
Interlanguage is based on the theory that there is a dormant psychological framework in the human brain that is activated when one attempts to learn a second language. Interlanguage theory is often credited to Larry Selinker, who coined the terms "interlanguage" and "fossilization."
What is an interlanguage?
Now imagine your ledge is your native language and you are trying to conquer a second language: the other ledge. In this scenario, your bridge will be called interlanguage. Interlanguage (IL) is a linguistic system used by second language learners. Learners create this language when they attempt to communicate in the target language.
What is interlanguage theory of language development?
According to interlanguage theory, this seeming progression and regression of language learning is an important and positive manifestation of the learner's developing understanding of the grammar of the target language. An interlanguage can fossilize, or cease developing, in any of its developmental stages.
What is interlanguage error analysis?
Interlanguage (IL) is a term for the linguistic system that underlies learner language. We see that system when the learner tries to use learner language in unrehearsed communication ( Selinker 1972 ). In error analysis, you looked at learner language in terms of deviance from the target language norms; that deviance we call 'error.'
What is the International Language Learner theory?
It claims that only human beings are capable of learning a language because they have a language acquisition device in their brain, a ffaculty for learning the language. From this theory, the IL emerged as an exploration of how learners move towards learning a foreign/second language.

What is the concept of interlanguage?
Definition of interlanguage 1 : language or a language for international communication. 2 : a language produced by a learner of a second language that often has grammatical features not found in either the learner's native language or the language being acquired.
Who proposed interlanguage theory?
Larry SelinkerInterlanguage theory is often credited to Larry Selinker, who coined the terms "interlanguage" and "fossilization." Uriel Weinreich is credited with providing the foundational information that was the basis of Selinker's research.
What are 3 characteristics of interlanguage?
Factors that shape interlanguage include overgeneralization, learning strategies, language transfer, transfer of training, and strategies of communication. The final stage of interlanguage is called fossilization, and it is when a form freezes in the state it is in, correct or not.
What does interlanguage mean in linguistics?
Interlanguage (IL) is a term for the linguistic system that underlies learner language. We see that system when the learner tries to use learner language in unrehearsed communication (Selinker 1972).
What is interlanguage and examples?
Interlanguage is the type of language or linguistic system used by second- and foreign-language learners who are in the process of learning a target language. Interlanguage pragmatics is the study of the ways non-native speakers acquire, comprehend, and use linguistic patterns or speech acts in a second language.
What are the stages of interlanguage?
Selinker identifies five major processes that underlie IL behaviour. He identifies these as: language transfer, strategies of second language communication, transfer of training, strategies of second language learning, and finally over-generalisation of the TL linguistic material (Selinker, 1972).
Why is interlanguage important in second language acquisition?
The use of Interlanguage is also able to tell us whatever someone has been able to learn at a given point. One will also be able to know much about what one has to learn together with how and when. This concept has also led to the liberation of several methods that can be used to teach the target language.
What are Interlingual errors?
Chelli (2013) defined that interlingual errors are the result of language transfer, which is caused by learner's first language. Richard (1974:173) states if the learners of a foreign language make mistake in the target language by effect of his mother tongue that is called as interlingual.
Is interlanguage a learning strategy?
Interlanguage errors are believed as the result of cognitive mechanism or learning strategy used by second language learners.
What is interlanguage according to Larry Selinker?
“Interlanguage” was defined by Selinker (1972) as the separate linguistic system evidenced when adult second language learners spontaneously express meaning using a language they are in the process of learning.
What is interlanguage PDF?
In sum, interlanguage is a single system composed of hypothetical rules that have been developed through different cognitive strategies and are tested and modified by the learner during the process of comprehension and production.
How do you learn language theory?
The learning theory of language acquisition suggests that children learn a language much like they learn to tie their shoes or how to count; through repetition and reinforcement. When babies first learn to babble, parents and guardians smile, coo, and hug them for this behavior.
What is interlanguage according to Larry Selinker?
