Five central issues

1
Fossilization
Five central issues
ZhaoHong Han Teachers College, Columbia
University Han_at_tc.columbia.edu SLRF 2002,
Toronto, Canada
2

• The ultimate goal of second language acquisition
  research is to come to an understanding of what
  is acquired
• 
  and the mechanisms that bring second language
  knowledge about.

(and what is not acquired)
_ __________________
(Gass, 1988198 emphasis added)
3

• 1. Background
• 2. Definitions and putative causal variables
• 3. Conceptual issues
• 4. Major methodological approaches and issues
• 5. Some concluding thoughts

4
Background
5
Chien-Shiung Wu

• 1990

• 1942

with her early difficulties with English still
evident
speaking idiosyncratic English
6
One of the most enduring and fascinating problems
confronting researchers of second language
acquisition (SLA) is
whether adults can ever acquire native-like
competence in a second language (L2),
7
(Kellerman, 1995 219)
One of the most enduring and fascinating problems
confronting researchers of second language
acquisition (SLA) is
whether this is an accomplishment reserved for
children who start learning at a relatively early
age
8
For most of us the acquisition of second language
is less spectacular. If we are past the age of
around 7-10 years the acquisition of an L2, in
marked contrast to the way we acquired our first
language (L1), can turn out to be rather slow,
laborious and, even in talented L2 learners,
tends to stop short of native-like proficiency.

9
This "stopping short" has been referred to as
fossilization (Selinker, 1972) or incompleteness
(Schachter, 1990). It is one of the noticeable
characteristics of second language acquisition.
(Towell Hawkins, 19942)
This "stopping short" has been referred to as
fossilization (Selinker, 1972) or incompleteness
(Schachter, 1990). It is one of the noticeable
characteristics of second language acquisition.

10
Definitions
11
Selinker
(1972)

• Fossilization, a mechanism underlies surface
  linguistic material which speakers will tend to
  keep in their IL productive performance,

• Fossilization, a mechanism underlies surface
  linguistic material which speakers will tend to
  keep in their IL productive performance,

no matter what the
age of the learner or the amount of instruction
he receives in the TL.

(Selinker 1972 229)
12
Selinker
(1972)
Fossilizable linguistic phenomena are
linguistic items, rules, and sub-systems which
speakers of a particular L1 tend to keep in their
IL relative to a particular TL,

no matter what the age of the learner
or amount of explanation and instruction he
receives in the TL.... (Selinker, 1972 215)
13
Selinker
(1978)

• a permanent cessation of IL learning before the
  learner has attained TL norms at all levels of
  linguistic structure and in all discourse domains

• a permanent cessation of IL learning before the
  learner has attained TL norms at all levels of
  linguistic structure and in all discourse domains

in spite of
the learners positive ability, opportunity, and
motivation to learn and acculturate into target
society.
(Selinker Lamendella, 1978 187)
14
Selinker
(1996)

• Fossilization is the process whereby the
  learner creates a cessation of interlanguage
  learning, thus stopping the interlanguage from
  developing, it is hypothesized, in a permanent
  way .

• Fossilization is the process whereby the
  learner creates a cessation of interlanguage
  learning, thus stopping the interlanguage from
  developing, it is hypothesized, in a permanent
  way .

The argument is that no adult can
hope to ever speak a second language in such a
way that s/he is indistinguishable from native
speakers of that language.
(Selinker, 1996)
15
Lowther

• Fossilization, as presented in much of the
  literature, is understood to be the
  of a person to attain nativelike ability in
  the target language.
  (Lowther, 1983 127 emphasis added)
  

inability
16
Ellis
(1985 48)

• Fossilized structures can be realized as errors
  or as correct target language forms.

• Fossilized structures can be realized as errors
  or as correct target language forms.

17
Ellis
(1985 48)

• Fossilized structures can be realized as errors
  or as correct target language forms.

• If, when fossilization occurs, the learner has
  reached a stage of development in which feature x
  in his interlanguage has assumed the same form as
  in the target language, then fossilization of the
  correct form will occur.

18
Ellis
(1985 48)

• Fossilized structures can be realized as errors
  or as correct target language forms.

• If, however, the learner has reached a stage in
  which feature y still does not have the same form
  as the target language, the fossilization will
  manifest itself as error.

19
Vigil Oller
(1976282)

• We will extend the notion of fossilization to
  any case where grammatical rules, construed in
  the broadest sense, become relatively permanently
  incorporated into a psychologically real grammar.

20
Vigil Oller
(1976282)

• An adequate explanation must account for the
  incorporation of rules into developing grammars
  in relatively permanent form regardless of
  whether those rules conform or do not conform to
  the norms of the language which is being learned.

