Impact of Family in Overcoming
Interlanguage Fossilization: A Syntactic Study of Malayali
Graduates’ English
Meera Baby R¹
& Hima S. Madhu²
ABSTRACT
In Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Target
Language (TL) is not acquired via a quick transfer from First
Language (L1) to Second Language (L2). It can be acquired only via a
state of Interlanguage (IL). While IL as such is not a deterrent to
SLA, the possibility of fossilization poses a serious threat. The
current paper is the product of a syntactic study conducted among
Malayali graduates aged 20-24 to prove the presence of IL in their
English language acquisition despite prolonged years of education in
the Target Language (TL). To this end, the study employs Selinker’s
theory of Interlanguage, Corder’s methodology of error analysis, and
tools of descriptive statistics to identify patterns in the
respondents’ Interlanguage in correlation to predetermined
socio-economic and educational variables concerning the family of
the respondents.
Keywords: Second Language Acquisition, Interlanguage, fossilization,
error analysis, syntactic study, socio-economic and educational
variables
