Assignment - ATL

SUBJECT ASSIGNMENT:
APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE IN THE CLASSROOM CONTEXT /

GENERAL INFORMATION:

This assignment must be done individually and has to fulfil the following conditions:

- Length: between 6 and 8 pages (without including cover, index or appendices –if
there are any-).
- Type of font: Arial or Times New Roman.
- Font size: 11.
- Line spacing: 1.5.
- Alignment: Justified.

The assignment has to be written in this Word document and has to follow the
instructions on quotes and references detailed in the Study Guide.

Also, the assignment must be submitted following the procedure specified in the
document: “Subject Evaluation”. Do not send it to the tutor’s email address.

It is strongly recommended to read the assessment criteria, which can be found in the
document “Subject Evaluation”.

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 Assignment - ATL

Assignment instructions:

See the data collected below and answer the following questions:
1. Work out an IL generalization that might account for the forms in
boldface. Give your reasons for postulating this generalization.
2. What strategy/strategies do you think these learners have come up with
regarding lexical use?
3. What additional information, if any, would you like to have from these
learners to test your hypothesis?
4. How do these tests and results relate to the concepts studied in this
subject?

Do not answer the questions one by one, but address all of them in essay form.

SUBJECT’S BACKGROUND

Native Languages: Mixed.

Target Language: English.

Background Information: Intermediate level, students on an intensive

course.

Data Source: student compositions.

DATA:

Soccer is the most common sporting.

America refused continual supported our military request.

When he was 7 years old, he went schooling.

About two hours driving eastern from Bangkok.

After finished my college studied, I went to my country.

Doctors have the right to removed it from him.

There is a night for asleep.

Moreover it may lead to conflicting.

I am not going to get married when I will graduation the school.

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Important: you have to write your personal details and the subject name on the
cover (see the next page). The assignment that does not fulfil these conditions
will not be corrected. You have to include the assignment index below the cover.

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Student’s full name: Piñeyro, Romina Paola

Group:2017- 02

Date: January, 8th, 2018

Title:
INTERLANGUAGE, THE BRIDGE BETWEEN L1 AND L2

Acquiring, processing and learning another language is a complex and intricate

process along which the learner makes, by means of attempts and the making of
mistakes as well as comparing their L1 with their L2 in what we know as L1
interference, a number of assumptions about the target language and devises
strategies in order to internalize them. Consequently, each learner will somehow
develop their own unique version of the new language, which has been come to be
called interlanguage.
According to Selinker (1972), interlanguage could be defined as an idiolect that has
been developed by a learner of a second language (or L2) which preserves some
features of their first language (or L1), and can also overgeneralize some L2 writing
and speaking rules. These two characteristics of an interlanguage result in the
system's unique linguistic organization.
Interlanguage is then a bridge between the first language (L1) and the Target
Language, containing its own vocabulary, phonetics and grammar rules, generating
difficulties to the learner to reach the desired level of proficiency, as well as the teacher
in interpreting and assessing the production of the learner in the target language at a

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corresponding level. It is important for teachers to understand the errors their students
make and to target their lessons to each student’s individual needs. For the persons
who come into contact with nonnative speakers of English, whether in the course of
business or simply when travelling, awareness of the kinds of mistakes that learners
make and why they make them will help towards mutual understanding. It is of utmost
consideration that a teacher of EFL be constantly aware of the evolution of the learner
´s interlanguage, bearing in mind that a learner´s IL is in continuous change and
keeping register not only of the learner´s advances but also of the contents not yet
developed so as to distinguish errors from mistakes, and be able to categorize them in
order to establish a coherent relationship between what has already been learnt by the
students, their L1 and what is yet to be learnt. When EFL teachers are sensible to
lexical errors deriving from students’ own L1, students can be guided to learn L2 with
less difficulty, confusion and stress. (Swan, 1997)

