中介语论文.docx

中介语论文.docx

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中介语论文

InterlanguageandForeignLanguageTeaching

Abstract

Interlanguage,itistheconceptthatfrompeople’sconstantlyexploringandanalysingthelanguagesystems.Itprovidesatheoreticalbasisforthemethodsofforeignlanguagelearning.Andalsoindicatesavaluabledirectionforforeignlanguageteaching.Thisthesismainlyexpoundtheconceptandthefeaturesofinterlanguage,anditsinspirationsforforeignlanguageteaching.

KeyWords:

Interlanguage;foreignlanguage;learners;teaching

摘要

中介语，作为人们不断对语言系统的分析和解释而出现的概念，为外语习得过程中的规律提供了理论依据，也为外语课堂教学指明了新的方向。

本文主要阐述中介语的概念、特征，以及对外语教学中所起到的启示作用。

关键词：

中介语；外语；学习者；教学

Introduction

TheinterlanguagewasfirstusedbySelinkerin1972.Andthenitbecameasignificanttheoryinsecondlanguageacquisition.Accordingtothetheory,learningforeignlanguageisaprocessofgraduallyaccumulatingandimproving,thewholeprocessisacontinuum.Itwillformaspecificsystemineveryperiodoflearningprocess.Also,accordingtotheinterlanguageresearch,thelearners’stagesandthelearnerstrategiescanbeknown.Thus,theinterlanguageplaysanimportantroleincognizingthecharacteristicsofforeignlanguagelearninganddevelopingthedesignsormethodsofforeignlanguageteaching.

.ABriefIntroductionofInterlanguage

In1960s,thelinguistsbegantousethestrategiesoffirstlanguageacquisitiontodiscusstheSLA,theytriedtodescribetheincorrectuseoftargetlanguageinSLA.Theinterlanguagewasproducedin1970s.ItbelongstoapartofcognitivelinguisticsandithasanimportanteffectonSLA.

1.1Thegenerationofinterlanguage

Selinkerinitiallyintroducedtheconceptofinterlanguagein1972,andvariousalternativetermshavebeenusedbydifferentresearcherstorefertothesamephenomenon;Nemser（1971）referstoapproximativesystems,andCorder（1971）toidiosyncraticdialectsandtransitionalcompetence.

Thesetermsreflecttworelatedbutdifferentconcepts.First,interlanguagereferstothestructuredsystemwhichthelearnerconstructsananygivenstageinhisdevelopment.Second,thetermreferstotheseriesofinterlockingsystemswhichformwhatCorder（1967）calledthelearner’s‘built-insyllabus’.

1.2Thefeaturesofinterlanguage

Subsequentdiscussionsofinterlanguagefocusedonitsthreeprincipalfeatures,allofwhichwereraisedbySelinkerinonewayoranother.

1.2.1Language-learnerlanguageissystematic

Theinterlanguageisarelativelyindependentlanguagesystem.Ithasauniquesetofpronunciation、grammarandvocabularysystems.Despitethevariabilityofinterlanguage,itispossibletodetecttherule-basednatureofthelearner’suseofthesecondlanguage.Hedoesnotselecthaphazardlyfromhisstoreofinterlanguagerules,butinpredictableways.Hebaseshisperformanceplansonhisexistingrulesysteminmuchthesamewayasthenativespeakerbaseshisplansonhisinternalizedknowledgeoffirstlanguagesystem.Ithasoftenbeenpointedout（e.g.Jakobovits1970;Cook1971）thatevaluatingsecondlanguageperformanceintermsofthetargetlanguagegrammarisunsatisfactory,becausethelearnerbehaves‘grammatically’inthesensethathedrawssystematicallyonhisinterlanguagerules.

1.2.2Language-learnerlanguageispermeable

TheL2learner’sinterlanguagesystemispermeable,inthesensethatrulesthatconstitutethelearner’sknowledgeatanyonestagearenotfixed,butareopentoamendent.Inmanyrespectsthisisageneralfeatureofnaturallanguages,whichevolveovertimeinwaysnotdissimilartothedevelomentsthattakeplaceinlanguage-learnerlanguage.

1.2.3Language-learnerlanguageisdynamic

TheL2learner’sinterlanguageisconstantlychanging.Howeverhedoesnotjumpfromonestagetothenext,butratherslowlyrevisestheinterimsystemtoaccommodatenewhypothesesaboutthetargetlanguagesystem.

.TheCausesofInterlanguage

Selinker（1972）suggestedthatfiveprincipalprocessesoperatedininterlanguage.Thesewere

（1）languagetransfer;

（2）overgeneralizationoftargetlanguagerules;（3）transferoftraining;（4）strategiesofL2learning;（5）strategiesofL2communication.Itisalsosaidthattheinterlanguagewasduetolearner’sinadequateorinaccurateinductionsandinferences.

2.1Languagetransfer

Itcanbedividedintotwoaspects:

interlingualtransferandintralingualtransfer.First,theinterlingualtransferisthattransferringthecontentsofL1totargetlanguage.Forinstance,attheprimarystageoflearning,learnersareunacquaintedwithsyntaxrules,theywillusethemodelsandrulesofL1indiscriminatelyinSLA.e.g.（天空上有只鸟。

）TheChinesestudentsmaytranslateitin‘Theskyhasabird’asaresultofChinesesentencestructureinterference.Second,intralingualtransfer‘reflectthegeneralcharacteristicsofrulelearningsuchasfaultygeneralization,incompleteapplicationofrulesandfailuretolearnconditionsunderwhichrulesapply’.

