Cover not available
Part of
Interlanguage: Forty years later
Edited by ZhaoHong Han and Elaine Tarone
[Language Learning & Language Teaching 39] 2014
► pp. 7–26

Chapter 1. Enduring questions from the Interlanguage Hypothesis

| University of Minnesota
This chapter claims that the Interlanguage Hypothesis is best understood, not as a theory of second language acquisition (SLA), but as a set of questions that motivate divergent answers and research programs. Selinker’s (1972) basic question is whether there is a linguistic system that underlies the output of second language learners. Related questions that continue to stimulate research focus on: the relationship between first and second language acquisition, whether and how the linguistic systems formed in SLA fossilize, and whether and how learners’ interlanguage use varies in different social situations. The chapter also considers related questions not addressed in Selinker (1972): the impact of alphabetic print literacy on interlanguage development, and whether interlanguages are features of speech communities.
Published online: 30 April 2014
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/lllt.39.03ch1
References (61)
References
Adjemian, C. (1976). On the nature of interlanguage systems. Language Learning , 26, 297–320. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bayley, R., & Preston, D. (Eds.) (1996). Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Variation . Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bayley, R., & Tarone, E. (2011). Variationist perspectives. In A. Mackey & S. Gass (Eds.), Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (pp. 41–56). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Beebe, L. (1980). Sociolinguistic variation and style shifting in second language acquisition. Language Learning , 30, 433–447. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Beebe, L., & Zuengler, J. (1983). Accommodation theory: An explanation for style shifting in second language dialects. In N. Wolfson & E. Judd (Eds.). Sociolinguistics and Language Acquisition (pp. 195–213). Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Bell, A. (1984). Language style as audience design. Language in Society , 13, 145–204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bigelow, M., DelMas, R., Hansen, K., & Tarone, E. (2006). Literacy and the processing of oral recasts in SLA, TESOL Quarterly , 40(4), 665–689. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Birdsong, D. (Ed.). (1999). Second Language Acquisition and the Critical Period Hypothesis . Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
(2006). Age and second language acquisition and processing: A selective overview. In M. Gullberg & P. Indefrey (Eds.), The Cognitive Neuroscience of Second Language Acquisition . Malden, MA: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bley-Vroman, R. (1983). The comparative fallacy in interlanguage studies: The case of systematicity. Language Learning , 33, 1–17. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cook, V.J. (1991). The poverty-of-the-stimulus argument and multi-competence. Second Language Research , 7(2), 103–117. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1992). Evidence for multi-competence. Language Learning , 42(4), 557–591. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1996). Competence and multi-competence. In G. Brown, K. Malmkjaer & J. Williams (Eds.), Performance and Competence in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 57–69). Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Corder, S.P. (1967). The significance of learners' errors. International Review of Applied Linguistics , 5, 160–170. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dickerson, L. (1975). The learner’s interlanguage as a system of variable rules. TESOL Quarterly , 9, 401–407. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Doughty, C. & Williams, J. (1998). Focus-on-form in Classroom Second Language Acquisition . Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Eckman, F., Bell, L., & Nelson, D. (Eds.). (1984). Universals of Second Language Acquisition . Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Ellis, N. (1998). Emergentism, connectionism and language learning. Language Learning , 48, 631–664. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ellis, R. (2002). Does form-focused instruction affect the acquisition of implicit knowledge? Studies in Second Language Acquisition , 24, 223–236. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006). Modeling learning difficulty and second language proficiency: The differential contributions of implicit and explicit knowledge. Applied Linguistics , 27, 431–463. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Eubank, L. (Ed.). (1991). Point Counterpoint: Universal Grammar in the Second Language . Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fasold, R., & Preston, D. (2007). The psycholinguistic unity of inherent variability: Old Occam whips out his razor. In R. Bayley & C. Lucas(Eds), Sociolinguistic Variation: Theory, Methods, and Applications (pp. 45–69). Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Fotos, S., & Nassaji, H. (2006). Form-focused Instruction and Teacher Education: Studies in Honour of Rod Ellis . Oxford,: OUP.Google Scholar
Freeman, D., & Johnson, D. (1998). Reconceptualizing the knowledge-base of language teacher education. TESOL Quarterly , 32, 397–418. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gass, S. (1989). Language universals and second language acquisition. Language Learning , 39, 497–534. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Gatbonton, D. (1975). Systematic Variations in Second Language Speech: A Sociolinguistic Study . Unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, McGill University.Google Scholar
Hakuta, K., Bialystok, E., & Wiley, E. (2003). Critical evidence: A test of the critical period hypothesis for second language acquisition. Psychological Science , 14, 31–38. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Han, Z.-H. (2004). Fossilization in Adult Second Language Acquisition . Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Han, Z.-H., & Odlin, T. (Eds.). (2006). Studies of Fossilization in Second Language Acquisition . Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Krashen, S. (1976). Formal and informal environments in language learning and language acquisition. TESOL Quarterly , 10, 157–168. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1981). Second Language Acquisition and Learning . Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
