| In language teaching and observation, teachers of English often find that there are great differences among students of different levels, which cause a lot of difficulties for both the teaching and the learning. This phenomenon is everywhere in language teaching so that the causes of it must be studied and the solution to it has to be found.As Selinker (1972) put it, "most L2 learners failed to reach target language competence. That is, they stop learning when their internalized rule system contains rules different from those of the target language." Such phenomenon is referred to as fossilization. Since fossilization exists in language learning process, it is necessary to have a better understanding of fossilization. But there are different views as to whether there is fossilization concerning grammatical rules in the SLA theories. Some linguists believe that fossilization does exist while others argue that there is no fossilization concerning grammatical rules. This thesis is trying to study this common phenomenon from the perspective of interlanguage by means of Error Analysis.Based on Selinker's Interlanguage and Corder's "Error Analysis" theory and the available research of current literature documents, this thesis deduces the possibility of 'defossilizing' those fossilized grammatical items from theoretical point of view. In the teaching experiment, 68 subjects of two natural classes, who matched the experimental conditions, were picked out according to the questionnaire. Through the SPSS software, the ANOVA of Questionnaire, the Pearson Correlation Coefficients of different parts for the Pre-test and the One-sample T test between the Pre-test and the Post-test as well as the comparison of error-occurring frequency between the subjects' pre-experimental compositions and that of the post-experimental are obtained. By categorizing and analyzing learner errors and data got from the pre-test and the post-test, the thesis obtains the following results:1) Based on the analysis results within pre-test, the Pearson Correlation Coefficients between different parts of the pre-test are obtained and six fossilized grammatical items are picked out for the further test.2) In teaching experiment, those fossilized grammatical items are practiced and reinforced on purpose. The tendency is observed that those fossilized grammatical items begin todecrease and move along the continuum of Interlanguage system after the reinforcementof those grammatical items.3) With the data analysis results of the hypothesis testing between pr-test translation and post-translation, t values of six pairs are got, which are all larger than 2.00 of fixed t value. This means classroom instruction can help de-fossilize those fossilized ones.The thesis consists of five chapters. Chapter One mainly discusses the significance of the study. Chapter Two provides a picture of the current research on SLA. It also discusses the cross-sectional and longitudinal research abroad and at home about the researching status quo of Error Analysis, Interlanguage and fossilization in order to lay a foundation for the operation of the study. Chapter Three first discusses the function of EA in the study and deduces the feasibility of 'operationability' of fossilization in grammatical perspective from the theoretical level. Then, a modified Error taxonomy for the convenience of Error Analysis in the subjects' writings is established under the guidance of EA theory. Afterwards, a feasible plan for the study is set up and the hypothesis is put forward. Chapter Four provides the way data are collected and the result analyses are carried out. By the analysis of the questionnaire, the personal information and language educational background are provided; the comparison of cross-sectional study results and longitudinal study results supports the hypothesis. In Chapter Five, the conclusions are reached based on the experiment and the findings of data analysis. And its limitation and implication for further study are also given.This study tracks... |
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