ERROR OBSERVATION

Observing the sentences with the words in bold, we can perceive that vocabulary or
lexicon is the key issue as regards common mistakes among L2 learners. Lexical use
seems to represent one of the major problems second language learners face in
learning English. One of the reasons which may explain this problem could be the fact
that teachers use a lot of L1 during classes in order to instruct or correct the learner´s
production. Another aspect is the contact of the L2 learner with their own culture and
L1, which is commonly known as interference or language transfer. These students’
written productions show that most of the lexical deformations of the language are
connected to both problems with the L2 and interference from the L1. In this sense, it is
common that those learners who have still little knowledge of the L2 may have to cope
with difficulties in enriching and using their vocabulary accurately in different situations.
In the case of beginners, the mother tongue can be probably more beneficial to
beginners. Most learners’ error studies to date have not considered differences in the
errors made by learners at different stages of development, and consequently have
provided a static view of language acquisition (Ellis, 1994) . As they progress in their
learning the target language will take the lead. Presumably, in order to overcome
these difficulties, they might have devised different strategies. However, due to their
insufficient and naturally imperfect knowledge of English, the students produced wrong
words. Although this type of mistakes might not necessarily imply that they have great
difficulty in acquiring the language, the possible or predictable potential errors must be
given special attention in language teaching. All of them need the guidance of the

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teacher in order to face these mistakes and to be able to make sense of the correction.
Another strategy used by these students includes a sort of literal translation from L1 to
L2 at the same time that they are trying to use the language structures accurately.

ERROR ANALYSIS

Looking at the sentences in detail, a deeper analysis of the mistakes made can be
considered:
• A) in the case of sentence 1 Soccer is the most common sporting, the learner
seems to have thought that because most sports end with -ing (sailing, skiing, cycling,
etc.), or another probable generalization may be that _ing is a common ending for
nouns in general.The correct sentence should be: Soccer is the most common sport.
• B) In the case of sentence number 2: America refused continual supported
our military request , the main verb ‘refused’ is in the past so probably that is the
reason why the second verb is also placed in the past, regardless of the possibility of it
being a noun. This over generalization may be due to misinformation or a missing
word, such as a preposition. Probably what this sentence actually meant was that
America refused to continue supporting our military request.
• C) If we look at sentence number 3: When he was 7 years old, he went
schooling. This learner surely must have learnt that after the verb go (in any tense)
the -ing form follows (go fishing, go swimming, etc.), thus he / she generalized the form
and used went schooling, instead of went to school, which is a local misinformation
error. The correct sentence here is: He went to school when he was 7 years old.
• D) Looking at sentence number 4: About two hours driving eastern from
Bangkok the learner has probably learnt endings such as Southern America, Western
frontier, etc. and because of that prior knowledge he or she has concluded that it is the
rule to apply -ern ending when next to a place (in this case Bangkok) and not when the
word stands on its own like in the East, North, West. So, to conclude, sentence
number four should read: About two hours driving east from Bangkok
• E) In sentence number 5: After finished my college studied, I went to my
country it seems that the student has taken the word studies not as a noun but as a
verb, probably applying a general sense of past tense due to the context of the whole
sentence, and since all the other verbs in the sentence are in the past, so he put it
also in the past referring to an action that has already finished. The right sentence
should be: After finishing my college studies, I went back to my country.
• F) In sentence number 6: Doctors have the right to removed it from him, the
student could have interpreted that when an action is in the past the verb should be in

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the past. Or maybe he is confused with the rules of the causative use of have, since
this is an action done by someone else (doctor) to a another person (him), considering
that the rule for causative contains a past participle, which, in this case, could have
been “removed”. Maybe the student refers to the removal of an organ for an operation
of a transplant following the medical procedures after the corresponding authorization.
If we focus on the first possibility in which we said that probably the student had
thought that the sentence was in the past, we could infer that the removal has probably
already taken place, and this could be the reason why he uses that verb in the past,
despite the fact that the main verb is have in present tense. The correct sentence,
according to my analysis should read then: Doctors have the right to remove it from
him/Doctors have the right to have it removed from him.
• G) In sentence number 7: There is a night for asleep, this student has probably
misused the collocation to fall asleep with only the word asleep, probably assuming
that it can be used as verb too. It’s a global error so it could be difficult to establish
which the right sentence should be. There are many possibilities: There is a night to
sleep (early), if we infer that this sentence was taken as part of a trip itinerary, or
something similar: There is a night for falling asleep.
• H) In sentence number 8: Moreover it may lead to conflicting, we find a similar
mistake to the first sentence in which the learner knows that the ending –ing is
applicable to nouns, as is this case. So, he has overgeneralized the rule without
knowing that in this case the correct noun is “conflict”. The correct sentence should
read: Moreover, it may lead to conflict.
• I) In number 9: I am not going to get married when I will graduation the
school, this student is probably acquainted with the expressions such as school
graduation or graduation ceremony and has decided to use the same word as a verb,
as there are many cases of words which can be nouns and verbs without changing the
form. Another mistake which is not highlighted is the case of the subjunctive in
graduate instead of will graduate, since this is the verbal form of the conditional clause
in a first conditional construction. Having analyzed this, the correct sentence should
read: I am not going to get married when I graduate from school.
In general words, it is difficult to understand and determine the causes of these errors
and mistakes without having a close view at the context of the sentences. In order to
test our hypothesis, and be able to fully analyze and study these interlanguages, the
additional information I would like to have is:
• 1) the L1 of each of the students in order to determine whether the errors are
the result of negative transfer, that is, if we know which language each student speaks

