(SLA) INTERLANGUAGE

Name    : Safitri Dyah Utami

NIM       : 2201411058

INTERLANGUAGE

The systematic development of learner language reflects a mental system of L2 knowledge which is often referred to as interlanguage. Interlanguage attempts to explain about “what is the nature of the linguistic representations of the L2 that learners form?” And “how do these representations change over time?”

Ø  BEHAVIOURIST LEARNING THEORY

According to this theory, language learning involves habit formation. Habits form when learners get stimuli from the environment then they try to response it. From the stimuli learners can learn by imitating models of correct language and making correct response. Learners can know that they have achieved the communication goal if the other person they are talking to understand what they mean or if they get what they want.

However, learning is not only a response to external stimuli, because learners can also learn from the systematic nature of their errors. The errors that learners make are signs that learner actively involved in constructing their own ‘rules’.

Ø  A MENTALIST THEORY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING

Researcher switched their attention from ‘nurture’ (how environmental factors shape learning) to ‘nature’ (how the innate properties of the human mind shape learning). This new paradigm was mentalist (or ‘nativist’) in orientation. According to this theory:

1.       Only human beings are capable of learning language.

2.       The human mind is equipped with a faculty for learning language, referred to as a Language Acquisition Device.

3.       This faculty is the primary determinant of language acquisition.

4.       Input is needed, but only to ‘trigger’ the operation of the language acquisition device.

Ø  WHAT IS ‘INTERLANGUAGE’?

‘Interlanguage’ was a unique linguistic system. It is type of language produced by second- and foreign- language learners who are in the process of learning a language.

The concept of interlanguage involves the following premises about L2 acquisition:

1.       The learner constructs a system of abstract linguistic rules. This called as a ’mental grammar’ and referred to as an ‘interlanguage’.

2.       The learner grammar is permeable. That is the grammar is open to influence from the outside (input) and from the inside. For example, omission, overgeneralization, and transfer errors.

3.       The learner’s grammar is transitional (learners change their grammar from one time to another by adding rules, deleting rules and reconstructing it). This results in an interlanguage continuum. That is, the learners construct a series of mental grammars or interlanguages as they gradually increase the complexity of their L2 knowledge.

4.       The systems learners construct contain variable rules. Variability that earners made reflects the mistakes that learners make when they try to use their knowledge to communicate.

5.       Learners employ various learning strategy to develop their interlanguages. Different errors from learners reflect different learning strategies.

6.       The learner’s grammar is likely to fossilize.

Ø  A Computational Model of L2 Acquisition

The concept of interlanguuage can be viewed as a metaphor of how L2 acquisition takes place. The learner is exposed to input, which is processed in two stages. First, part of it are attended to and taken into short term memory. Second, some of the intake is stored in long term memory as L2 knowledge. Finally, L2 knowledge is used by the learner to produce spoken and written output.