Fossilization

How it is used

A term from Selinker's interlanguage theory. Teachers use it for stubborn errors in advanced learners, such as a missing third-person -s. Some researchers prefer stabilization, since it is hard to prove an error is permanent. British spelling: fossilisation.

Example sentences

1. Years of living abroad did not fix his article errors, a classic case of fossilization.

2. Regular feedback may help prevent the fossilization of pronunciation errors.

Common collocations

• fossilization of errors
• fossilized error
• risk of fossilization
• stabilization

Related terms

• interlanguageA learner's developing language system, which has its own rules and is neither the first language nor the target language; the term was introduced by Larry Selinker in 1972.
• second language acquisitionThe process of learning another language after the first one, and the research field that studies how this happens; usually shortened to SLA.
• overgeneralizationA learner's habit of applying a grammar rule to cases where it does not apply, as when a child says 'goed' or 'mouses' instead of 'went' or 'mice'.
• language transferThe influence of a learner's first language, or another language they know, on the language being learned; it can help (positive transfer) or cause errors (negative transfer).

More terms: Language Acquisition

• language acquisition
• first language
• critical period hypothesis
• input
• universal grammar