“Interlanguage” was defined by Selinker (1972) as the separate linguistic system evidenced when adult second language learners spontaneously express meaning using a language they are in the process of learning.
Who developed interlanguage theory and why interlanguage is important in psycholinguistics?
Furthermore, Selinker proposed that interlanguage is based on three basic principles: over-generalization from patterns found in the language being learned, transfer from patterns found in the learner's native language, and fossilization, the phenomenon of a learner's language ceasing to develop.
What are the major theories of second language acquisition?
Krashen's theory of second language acquisition consists of five main hypotheses:the Acquisition-Learning hypothesis;the Monitor hypothesis;the Input hypothesis;and the Affective Filter hypothesis;the Natural Order hypothesis.
Who came up with the critical period hypothesis?
Proposed by Wilder Penfield and Lamar Roberts in 1959, the Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH) argues that there is a specific period of time in which people can learn a language without traces of the L1 (a so-called “foreign” accent or even L1 syntactical features) manifesting in L2 production (Scovel 48).
What are the characteristics of interlanguage?
Characteristics. Interlanguage is dynamic and permeable. It serves as a bridge between L1 and L2 when learners lack knowledge and fine mastery of rules, but over time, learners progress. They refine certain rules and obtain new ones. Their competence changes and their interlanguage starts to reflect those changes.
Why do learners create interlanguage?
Learners create this language when they attempt to communicate in the target language. Interlanguage is affected by the learner's native language as they use their native language knowledge to understand and organize the second language or to compensate for existing competency gaps.
How does interlanguage help in L2?
Nonetheless, understanding interlanguage can help teachers understand what learners go through in L2 acquisition. They can develop reasonable expectations and prepare authentic and suitable materials to avoid inadequate training or early fossilization. Teachers may develop a deeper understanding of errors learners make and determine whether they need to make changes to their teaching plan. Errors can show learners' progress and ability and their struggles with using L2.
How do strategies of communication come about?
Strategies of communication come about when, during a conversation in L2, especially with a native speaker, learners may become more concerned with how fluent they sound rather than how accurate. Depending on when, where, and how communication takes place, learners make choices. They identify approaches that they feel comfortable with and that seem to work for them. For example, a learner may try to simplify L2 in a conversation by using simple constructions and simple words, which leads to repetition, but they feel comfortable at that level.
What is the final stage of interlanguage?
The final stage of interlanguage is called fossilization, and it is when a form freezes in the state it is in, correct or not. Instructors who understand interlanguage well can work to prevent fossilization. To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member. Create your account.
What is overgeneralization in L2?
Overgeneralization involves learners extending the application of a rule in L2. They group similar items together and try to predict their behavior based on a rule they already know. Using the same rule in new situations leads to errors: the plural for ''deer'' becomes ''deers''; the past tense of ''go'' becomes ''goed.''
What affects the formation of interlanguage?
Currently, there five agreed-upon factors that are believed to shape how learners' create interlanguage: overgeneralization, learning strategies, language transfer, transfer of training, and communication strategies.
What is an interlanguage?
An interlanguage is an idiolect that has been developed by a learner of a second language (or L2) which preserves some features of their first language (or L1) , and can also overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristics of an interlanguage result in the system's unique linguistic organization.
Who coined the term "interlanguage"?
Interlanguage theory is often credited to Larry Selinker, who coined the terms "interlanguage" and "fossilization.". Uriel Weinreich is credited with providing the foundational information that was the basis of Selinker's research.
What is interlanguage fossilization?
Fossilization. Main article: Interlanguage fossilization. An interlanguage can fossilize, or cease developing, in any of its developmental stages. Fossilization is the process of 'freezing' of the transition between the L1 and L2, and is regarded as the final stage of interlanguage development.
How does interlanguage research contribute to understanding of linguistic universals?
By describing the ways in which learner language conforms to universal linguistic norms, interlanguage research has contributed greatly to our understanding of linguistic universals in second-language acquisition .
What is interlanguage perspective?
