Fossilization

Question 1

What is it?

Answer 1

Term introduced by Selinker (1972), thanks to multiple research.
It is an error that 2L learners have in their speech or writing, and it becomes persistent and difficult to erase it, no matter how much teaching, correction, or exposure they get.

Question 2

Why it happens?

Answer 2

Because the S did not receive correct affective and cognitive feedback
- There was an affirmation in understanding the wrong use of forms (mostly phonology, Brown).
- The affective feedback can totally affect learners motivation to communicate, but the cognitive one is the one which could signal an error and allow the learner to continue trying.

Question 3

As teachers, what can strategies can we use to correct fossilization?

Answer 3

Have a portfolio focused on mistakes which they could check, it could be written or recordings of students speaking,making them realize the error.