Fossilization:

Five central issues

ZhaoHong Han Teachers College, Columbia University Han@tc.columbia.edu SLRF 2002, Toronto, Canada
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The ultimate goal of second language acquisition research is to come to an understanding of what is acquired (and what is not acquired) and the _ __________________ mechanisms that bring second language knowledge about. (Gass, 1988:198; emphasis added)
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1. Background 2. Definitions and putative causal variables 3. Conceptual issues 4. Major methodological approaches and issues 5. Some concluding thoughts

Background

Chien-Shiung Wu

1942
with English still evident

1990
with her early difficulties English speaking idiosyncratic

One of the most enduring and fascinating problems confronting researchers of second language acquisition (SLA) is
whether adults can ever acquire native-like competence in a second language (L2),

One of the most enduring and fascinating problems confronting researchers of second language acquisition (SLA) is
whether this is an accomplishment reserved for children who start learning at a relatively early age
(Kellerman, 1995: 219)
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For most of us the acquisition of second language is less spectacular. If we are past the age of around 7-10 years the acquisition of an L2, in marked contrast to the way we acquired our first language (L1), can turn out to be rather slow, laborious and, even in talented L2 learners, tends to stop short of native-like proficiency.
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This "stopping short" has been referred to as fossilization (Selinker, 1972) or incompleteness (Schachter, 1990). It is one of the noticeable characteristics of second language acquisition. (Towell & Hawkins, 1994:2)
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Definitions

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Selinker (1972)

Fossilization, a mechanism underlies

surface linguistic material which speakers will tend to keep in their IL productive performance, no matter what the age of the learner or the amount of instruction he receives in the TL. (Selinker 1972: 229)

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Selinker (1972)
[F]ossilizable linguistic phenomena are linguistic items, rules, and sub-systems which speakers of a particular L1 tend to keep in their IL relative to a particular TL, no matter what the age of the learner or amount of explanation and instruction he receives in the TL....
(Selinker, 1972: 215)
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Selinker (1978)

a permanent cessation of IL IL learning learning before the learner has attained TL norms at at all levels of linguistic linguistic structure structure and and in in all all discourse domains in spite of the learners positive ability, opportunity, and motivation to learn and acculturate into target society. (Selinker & Lamendella, 1978: 187)

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Selinker (1996)
[F]ossilization

is the process whereby the learner creates a cessation of interlanguage interlanguage learning, thus stopping the interlanguage from developing, from developing, it is hypothesized, it is hypothesized, in a permanent in a way . The permanent way . argument is that no adult can hope to ever speak a second language in such a way that s/he is indistinguishable from native speakers of that language. (Selinker, 1996)
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Lowther
Fossilization, as presented in much of the literature, is understood to be the inability of a person to attain nativelike ability in the target language. (Lowther, 1983: 127; emphasis added)

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Ellis (1985: 48)

Fossilized structures can be realized as errors or as correct target language forms.

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Ellis (1985: 48)

Fossilized structures can be realized as errors or as correct target language forms.

If, when fossilization occurs, the learner has reached a stage of development in which feature x in his interlanguage has assumed the same form as in the target language, then fossilization of the correct form will occur.
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Ellis (1985: 48)

Fossilized structures can be realized as errors or as correct target language forms.

If, however, the learner has reached a stage in which feature y still does not have the same form as the target language, the fossilization will manifest itself as error.

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Vigil & Oller (1976:282)

[W]e will extend the notion of fossilization to any case where grammatical rules, construed in the broadest sense, become relatively permanently incorporated into a psychologically real grammar.

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Vigil & Oller (1976:282)

[A]n adequate explanation must account for the incorporation of rules into developing grammars in relatively permanent form regardless of whether those rules conform or do not conform to the norms of the language which is being learned.

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Vigil & Oller (1976:282)

It is not only the fossilization of so-called 'errors' that must be explained, but also the fossilization of correct forms that conform to the target language norms.

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Hyltenstam (1988:68)
Fossilization -- according to observations -- is a process that may occur in the second language acquisition context as opposed to first language acquisition.

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Hyltenstam (1988:68)
It covers features of the second language learners interlanguage that deviate from the native speaker norm and are not developing any further, or deviant features which - although seemingly left behind -- re-emerge in the learners speech under certain conditions.

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Hyltenstam (1988:68)
Thus, the learner has stopped learning or has reverted to earlier stages of acquisition.

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Bley-Vroman (1989:47-49)
It has long been noted that foreign language learners reach a certain stage of learning a stage short of success - and that learners then permanently stabilize at this stage.

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Bley-Vroman (1989:47-49)
Development ceases, and even serious conscious efforts to change are often fruitless. Brief changes are sometimes observed, but they do not 'take'. The learner backslides to the stable state.

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Tarone (1994:1715)
A central characteristic of any interlanguage is that it fossilizes -- that is, it ceases to develop at some point short of full identity with the target language.

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Han (1998:50)

COGNITIVE LEVEL: Fossilization involves those cognitive processes, or underlying mechanisms that produce permanently stabilized IL forms. EMPIRICAL LEVEL: Fossilization involves those stabilized interlanguage forms that remain in learner speech or writing over time, no matter what the input or what the learner does.
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Putative causal variables

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Issue 1: Global or local fossilization?

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Issue 2:
L2 ultimate attainment and fossilization

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General failure Differential success/failure

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Bley-Vroman (1989:8)
[T]hey achieve very different degrees of language mastery. Few, it seems, achieve native-like proficiency. Some stop (or, to use Selinkers 1972 term, fossilize) at a very elementary level. Others come between the two extremes.
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Hyltenstam and Abrahamsson (2002:164)

The ultimate attainment of individual L2 learners varies enormously in its approximation to nativelike proficiency, although some individuals may reach very high levels of proficiency and in some cases even pass as native speakers.
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Three facets of L2 ultimate attainment

Cross-learner general failure (general) Inter-learner differential success/failure (general) Intra-learner differential success/failure (local)

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Issue 3:
Fossilization as product or process

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Issue 4:
Stabilization or fossilization?

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Major empirical approaches

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longitudinal typical-error advanced-learner corrective-feedback length-of-residence (LoR)

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Issue 5: 5 years or 10 years?

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Larsen-Freeman (1997:159)
While interlanguages of speakers of various first language learning English as a foreign language have much in common, they also are distinctive, each constrained by the strange attractors of their L1s, which may be greater than the force of the strange attractor of English. Thus, the English pronunciation of a native speaker of Spanish will differ from that of a native speaker of Chinese.
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Larsen-Freeman (1997:159)
Many other fundamental differences mark the challenges present for learners from one native language background as for another. Besides the obvious linguistically-based differences are the learner's cultural backgrounds and reasons for learning (not learning) a second or foreign language in the first place.

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Some concluding thoughts

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