It is possible to apply an interlanguage perspective to a learner's underlying knowledge of the target language sound system ( interlanguage phonology ), grammar (morphology and syntax), vocabulary (lexicon), and language-use norms found among learners (interlanguage pragmatics ). By describing the ways in which learner language conforms ...
How is interlanguage observed?
Interlanguage can be observed to be variable across different contexts. For example, it may be more accurate, complex and fluent in one discourse domain than in another. Variability is observed when comparing the utterances of the learner in conversation to form-focused tasks, such as memory-based oral drills in a classroom. Spontaneous conversation is more likely to involve the use of interlanguage. A learner may produce a target-like variant (e.g. 'I don't') in one context and a non-target like variant (e.g. 'me no') in another. Scholars from different traditions have taken opposing views on the importance of this phenomenon. Those who bring a Chomskyan perspective to second-language acquisition typically regard variability as nothing more than performance errors, and not worthy of systematic inquiry. On the other hand, those who approach it from a sociolinguistic or psycholinguistic orientation view variability as an inherent feature of the learner's interlanguage. In these approaches, a learner's preference for one linguistic variant over another can depend on social (contextual) variables such as the status or role of the person the learner is speaking to. Preference can also be based on linguistic variables such as the phonological environment or neighboring features marked for formality or informality.
What does Selinker say about interlanguage?
This comparison reveals a separate linguistic system. Interlanguage can be observed to be variable across different contexts.
Who created the interlanguage?
The term ' Interlanguage ' was first introduced by Selinker (1972 &1974) who referred it to as L2 systematic knowledge. independent of both L1 and L2. According to Richards et al. (1996), IL is the type o f language which can be produced. by FL/L2 learners who are in the process of acquiring or learning a new language.
What does language A represent?
Language A represents the learner's L1.
What is the influence of L1 in the learning of L2?
The influence of first language (L1 hereinafter) in the learning of second language (L2 hereinafter) has witnessed an intense debate during the past years, resulting in the prevalence of Error Analysis (EA hereinafter) over Contrastive Analysis (CA hereinafter). A great number of empirical studies indicated that neither L1 nor L2 was always responsible for learners' errors (Bailey et al. 1974; Krashen et al. 1978, 2003; Larsen-Freeman, 2002; 2003). CA and EA paved the way for Interlanguage theory (IL hereinafter) in describing L2 learners' errors in the acquisition process of L2. IL, which has been in vogue for the last years, has witnessed huge criticism by different researchers and linguists from various L1 backgrounds. They all came to state that there are many points in this theory which are not clear. In light of this, this study aims at reviewing and discussing the role of IL in describing and explaining learners' errors in the process of acquisition of L2. Therefore, theoretical foundations, theoretical assumptions, limitations and significance of this theory are discussed in detail. This review reveals that IL theory is almost no longer valid in the field of second language acquisition (SLA hereinafter) for numerous reasons.
How does Indonesian EFL affect the target language?
Indonesian EFL Learners experience erroneous speech in the process of learning the target language. Interlanguage, the errors that contain linguistic features which neither belong to the first language (L1) nor the target language becomes the focus of this study. The study aims to analyze the native and target language influence on the interlanguage produced by the students in their speech production. This study was designed in qualitative research approach. The data was collected through interviewed of 20 eighth grade students in English using a guided interview technique that contains 15 questions. The oral responses produced by the students were recorded, identified, described, and explained. The results show that in the syntactic and lexicon levels, both native and target language influenced the students’ interlanguage production. Native language influence includes 1) the use of Indonesian syntactic pattern; 2) the use of Indonesian acronym; 3) the use of Indonesian words; 4) omission of –s in plural forms; 5) omission of to be; 6) subject deletion; and 7) the use of verbs. Target language influence is observed in overgeneralization of articles, the use of to be, and the overgeneralization of ending –ed in the past tense.
What is the purpose of a website translation?
