| Fossilization,a significant phenomenon in second language acquisition(SLA), refers to a process during which second/foreign language(L2) learners become stuck or fossilized in their language learning.Aspects of pronunciation,vocabulary usage, and grammar may become fixed or fossilized in L2.L2 learner's language is also called interlanguage,which refers to the intermediate states of a learner's language as it moves toward the target language.It is neither the learner's mother tongue nor the target language.It is between the native language(NL) and target language(TL),suggesting the half-way position it holds between knowing and not knowing the target language.Theoretically speaking,L2 learners move toward the TL and they reach the destination of TL eventually with the TL input creasing.As a matter of fact,most L2 learners,no matter how old they are or how long they have learned the TL,come to a "learning plateau" before they arrive at the destination.They stop from progressing after they come to this learning plateau.This phenomenon is called fossilization.This thesis probes into the Chinese non-English majors' interlanguage fossilization, which is based mainly on Selinker's theories of fossilization.Firstly,the author recalls the literature review of fossilization theory and its related theories.The author reviews the development of its definition,and synthesizes the theoretical explanations for fossilizations so far.Secondly,the author takes an empirical study both quantitatively and qualitatively to investigate the Chinese non-English majors' fossilization.In the quantitatively research,the author analyzes 80 non-English majors' compositions that are handed in as their homework.Then the author compares the results which are from the qualitative stud y with Chinese Learner English Corpus(CLEC).In the qualitative research,the author employs the questionnaire and interview to investigate the subjects who are from different schools or departments of Chongqing Normal University.Lastly,based on this empirical study,the author presents some pedagogical implications for teachers.At the same time,the author presents some limitations of the research. |
