The phenomenon of fossilization in Second Language Acquisition

【Abstract】In the way of second language acquisition （SLA）， students can often get to the stage of fossilization. It is treated as happening in the interlanguage （IL） stage. Even though second language learners may have positive attitudes， copious target language input and strong motivation to acquire target languages， they may still could not get rid of fossilization and achieve native-like language. Thus， fossilization may give rise to permanent IL attainment instead of native-like stage.

【Key words】fossilization； SLA

【作者簡介】張芊菁華（1987- ），女，漢族，陜西西安人，武警工程大學，助教，英語教育碩士，研究方向：英語教育與語言學。

Reasons to fossilization

There are many factors contributing to fossilization， such as age factor. According to the CPH theory， second language learners could only achieve their native-like target languages before puberty， especially in the accent aspect （Brown， 2007）. In consequence， the younger the second language learners are， the greater possibility for them to have full grasp of the target languages.

Second， learners dissimilar levels of satisfaction about their TL proficiency can also result in different degrees of fossilization.

Third， fossilization could be caused by negative attitudes toward corrective feedback. Based on their different reactions to the corrective feedback， they may head to totally opposite ways of fossilization.

Last， when second language learners overgeneralize the target languages based on their acquired knowledge， they may reach the stage of fossilization.

Impacts of fossilization

First， second language learners may keep incorrect forms for a very long period in spite of copious correct input.

On top of that， it can prolong the learning period and simultaneously impede language proficiency improvement from phonological aspect to pragmatic aspect. According to Wei （2008）， Chinese students have great possibility to reach the stage of fossilization in all these aspects. In terms of semantic aspect， due to the different interpretations， such as “dragon” represents strength and power in China whereas it is an evil symbol in Western countries.

Second language learners may have puzzles in these contrasts and consequently get to the phenomenon of fossilization.

Thirdly， fossilization may negatively influence the confidence of second language learners when they realize that they make the same kind of errors all the time but cannot correct them immediately.

Possible solutions

There are two dimensions： from students side and from teachers side.

From students side： First， second language learners should introspect themselves occasionally.

Second， learners should encourage themselves to get correction from outside environment， either from peers or teachers. According to Harmer （2008）， one of teachers major tasks is to provide praise or blame based on the performances of students.

Third， second language learners should build positive attitudes when fossilization occurs and find appropriate learning strategies to solve it if it is possible； such as they can be calm and try to find the most efficient way to get rid of it.

From teachers side， teachers should lead students to hold positive attitudes and acknowledgement of fossilization in SLA classrooms. As Ellis （2010） said， one of main tasks of SLA classroom teachers is to use their own theory and method to guide students and their teaching content. If teachers can introduce the phenomenon of fossilization to their students in advance， it will help the students build positive attitude when fossilization occurs. In this circumstance， students will continue their study of articles instead of quitting the work and let the fossilization happens.

In addition， teachers should provide suitable feedback to help learners get awareness of their fossilization， even help them get rid of it. As Mitchell & Myles （2004） claimed， fossilization could become an automatic process and remain in learners interlanguage for a long time.

Based on aforementioned points， it is the fact that fossilization is a cessation stage in learners IL acquisition stage. We want to explore some alternative solutions to reduce the possibility of fossilization. By doing so， students could get some help when they confront the fossilization； they can get information about how to acquire their second languages successfully as well.

References：

[1]Brown，H.D.（2007）.Principles of language learning and teaching.New York：Pearson Education.