Purpose: Website translation requires an advanced translation to make the message transferred comprehensively. The purpose of this research was to analyze the translation quality of the Islamqa.info/id website in Indonesian as the Target Language (TL), translated from its original version in Arabic website, Islamqa.info/ar, as the Source Language (SL). Methodology: To discover the quality of translation work, three aspects could be rated: accuracy, acceptance, and readability. The more accurate, acceptable, and readable the translated version is, the easier the text will be understood, according to Mangatur Nababan's theory. Main Findings: The type of sentences and translation techniques were considered as the factors that could affect the translation quality. There were four types of sentences and seven techniques used in three articles from the "Education" section on Islamqa.info/id. From the analysis, it was found that the translation quality was scored 1.91 from the scale of 3.00. Implications/Applications: The implication of this research for translators, language scientists, researchers, teachers, or students is to make a good quality translation with high accuracy, acceptance, and readability score, a translator should be aware of internal and external aspects of the target language--not the source language only, since this research found that one expression could be commonly used in one language yet strange for other language's use. Novelty/Originality of this study: The results of this research could be considered for those who work on a website translation job, from Arabic to Indonesian, in particular. Since Arabic and Indonesian languages are very different from each other in terms of grammatical structure and form of expressions thus, this study has offered useful and practical suggestions for the translation of these languages.
What is the purpose of the study of Arabic language in Indonesian?
Purpose: To study the existence of the Arabic language in the Indonesian language mostly limited to terms used in Islam religion. Methodology: This article discusses the existence of Arabic literature in the Indonesian source text, a novel with the life in a pesantren as the setting, where the author of the source text needs to translate the Arabic expressions used in the story into Indonesian. Then from the Indonesian source text, the novel is translated into English. The method used in this research is the descriptive comparative method. The leading theory used for this research is the strategies of Translation by Vinay and Darbelnet (1995), what Arabic linguistic units involved in the Indonesian source text, and what strategy of conversion used by the author and the translator become the objectives of this research. Principal Findings: The results show that the Arabic linguistic units found are ranging from a word into a clause or sentence, and the strategies of Translation used in the target text do not always deal with one single procedure; sometimes, it involves a combination of some procedures. Applications of this study: The translation work may lead to similar as well as a contrastive linguistic phenomenon. People can learn more about languages involving in a translation, particularly when the structures of the source and target language are compared linguistically. Novelty/Originality of this study: This study covers the gap left in the previous research carried out by the same team entitled “Translation Equivalences of Islamic Terms in the Novel (The Land of Five Towers ‘Negeri Lima Menara’). This previous research used the same data source, Arabic expressions, in the novel. It focused more on the Arabic feelings relating to Islamic terms, such as names of five obligational prayers, names of optional prayers, activities in shalat, or praying. The rest of the Arabic phrases which are not used in this previous research are left unstudied.
What are the influences of Native language?
Native language influence includes 1) the use of Indonesian syntactic pattern; 2) the use of Indonesian acronym; 3) the use of Indonesian words; 4) omission of –s in plural forms; 5) omission of to be; 6) subject deletion; and 7) the use of verbs.
What is interlanguage analysis?
Interlanguage (IL) is a term for the linguistic system that underlies learner language. We see that system when the learner tries to use learner language in unrehearsed communication ( Selinker 1972 ). In error analysis, you looked at learner language in terms of deviance from the target language norms; that deviance we call 'error.' In interlanguage analysis, you can look at the same learner language but now you ask what system the learner might be using to produce the patterns you observe. Interlanguage is usefully viewed as a transitional linguistic system (at all levels: phonology, morphology, syntax, semantics, pragmatics) that is different from the target language (TL) system and also different from the learner's native language (NL) system. It can be described in terms of evolving linguistic patterns and norms, and explained in terms of specific cognitive and sociolinguistic processes that shape that system.
What is the difference between interlanguage and error analysis?