(1982). Principles and Practice in Second Language Acquisition . Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
(1985). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications . London: Longman.Google Scholar
Labov, W. (1970). The study of language in its social context. Studium Generale , 23, 30–87.Google Scholar
Long, M. (1991). Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. In K. de Bot, R. Ginsberg, & C. Kramsch (Eds.), Foreign Language Research in Cross-cultural Perspective (pp. 39–52). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
MacWhinney, B. (2008). A unified model. In P. Robinson & N. Ellis (Eds.), Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (pp. 341–371). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
(2012). The logic of the unified model. In S. Gass & A. Mackey (Eds.), The Routledge Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (pp. 211–227). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Paradis, M. (2004). A Neurolinguistic Theory of Bilingualism . Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Preston, D. (1989). Sociolinguistics and Second Language Acquisition . Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Rampton, B. (1995). Crossing: Language and Ethnicity among Adolescents . London: Longman.Google Scholar
Robinson, P., & Ellis, N. (2008). Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition . New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Schachter, J. (1996). Maturation and the issue of universal grammar in second language acquisition. In W.C. Ritchie & T.K. Bhatia (Eds.), Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (pp. 159–194). San Diego, CA: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Schmidt, R.W. (2001). Attention. In P. Robinson (Ed.), Cognition and Second Language Instruction . Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Selinker, L. 1972. Interlanguage. IRAL: International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching , 10, 209–241. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1992). Rediscovering Interlanguage . London: Longman.Google Scholar
Selinker, L., & Douglas, D. (1985). Wrestling with 'context' in interlanguage theory. Applied Linguistics , 6, 190–204. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Selinker, L., & Gass, S. (1984). Workbook in Second Language Acquisition . Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Selinker, L., & Lakshmanan, U. (1992). Language transfer and fossilization: The ‘multiple effects principle’. In S. Gass & L. Selinker (Eds.), Language Transfer in Language Learning, 2nd ed . (pp. 47–70). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Selinker, L, Swain, M., & Dumas, G. (1975). The interlanguage hypothesis extended to children. Language Learning , 25, 139–152. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M., & Truscott, J. (2005). Stages or continua in second language acquisition: A MOGUL solution. Applied Linguistics , 2, 219–240. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Swain, M. (1995). Three functions of output in second language learning. In G. Cook & B. Seidlhofer (Eds.) Principle and Practice in Applied Linguistics: Studies in Honour of H.G. Widdowson (pp. 125–144). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Tarone, E. (1979). Interlanguage as chameleon. Language Learning , 29, 181–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1983). On the variability of interlanguage systems. Applied Linguistics , 4, 143–163. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(1988). Variation in Interlanguage . London: Edward Arnold.Google Scholar
Tarone, E., & Liu, G-Q. (1995). Situational context, variation and SLA theory. In G. Cook & B. Seidlhofer (Eds.), Principle and Practice in Applied Linguistics: Studies in Honour of H.G. Widdowson (pp. 107–124). Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Tarone, E., Swierzbin, B., & Bigelow, M. (2006). The impact of literacy level on features of interlanguage in oral narratives. Rivista di Psicolinguistica Applicata, VI(3), 65–77. (Thomas Baldwin & Larry Selinker, Eds.) Special issue on “Interlanguage: Current thought and Practices” .Google Scholar
Tarone, E., Bigelow, M. & Hansen, K. (2009). Literacy and Second Language Oracy . Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Ullman, M.T. (2004) Contributions of memory circuits to language: The declarative/procedural model. Cognition 92 : 231–270. DOI logo
VanPatten, B., & Williams, J. (2007). Introduction: The nature of theories. In B. VanPatten & J. Williams (Eds.), Theories in Second Language Acquisition (pp. 1–16). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
White, L. (2008). Second Language Acquisition and Universal Grammar . Cambridge: CUP.Google Scholar
Young, R., & Bayley, R. (1996). VARBRUL analysis for second language acquisition research. In R. Bayley & D. Preston (Eds.), Second Language Acquisition and Linguistic Variation (pp. 253–306). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (5)

Cited by five other publications

Truscott, John
2024. Input, DOI logo
Ryan, Jonathon, Pauline Foster, Anthea Fester, Yi Wang, Jenny Field, Celine Kearney & Jia Rong Yap
2023. First Language Literacy and Second Language Oracy: A Partial Replication of Foster and Skehan (1996). Language Learning 73:4 ► pp. 1003 ff. DOI logo
Nielsen, Jacob Kurt
2020. “Yup, So-Jeer”: Interlanguage and Ruptured Translation in Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins'sThe Perils of Certain English Prisoners. Dickens Studies Annual 51:2 ► pp. 339 ff. DOI logo
Tarone, Elaine
2018. Interlanguage. In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Bijvoet, Ellen & Kari Fraurud
2016. What's the target? A folk linguistic study of young Stockholmers’ constructions of linguistic norm and variation. Language Awareness 25:1-2 ► pp. 17 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 24 october 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.