fossilization

FOSSILATION 1. Introduction The term, borrowed from the field of paleontology, and actually a misnomer, is effective because it conjures up an image of dinosaurs being enclosed in residue and becoming a set of hardened remains encased in sediment. If some learners develop a fairly fixed repertoire of L2 forms,containing many features which do not match the target language,and they do not progress any further,their interlanguage is said to have fossilized . The process of fossilization in L2 pronunciation is one obvious cause of a foreign accent. However,an interlanguage is not designed to fossilize. It will naturally develop and become a more effective means of communication,given appropriate conditions. Discovering just what count as the appropriate conditions for successful L2 learning is an ongoing area of study. 2. Definition of Fossilization The original definition by Selinker in 1972 is the most widely accepted one,which goes like the following: “Fossilization linguistic phenomena are linguistic items, rules and subsystems which speakers of a particular native language will tend to keep in their interlanguage relative to a particular target language,no matter what the age of the learner or the amount of explanation and instruction he receives in the target language”. I n a word,fossilization is a process occurring from time to time in which incorrect linguistic features become a permanent part of the way a person speaks or writes a language. 3. Classification of Fossilization 3.1 Individual Fossilization and Group Fossilization As its name implies, individual fossilization refers to different fossilized items or different degrees of fossilized language competence that occur in different individuals. Group fossilization comes into being when fossilization occurs to a whole language community instead of different individuals, or even to a larger society such as a nation. It may lead to a new dialect like Indian English and Singapore English. The result of the study on group fossilization always throws light on individual fossilization. 3.2 Temporary Fossilization and Permanent Fossilization The former means that the fossilized items last a comparatively a short time, usually less than five years as Selinker puts it, and are possible for further development to target-like forms. Many errors by Chinese English learners, especially young school students, are temporarily fossilized. Permanent fossilization refers to that the learners errors in his interlanguage have remained for a pretty long period, usually more than five years according to Selinker’s time standard or even life time. Those errors seem to have already become fixed and cannot be corrected. 3.3 Error Fossilization and Language Competence Fossilization Error fossilization is the repeated appearance of errors that have been corrected many times but still remain in interlanguage and language competence fossilization refers to the fossilization of the pronunciation, structure and vocabulary of the interlanguage. Error fossilization can be easily found in the beginners or learners with low proficiency. On the contrary, language competence fossilization is always found in the L2 learners who have been learning the TL for a long period of time or the learners who are very fluent speakers of L2. 4 Causes of Fossilization 4.1 The Biological Model In 1967, Lenneberg, a biologist, argued that the Language Acquisition Device (LAD), works successfully only when it is stimulated at the right time roughly from two years of age to puberty, which is called the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH). Lenneberg believed that after lateralization (a process by which the two sides of the brain develop specialized functions), the brain loses plasticity. Lenneberg claimed that lateralization of the language function is normally completed at puberty, making post-adolescent language acquisition difficult. Once language development is obstructed, language competence becomes fossilized eventually. 4.2 Language Transfer As Lado (1957) put it, “Individuals tend to t ransfer the forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture. When both the native language and the target language have the same form, pattern or rule, positive transfer occurs and it facilitates learning. Negative transfer, also termed as interference, hampers learning. 4.3 Schumann’s Acculturation Model According to him, acculturation is the process in which changes in the language, culture, and system of values of a group happen through interaction with another group with a different language, culture, and system of values, i.e., a social and psychological integration of the learner with the TL community. The essential factor in the model is the degree to which the second language learner adapts to a new culture. L2 acquisition is driven not only by linguistic input, but also by attitudes, behaviors, beliefs, and values. Fossilization is brought about by a lack of or inability to process input, or a large social or psychological distance between the learner and the culture of the L2. 5 Strategies of Reducing Fossilization 5.1 Reduction Negative Transfer Language transfer can greatly influence the interlanguage and negative transfer may lead to fossilization in learners’ language system. So, it’s important to change this situation in order to reduce fossilization. If learners possess sufficient and accurate L2 knowledge, it will be easy for him to operate linguistic items at different levels and produce correct forms and if not, they are inclined to resort to their developed L1 system and make considerable deviances from the TL. 5.2 Exposure to Target Language Culture Since the lack of acculturation may lead to fossilization, it is really important for the English learners to access to the target language culture. When learning a foreign or second language, we should not only learn the mere imitation of the pronunciatio n, grammar, words and idioms, but also learn to see the world as native speakers do, that is to say, learn the ways in which the foreign language reflects the ideas, customs, and behavior of that society, learn to understand their “language of the mind”, o r acculturation. 6. Conclusion Fossilization is now gaining increasing attention and scholars are doing their best to explain why,to some extent,learners are short of native-like proficiency in their L2 learning. Yet as to how to account for the backsliding in learning at different levels and how to destabilize or defossilize the fossilized items remain to be further explored. Fossilization 王丽 0803 Foreign languages department 2008051322