Malaysian ESL Undergraduates’ Perspectives on Fossilisation in Spoken English

Fossilisation is a phenomenon in second language acquisition where learners stop progressing beyond the language skills that they have already mastered. This often leads to the persistence of L1 related errors that can be detected in their L2. This often results in the second language having linguistic errors which, over time, become normalised and accepted. To investigate how learners perceive language fossilisation, a qualitative study was carried out on Malaysian ESL undergraduates. Grounded in Selinker’s (1972) Interlanguage Theory, a thematic analysis was adopted to analyse respondents’ interviews. The findings revealed that respondents perceived fossilised linguistic errors as socially acceptable in informal contexts. Fossilised language is used to prioritise fluency and comfort in communicating rather than grammatical accuracies. Respondents also perceived that the main contributors to fossilisation were overexposure to informal English, and a limited vocabulary range. Fossilization can be remedied with learner feedback and self-regulation strategies. The study concluded that fossilisation is shaped by sociocultural norms as much as linguistic competence. The findings highlight the need for pedagogical strategies that are feedback-rich and context-sensitive. Meanwhile, teacher training must also address entrenched patterns in language learning.

ESL, language fossilisation

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