer, where differences lead to errors.
The interlanguage hypothesis, introduced by linguist Larry Selinker in the 1970s, posits that language learning is an irregular process marked by mistakes that reflect both the learner's native language rules and the complexities of the new language. The term "fossilization" is also used to describe the plateau some learners reach, wherein their progress stalls, often requiring substantial effort to overcome. This perspective recognizes that adult language learners may make similar errors to those made by children acquiring their first language, indicating that such mistakes are natural steps in the learning journey. Overall, interlanguage emphasizes the individuality of each learner's experience and the need for tailored educational approaches to support diverse language learning paths.
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Interlanguage
Interlanguage is the study of how adults learn a second language. The term is also used to designate the imperfect and evolving form of the language used by the student as he or she learns. Interlanguage also examines how learners use the language in the early stages of study, when knowledge of the second language is limited, and investigates the ways various first languages affect the study of a second language. Other aspects include studying the rules a language student applies while learning and determining why some people achiever greater proficiency than others do. Interlanguage is a relatively new field of study that began in the 1970s. However, it has become a multidiscipline field that includes psychology, sociology, and education experts as well as linguists.
Background
The word interlanguage first appeared in the works of American sociolinguist John E. Reinecke. Reinecke specialized in pidgin and creoles. Pidgins are makeshift languages used between groups of people who do not speak the same language. Creoles are more developed pidgins that become a native language. In his 1935 master's thesis, Reinecke called the nonstandard version of communication used while pidgins and creoles developed an "interlanguage."
Interlanguage, related specifically to efforts to learn a second language, emerged as a field of study from the work of American linguistics professor Larry Selinker. Selinker was studying how people learn a second language when he developed the interlanguage hypothesis. He proposed that second-language learning happens in an irregular fashion. Learners make mistakes that are sometimes caused by something in their native language—such as applying a rule from the original language to the new language. Other mistakes are the result of something in the new language, such as the unusual conjugation of an irregular verb.
Selinker coined the term interlanguage to describe the imperfect form of language used by someone who is learning a second language. He added the Latin prefix inter- to language because inter means "between," "among," or "in the midst of." He also coined the term fossilization to refer to the point at which a person's mastery of the second language stops. Selinker published his hypothesis in 1972.
Overview
The interlanguage hypothesis was the first acknowledgement that the process of learning a second language is different from the process of learning a first language. First languages are also referred to as native languages or original languages. Learning a first language nearly always begins in infancy, as children hear and learn to repeat sounds they hear from others. Experts have determined that children learn their native language by unconsciously building a set of rules as they hear and slowly master different parts of speech. These rules are essentially habits that help the child develop language fluency.
The circumstances are different when a person is learning a second language. The rules and language habits that are part of the first language become part of the process. They cause the student to have subconscious expectations about how the parts of the language are going to interact. However, the second language may have very different rules. For instance, parts of speech may come in different orders in a sentence or there may be several variations of pronouns that are used in different situations.
These differences affect the rate at which a student develops competency in a new language. Sometimes a person's native language helps in learning the second language. For example, the Romance languages—including French, Portuguese, and Spanish—are all derived from a form of Latin and have many similarities. A native speaker of one of these languages will have a shorter learning curve if the second language is also a Romance language. This is called positive transfer. On the other hand, negative transfer, or interference, can occur when there are significant differences between the native language and the second language.
In addition to addressing the ways students learn a second language, Selinker noted that there is often fossilization. He used the term to refer to the point at which any significant learning of the second language stops. This happens at different points for different people, but Selinker noted that it usually requires significant effort to get past fossilization and become truly fluent in a second language.
The theory changed how people look at the study of language. Prior to its development, much of the process of teaching a second language was done through drills and rote memorization. After the theory developed, experts began to realize everyone learning a second language has a unique situation that affects his or her progress. The situation depends on the language being studied, the native language, and even the person's level of proficiency in the native tongue. Experts began to view the study of a second language as similar to the way young children learn their native language. There was increased recognition that each person learning a second language creates a unique interlanguage, depending on the languages involved and the stage in the learning process.
This meant recognizing that adults learning a second language often make the same types of errors that children learning a primary language do. Children often make grammatical mistakes based on the rules they have formed to that point. For example, a child who has learned that the past tense of ring is rang may use brang as the past tense of bring or may use me when I is appropriate. These mistakes are often fixed later when the child is exposed to the correct usage and develops new rules more in line with grammatical speech.
Those who support the interlanguage theory have determined that adult learners do the same thing when learning a second language. Instead of focusing on the errors, these "mistakes" can be viewed as a step in the learning process that means the student has made progress in understanding some of the rules. Recognizing this can provide insight for educators as they develop courses to help students learn more easily. Analyzing the errors a student makes can also help teachers understand how the student is progressing.
Bibliography
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Ayafor, Miriam. The Grammar Problem in Higher Education in Cameroon: Assessing Written Standard English among Undergraduates of the Department of English at the University of Yaounde 1. Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.
Gass, Susan M., and Larry Selinker. Second Language Acquisition: An Introductory Course. 3rd ed., Routledge, 2008.
"L2 and Foreign Language Acquisition: The Study of Interlanguage (What)." University of Jaen, www4.ujaen.es/~gluque/L2%20and%20Foreign%20Language%20Acquisition07.pdf. Accessed 15 Feb. 2018.
Nordquist, Richard. "Interlanguage Definition and Examples." ThoughtCo., 25 Apr. 2017, www.thoughtco.com/what-is-interlanguage-1691074. Accessed 15 Feb. 2018.
"Overview on Interlanguage." University of Minnesota Center for Advanced Research of Language Acquisition, 23 Jan. 2018, carla.umn.edu/learnerlanguage/interlanguage.html. Accessed 15 Feb. 2018.
Song, Lichao. "On the Variability of Interlanguage." Theory and Practice in Language Studies, vol. 2, no. 4, Apr. 2012, pp. 778–83.
Tarone, E. "Interlanguage." Elsevier Ltd., St. Petersburg State University, 2006, socling.genlingnw.ru/files/ya/interlanguage%20Tarone.PDF. Accessed 15 Feb. 2018.