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and which connection that language has with their L2, it will be clearer to establish
common or typical cases of interference or transfer mistakes.
• 2) The context where these sentences were taken from, such as whether they
belong to a student´s written production in the form of letter, description, etc, so as to
determine whether they are errors, mistakes or slips. Corder (1967) observed: errors
are significant in three ways: First errors are significant to the teacher in that they help
him to understand how much the learner has progressed and what remains for him to
learn. Second errors provide evidence for the learner to recognize how language is
learnt or acquired and what strategies and procedures are used by the learner to
discover the language. Third errors are important to the learner himself in which they
are a device the learner uses in order to learn. Also, Brown (2007), referred to mistakes
as: A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a slip,
seeing as a failure to use a known system correctly. Mistakes can happen in both
native and second language are the result of some sort of temporary breakdown,
hesitations, slip of the tongue, random ungrammaticalities, or imperfection in the
process of producing speech and can be recognized and corrected by native speakers.
So, if we consider these differences, then we will also see the type of correction,
feedback or work required to change or improve each of these students´
interlanguages.
• 3) Another important piece of information could be knowing what grammar
structures the students have been learning previous to this exercise, as probably they
might by trying to put them into practice.
• 4) The students’ age is also a crucial factor to determine the type of mistakes
and the interlanguage in order to determine what barriers or obstacles are
present in the acquisition of the language.

CONCLUSION

In the analysis of these 9 sentences, we have observed different characteristics of

interlanguage and how this is reflected in the learners’ oral and written production.
These characteristics have the role of reinforcing and second language acquisition
because the students may benefit from learning that some rules can be generalized
but some others not, or when applying a contrastive analysis between both their L1
and L2, but this is not enough for the learner to produce a native-like performance in
his/her language use. The English Language has a much different set of structures,
lexicon and relationship between spelling and pronunciation considering the
foundations of the language and its complexity along time (diachronic) and all this

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makes it a language difficult to understand and produce. In the case of English and
Spanish, there are pros and cons between its similarities and differences; many times
we find words of Latin origin that make understanding easier. But sometimes, words
that seem to be transparent to the Spanish foreign learner of English are really words
with different meaning, which we call “false friends”.
At the beginning of this assignment, I have mentioned the concept of interlanguage,
and, like Lennon and De Prada (n.d) express, it is the only evident resource for
teachers to know how language is being acquired, the only perceivable system of rules.
These systems come from the set of internal rules the learner has, for example, from
their mother tongue, and with this the learner elaborates his own strategies to
communicate. During this continuous process, learners tend to fossilize errors or
progress in their second language acquisition. As regards vocabulary, students learn
from general levels of categorization to particular and specific items of vocabulary as
their level of the language becomes more complex. Considering register and
appropriacy, these are aspects that the learner will master as he or she moves along
this bridge between L1 and L2 until he or she achieves L2 proficiency. This is why in
general words, the reflection and evaluation of each learner´s interlanguage must be
paid attention to.

REFERENCES
• Brown (2007) First Language Acquisition. Principles of language Learning and
Teaching. 5th Ed. Pearson. ESL
• Corder (1967) The significance of learner's errors. International Review of
Applied Linguistic

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• Ellis, R. (1994). The study of second language acquisition. Oxford: Oxford

University Press.
• Lennon, A. De Prada, E. (n.d.).Approaches to Language in the Classroom
Context. Funiber.
• Selinker, L (1972). "Interlanguage". International Review of Applied Linguistics.
• Swan, M. (1997). The influence of the mother tongue on second language
vocabulary acquisition and use. In N. Schmitt & M. McCarthy (Eds.), Vocabulary:
Description, acquisition and pedagogy (pp. 156-80). Cambridge: Cambridge University
Press.

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