A Study Of Language Fossilization Of Non-English Majors

In the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA), there is little doubt that native-like mastery of a second language (L2) by adult non-native speakers is hard to attain. Failure in some aspects of the language is to be expected. Fossilization is perceived as a general failure, which can be defined as the impossibility of attaining native-like proficiency due to various factors and it has become a central concern for SLA researchers.To start with, the thesis offers the definition of language fossilization. The term is first used by Selinker (1972) and it refers to the phenomenon in SLA that second language learners fail to reach target language competence.Most of the studies on language fossilization are focused on the causes of this phenomenon. The causes of fossilization have been classified into internal causes, external causes and causes explained by the interactional model. The internal causes have something to do with biological factors and physiological factors. The most representative theory here is the critical period hypothesis. According to this theory, there is a period during which language can be acquired more easily than at any other time. According to the biologist Lenneberg, the critical period lasts until puberty, which is around 12 or 13 years old. After the critical period, complete mastery of a language will be really difficult. The external cause is explained by Schuman. The degree of a learner's acculturation to the second language group will control the degree of his/her Second Language Acquisition. According to this model, fossilization occurs when a learner's acculturation to the target culture stops. The third cause may be explained by the interactional model. According to this model, it is conversational interaction that determines whether a component of the learner's interlanguage system will cause fossilization or lead to progress towards second language learning. For example, during the interaction between teachers and students, positive feedback from the teacher will be an encouragement for the students. However, if there are some errors in the student's language which are not pointed out by the teacher, fossilization will take place.Based on the studies of fossilization, the thesis investigates different kinds of errors made by college students in their English compositions. The errors are classified into code errors and use errors from a communicative perspective. Those errors are then identified and categorized to trace their causes. The author found that after two-year English study, non-English majors still make the same kind of errors in their written production and the most common errors in these students' compositions are code errors. The author then makes an effort to analyze the causes of those errors.The implications of the study of fossilization for college English teaching have been explored in this thesis. The author offers some suggestions which may be helpful for solving the problem of language fossilization. The first one is that quality input should be emphasized. To do this, the correctness of teacher talk should be guaranteed;language materials given to the students should be both authentic and idiomatic and multimedia should also be used in the language classroom. The second suggestion is that teachers should provide necessary assistance. The author insists that topics of the composition should be selected with care and the students should be given some references so that they can get enough language to express their idea. In sum, in order to deal with fossilization, teachers have to give timely and purposeful help. The third suggestion is that ways of error correction should be improved. Some practical techniques for correcting writing are offered in this part. The fourth suggestion is that students should get rid of bad learning habits. The use of e-dictionaries is one of them. Another bad learning habit is that the students prefer to use Chinese rather than English in classroom activities. Besides, students' bad punctuation habit has also been mentioned. The fifth suggestion is that grammar awareness should be aroused. The present author emphasizes that students' knowledge of grammar needs to be consolidated. The sixth suggestion is that English idioms and idiomatic use should be emphasized so that the students can understand those fixed expressions correctly and use them properly in production. The seventh suggestion is that correct pronunciation should be emphasized to ensure correct spelling. The last suggestion given by the author is that dictation should be used in language teaching and learning.The author concludes the thesis by pointing out that understanding and studying interlanguage fossilization has great practical significance. There are still some deficiencies in the previous research. It can facilitate the understanding of the process offoreign language learning and it may also be helpful for searching for pedagogical strategies that can make foreign language teaching and learning more effective.