2.2Overgeneralizationoftargetlanguagerules

Learnersapplytheuniversalrulestothespecificwordsorstructures,andtheerrorsoccur.E.g.theplurals:

onefoot,twofoots.

2.3Transferoftraining

Whentheteachingmethodisimproperorusingtheunsuitableteachingmaterials,thestudentswilluseinterlanguage.Alsowhenteachersexplainthewordsorstructuresambiguousorusethetargetlanguageinwrongcircumstances,itmayleadthestudentstomakemistakes.E.g.inclass,ateacheremphasizeexcessivelythataddingan‘-ly’behindtheadjective,thenitbecomesanadverb.Thenlearnersmaydeemalltheadjectivescanbecomeadverbsafteradding‘-ly’intheend.

2.4Strategiesofforeignlanguagelearning

Therearetwoaspects.Inoneaspect,learnerscannotdigestthemassiveinputoftargetlanguageinashortperiod,thentheywillregardsometargetlanguagerulesasasimplesystem,thesemaybearesimplificationorovergeneralization.Inanotheraspect,iflearnerscannotfullyunderstandthedifferentrulesofgrammarintargetlanguage,theywillbeconfused.E.g.inEnglish,theverbsbehindthethirdpersonsingularandthepluralsalladdan‘-s’.

2.5Strategiesofforeignlanguagecommunication

Thisreferstosomeapproachesthatthelearnerscannotusetheavailableorcorrectexpressionsincommunicationbecauseoftheirlimitedforeignlanguage.Itcontainsavoidingsometopics、makingeccentricwordsandusingtheapproximateexpressionpatternsordrawingsupportfromfirstlanguagetocommunicate.

.TheInspirationofInterlanguage

Brooks（1960）,wrote:

‘Likesin,erroristobeavoidedanditsinfluenceovercome…’.Maybe,insomepointsofview,errorscanbenottoleratedaftertheiterativeexplanations.However,throughtheanalysiswecanseethatinterlanguageisthenecessaryprocessorperiodofforeignlanguagelearning.Howtotreattheinterlanguagecorrectly?

Orwhatinspirationstheinterlanguagecanprovideforforeignlanguageteaching?

Teachersprobablycantakesomeeffectivemethodsintheirteachingfromit.

3.1Arationalunderstandingoferror

Aserrorsweretheresultofthenativetransferoffirstlanguagehabits.Andwiththedevelopmentoflearner’sunderstandingandinternalizationoftargetlanguagerules,theerrorscausedbyL1interferencewillbegraduallydecreased,buttheerrorscausedbyovergeneralizationorsimplificationwillbeincreased.Teachersmusthaveacomprehensiveunderstandingoftheseerrors.Errorsarenotno-no,butthepathtotargetlanguagebetterlearning.Teacherscanknowthelearners’stagesthroughanalyzingtheseerrorsandthengivethemaproperevaluationandconduction.

3.2Apropertreatmenttoerror

Theinterlanguageisasortoflanguagebetweenfirstlanguageandtargetlanguage.Asfortargetlanguage,theinterlanguagewasconsideredaserrors,butmoreover,thelearner’sinterlanguagereflecttheirtruelanguagenorm.Theteachersshouldpayattentiontocorrectingtheerrorstimely.Foronething,teachersshouldbetolerantwithlearners’errors;Foranotherthing,teachersshouldalsobecautiouswiththem.Inlearner’searlylearning,theerrorswhichcontainthegrammar、pronunciationandpragmaticsshouldbecorrectedtimely,soasnottoformthewronghabitsorleadtofossilization.Atthesametime,teachersmustprovidetherightmodelsforlearners,thentheerrorsmaygraduallyvanishedthroughiterativecorrecting.Andtherightformswillbeconsolidatedandstrengthened.

3.3Processingteachingmaterials

Asforteaching,teachingmaterialsareimportant,butnotsoperfectforeveryone.Thiswillneedtheteacherstoworkovertheteachingmaterials.Therearetwoaspectsaboutprocessingteachingmaterials.

3.3.1Aboutdifferentculturalbackgroundsinteachingmaterials

Theculturalbackgroundisanindispensablepartinforeignlanguageteaching.Owingtothedifferentculturalbackgroundsbetweencountries,itmayaffectthelearner’sinterestsandmotivationsinlearningforeignlanguage.So,teacherscandealwiththeteachingmaterialsadequatelyinpreparationofclasses,forinstance,teacherscancontrastoranalysethedifferentculturalbackgrounds,helpthelearnersunderstandandaccept.E.g.anAmericanpraisedaChineselady:

You’resoprettytoday.AndtheChineseladysay:

No,no,I’mnotpretty,I’msofat.Actually,Chinesepeopleliketobehumble.ButtheAmericanmaythinkitisnotsincere.

Inaddition,someEnglishteachingmaterialsdidn’tmakeadistinctionbetweenAmericanpronunciationandEnglishpronunciation,thenthelearnersmaybeconfusedtolearnanduseit,furthermore,itmayleadtofossilization.So,teachersshouldpayattentiontochoosingandusingthematerials.

3.3.2Teachinglearnersinaccordancewiththeiraptitude

Differentlea