Questions: Second Language Acquisition and Interlanguage

Question 1

A Spanish speaker learning English consistently says 'He watches always the news,' placing the adverb between the verb and object. A French speaker learning English makes the same error. What is the most accurate interpretation?

• A. Both learners are making careless performance slips that do not reflect their underlying knowledge of English
• B. Both learners have not yet studied the relevant grammar rule and need explicit instruction
• C. The Spanish speaker is applying L1 transfer; the French speaker is using a universal acquisition strategy — but in both cases the error is systematic and reflects the learner's current grammatical hypothesis, not randomness
• D. The error indicates the learners have fossilized at an early stage and will never achieve native-like word order

Answer: (C)

The defining claim of interlanguage theory is that errors are *systematic*, not random. A consistent pattern of misplacement reflects the learner's implicit grammatical hypothesis about the target language — in this case, applying a structural principle (adverb placement) that is grammatical in their L1 or reflects a universal developmental stage. The distinction matters: systematic errors are diagnostic of where learners are in their acquisition trajectory, while random slips are not. Both L1 transfer AND universal strategies are recognized sources of interlanguage patterns.

Question 2

Research shows that learners of many different native languages go through the same sequence when acquiring English negation (from 'no + verb' to 'don't + verb' to full auxiliary negation). What does this finding imply?

• A. L1 transfer is the primary driver of interlanguage development, since learners' first languages share this feature
• B. Universal acquisition strategies, independent of the learner's L1, shape developmental sequences in interlanguage
• C. English negation is uniquely complex and all learners require the same instructional sequence to master it
• D. This sequence reflects the order in which negation rules are typically taught in English language classrooms

Answer: (B)

If L1 transfer were the only driver, learners from different L1 backgrounds would show different developmental sequences — each shaped by their native language's negation system. The finding that learners from typologically diverse L1 backgrounds follow the same sequence points to universal acquisition strategies operating independently of transfer. This is one of the key pieces of evidence that interlanguage is not just L1 interference but a systematic developmental grammar in its own right.

Question 3

Interlanguage errors primarily reflect random slips in a learner's performance rather than their underlying grammatical competence.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: False

This is the misconception that interlanguage theory was specifically designed to correct. Interlanguage errors are *systematic* — consistent, predictable patterns that reflect the learner's current implicit grammar (competence), not lapses in attention or execution (performance). A learner who consistently places adverbs in a specific incorrect position is applying a rule, not forgetting the correct one. This distinction is foundational: treating errors as mere slips leads to surface correction; treating them as systematic hypotheses leads to understanding where the learner actually is.

Question 4

A fossilized interlanguage feature is one that has stabilized and stopped progressing toward the target, representing a stable grammar that the learner has ceased revising — not simply a persistent mistake.

• T. True
• F. False

Answer: True

Fossilization is the stabilization of an interlanguage feature even under continued exposure and feedback. It is not a failure to learn — it is a stable grammatical state. This raises important theoretical questions about whether adult learners have reduced access to the parameter-resetting mechanisms that allow children to acquire any human language. The fossilized feature is part of the learner's real grammar; calling it 'just a mistake' misunderstands its nature.

Question 5

Why does interlanguage theory treat learner errors as diagnostic rather than simply wrong? What does treating them as diagnostic reveal that correcting them alone does not?

Model answer: Treating errors as diagnostic means analyzing *which* errors are systematic, *which* reflect L1 transfer, *which* follow universal developmental stages, and *which* are fossilized. This reveals where learners actually are in their acquisition trajectory — the structure of their current implicit grammar. Correcting errors alone addresses the surface output but tells us nothing about the underlying competence being expressed. Diagnosis of systematic patterns reveals what grammatical hypotheses learners are testing, enabling teachers and researchers to intervene at the level of the learner's actual grammar rather than just patching surface forms.

The reframing — treating the learner's grammar as real and worthy of analysis — was one of the significant conceptual shifts in 20th-century applied linguistics. It shifted the unit of analysis from 'distance from the target' to 'properties of the learner's current system,' enabling a much more principled understanding of acquisition processes.