Example

A learner who has lived in an English-speaking environment for many years but not
attended classes or studied for some time has problems with reported speech and forming
tag questions. His interlanguage has become fossilised.

In the classroom
Interlanguage is often heavily influenced by L1 and interference from this may make it
seem perfectly logical to the learner, although it is incorrect. It is important for teachers to
understand this and also to see interlanguage as a series of learning steps.