Interlanguage, Error Analysis & Second Language Acquisition

Posted on May 3, 2025 in Other university degrees and diplomas

Interlanguage Studies

Interlanguage is a dynamic linguistic system developed by a learner of a second language (L2) who has not yet become fully proficient but is approximating the target language (TL). It represents the learner’s evolving L2 knowledge.

Characteristics of Interlanguage

  • Permeability: The learner’s system is open to influence from the outside (e.g., input, instruction) and the inside (e.g., L1 transfer).
  • Dynamicity: The system is constantly changing as the learner acquires new knowledge.
  • Systematicity: Despite variability, the learner’s language at any given point is rule-governed and systematic.
  • Variability: The learner may use different forms or rules in different contexts or at different times.

Contrastive Analysis (CA)

Researchers conducted contrastive analysis, systematically comparing two languages (the native language, NL, and the target language, TL). They were motivated by the prospect of identifying points of similarity and difference between the NL and the TL. It was believed that language teaching materials would be more efficient if based on contrastive analyses.

Lado proposed the Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH): elements similar to the learner’s native language will be simple to learn, while different elements will be difficult.

Linguistic differences were thought to predict learning difficulty:

  • When two languages are similar, positive transfer would occur.
  • When they are different, negative transfer (interference) would result.

Critical Review of CA

Serious flaws were revealed in Contrastive Analysis:

  • Underprediction: CA did not anticipate all errors, as not all errors are caused by L1 transfer.
  • Overprediction: Some predicted errors based on L1-L2 differences did not actually occur in learner language.

Error Analysis (EA)

Error Analysis provided a methodology for investigating learner language, specifically interlanguage. EA is connected with Chomsky’s view that language acquisition is not merely a product of habit formation but rather of rule formation. Chomsky’s theory received support from first language acquisition studies, which showed that children make systematic errors reflecting their rule formation process.

Different Error Analyses found that L2 learners often make similar developmental errors (intralingual errors) regardless of their L1. These errors were not due to L1 interference (interlingual errors), challenging the strong version of the CAH.

According to Corder (1967), errors are significant for understanding Second Language Acquisition (SLA) in three ways, as they provide information about:

  1. How much the learner has learned.
  2. How the language was learned (the processes involved).
  3. The strategies or devices the learner uses to discover the rules of the TL.

Explaining Errors

Explanation in EA is concerned with establishing the source of an error and accounting for why it was made. A general distinction is made between two main sources:

  • Transfer/Interlingual errors: Due to the influence of the Native Language (NL).
  • Developmental/Intralingual errors: Reflecting general characteristics of rule learning, similar to L1 acquisition.

Interlingual Error Subtypes

  • Overextension of analogy: Misuse of a TL item because it shares features with an L1 item.
  • Transfer of structure: The direct application of an L1 structure or rule to the TL.
  • Lack of a distinction in the L1: Use of a wrong TL item because a necessary distinction is absent in the L1.

Intralingual Error Subtypes

  • Overgeneralization: Applying a TL rule too broadly (e.g., using ‘-ed’ for all past tense verbs, including irregular ones).
  • Ignorance of rule restrictions: Applying a rule where it does not apply.
  • Incomplete application of rules: Failing to apply all necessary parts of a rule.
  • False concepts hypothesized: Errors arising from faulty understanding of TL rules.

Main Findings in Error Analysis

  • A large number of learner errors are intralingual (developmental) in origin, rather than solely due to L1 transfer.
  • Learners at elementary levels tend to produce more transfer errors than learners at intermediate or advanced levels.
  • Conversely, more advanced learners often produce more intralingual errors, particularly overgeneralization errors.
  • Transfer errors appear more common at the phonological (pronunciation) and lexical (vocabulary) levels than at the grammatical (syntax/morphology) level.
  • More transfer errors are observed in adults than in children; the influence of L1 transfer seems to increase with age.