21
Vigil Oller
(1976282)

• It is not only the fossilization of so-called
  'errors' that must be explained, but also the
  fossilization of correct forms that conform to
  the target language norms.

It is not only the fossilization of so-called
'errors' that must be explained, but also the
fossilization of correct forms that conform to
the target language norms.
It is not only the fossilization of so-called
'errors' that must be explained, but also the
fossilization of correct forms that conform to
the target language norms.
22
Hyltenstam
(198868)

• Fossilization -- according to observations -- is
  a process that may occur in the second language
  acquisition context as opposed to first language
  acquisition.

Fossilization -- according to observations -- is
a process that may occur in the second language
acquisition context as opposed to first language
acquisition.
23
Hyltenstam
(198868)

• It covers features of the second language
  learners interlanguage that deviate from the
  native speaker norm and are not developing any
  further, or deviant features which - although
  seemingly left behind -- re-emerge in the
  learners speech under certain conditions.

24
Hyltenstam
(198868)

• Thus, the learner has stopped learning or has
  reverted to earlier stages of acquisition.

25
Bley-Vroman
(198947-49)

• It has long been noted that foreign language
  learners reach a certain stage of learning - a
  stage short of success - and that learners then
  permanently stabilize at this stage.

It has long been noted that foreign language
learners reach a certain stage of learning - a
stage short of success - and that learners then
permanently stabilize at this stage.
26
Bley-Vroman
(198947-49)

• Development ceases, and even serious conscious
  efforts to change are often fruitless. Brief
  changes are sometimes observed, but they do not
  'take'. The learner backslides to the stable
  state.

27
Tarone
(19941715)

• A central characteristic of any interlanguage is
  that it fossilizes -- that is, it ceases to
  develop at some point short of full identity with
  the target language.

28
Han
(199850)

• COGNITIVE LEVEL

• COGNITIVE LEVEL
• Fossilization involves those cognitive
  processes, or underlying mechanisms that produce
  permanently stabilized IL forms.

• EMPIRICAL LEVEL

• EMPIRICAL LEVEL
• Fossilization involves those stabilized
  interlanguage forms that remain in learner speech
  or writing over time, no matter what the input or
  what the learner does.

29
Putative causal variables
30
Issue 1
Global
or
local fossilization?
31
Issue 2
L2 ultimate attainment and fossilization
32

• General failure
• Differential success/failure

33
Bley-Vroman
(19898)

• They achieve very different degrees of
  language mastery.

Few, it
seems, achieve native-like proficiency.
Some stop (or, to use Selinkers 1972 term,
fossilize) at a very elementary level.
Others come between the two
extremes.
34
Hyltenstam and Abrahamsson
(2002164)

• The ultimate attainment of individual L2 learners
  varies enormously in its approximation to
  nativelike proficiency, although some individuals
  may reach very high levels of proficiency and in
  some cases even pass as native speakers.

35
Three facets of L2 ultimate attainment

• Cross-learner general failure (general)
• Inter-learner differential success/failure
  (general)
• Intra-learner differential success/failure
  (local)

36
Issue 3
Fossilization as
product
or
process
37
Issue 4
fossilization?
Stabilization
or
38
Major empirical approaches
39

• longitudinal
• typical-error
• advanced-learner
• corrective-feedback
• length-of-residence (LoR)

40
Issue 5
years or years?
5
10
41
Larsen-Freeman
(1997159)
While interlanguages of speakers of various first
language learning English as a foreign language
have much in common,
they also
are distinctive,
each constrained by the strange attractors of
their L1s, which may be greater than the force of
the strange attractor of English.

• 
  Thus, the English pronunciation of a
  native speaker of Spanish will differ from that
  of a native speaker of Chinese.

42
Larsen-Freeman
(1997159)

• Many other fundamental differences mark the
  challenges present for learners from one native
  language background as for another. Besides the
  obvious linguistically-based differences are the
  learner's cultural backgrounds and reasons for
  learning (not learning) a second or foreign
  language in the first place.

Many other fundamental differences mark the
challenges present for learners from one native
language background as for another. Besides the
obvious linguistically-based differences are the
learner's cultural backgrounds and reasons for
learning (not learning) a second or foreign
language in the first place.
Many other fundamental differences mark the
challenges present for learners from one native
language background as for another. Besides the
obvious linguistically-based differences are the
learner's cultural backgrounds and reasons for
learning (not learning) a second or foreign
language in the first place.
Many other fundamental differences mark the
challenges present for learners from one native
language background as for another. Besides the
obvious linguistically-based differences are the
learner's cultural backgrounds and reasons for
learning (not learning) a second or foreign
language in the first place.
43
Some concluding thoughts