To illustrate the difference between error analysis and interlanguage analysis: an error analysis might tell you that a learner makes a lot of errors in marking gender in French, while an interlanguage analysis may show that that learner is using a system where masculine gender is used for all nouns and noun modifiers. This gender marking system results in some errors (e.g. when referring to females) but also some seemingly correct forms (when referring to males). The cognitive process of overgeneralization that leads to this pattern is very typical of interlanguage.
How to see systematicity in language?
One way we can see systematicity in learner language is in the common developmental sequence followed by learners from different native language backgrounds when they acquire such linguistic structures as questions or negation in English L2 or German L2. For example, videos in Tarone & Swierzbin (2009) show learners of English L2 producing the same stage 3 questions as they speak in unrehearsed communication tasks. In stage 3 questions, these learners start with a question word like "what" or "why" and then use declarative word order (Q + subject + verb + object):
How do developmental sequences in second language acquisition result from cognitive processes in the human brain?
Researchers believe that developmental sequences in second language acquisition result from cognitive processes in the human brain: language processing that all humans can be expected to use whenever they learn a second language. Research studies now suggest that it is common for learners to form overgeneralized rules at first, and also (as we have seen) that there are developmental sequences that learners can be expected to move through on their own, IF they are provided with adequate input in the language, the opportunity to use the language to communicate, and corrective feedback from more knowledgeable users of the language ( Lightbown & Spada, 2013 ). In other words, Corder’s (1967) construct of the learner’s ‘built-in syllabus’ has research support. For a review and update on current interlanguage research, see Han & Tarone (2014).
Do stage 3 questions appear in English?
Notice that stage 3 questions do not appear in English input from native speakers or English grammar books. Yet they are part of a seemingly universal developmental sequence for second language acquisition of English questions.
What Is The Purpose Of Interlanguage?
A new set of rules is obtained by refining certain rules. As a result, their competence changes and their interlanguage reflects that change.
What Is Interlanguage In Linguistics?
It is an idiolect developed by a second language learner (or L2) that preserves some features of their first language (or L1), but can also overgeneralize some of the rules of the second language.
What Is Interlanguage And Examples?
Language or linguistic system used by learners of a second or foreign language who are learning a target language is called interlanguage. Non-native speakers acquire, comprehend, and use linguistic patterns or speech acts in a second language through interlanguage pragmatics.
What Are The Four Characteristics Of Interlanguage?
The language of interlanguage varies across contexts and domains in this lesson. Overgeneralization, learning strategies, language transfer, training, and communication strategies are among the factors that influence interlanguage.
What Is Important To Know About Interlanguage?
Learners use interlanguage to learn the language they are currently learning. Languages change all the time, but they can become fossilised when learners do not have the opportunity to improve their skills. Teachers must understand this and see interlanguage as a series of steps in learning.
How Many Linguistic Processes Does Interlanguage Have?
IL behavior is driven by five major processes identified by Selinker. Linker, 1972) identifies these as: language transfer, strategies of second language communication, transfer of training, strategies of second language learning, and overgeneralization of TL linguistic material.
What Are The 5 Importance Of Interlanguage To Students And Teachers?
The development of interlanguage is dependent on five cognitive processes involved in second/foreign learning – first language transfer, transfer of training, strategies of second/foreign language learning, strategies of second/foreign language communication, and overgeneralization of the language.

Overview
Background
Variability
Stages of development
Fossilization
Linguistic universals
Versus creoles and pidgins
An interlanguage is an idiolect that has been developed by a learner of a second language (or L2) which preserves some features of their first language (or L1), and can also overgeneralize some L2 writing and speaking rules. These two characteristics of an interlanguage result in the system's unique linguistic organization.
An interlanguage is idiosyncratically based on the learners' experiences with the L2. It can "fossili…
See also
Before the interlanguage hypothesis rose to prominence, the principal theory of second-language (L2) development was contrastive analysis. This theory assumed that learners' errors were caused by the difference between their L1 and L2. This approach was deficit-focused, in the sense that speech errors were thought to arise randomly and should be corrected. A further assumption followed that a sufficiently thorough analysis of the differences between learners' first and secon…