Selinker, L. (1972) Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10, 219–31.
In his article on interlanguage, Selinker focused on the relevant factor found in the acquisition of the second language through a comparison of three linguistic systems, the student’s mother tongue, the proficiency in the second language and the system of the target language. He proposed that these factors influence the psychology of second-language learning. The author also calls for the description and experimental testing of “fossilizable items, rules, and subsystem in interlanguages.” The interlanguage describes the language which a learner uses as he tries to acquire the target language.
From a linguist perspective, he is aware of the limitation of his research, thereby distinguishing between a teaching and a learning perspective. In the defense of his argument on the learning perspective, he focuses on describing the process of second language learning and the variables that contribute to is success or failure. He speculated that the measure of a successful learning of a second language would be a reorganization of linguistic material from an interlanguage to identify with a specific target language. Selinker (1972) further discussed the notion of meaningful performance which the author stressed that learners at age 12 and above “attempt to express meanings, which he may already have, in a language which he is in the process of learning.” It appears that this concept explains the goal of learners- achieving a native speaker competency which could lead to overgeneralization of the target language rules.
Selinker’s project is timely, descriptive, and is learner-focused. However, I find his argument on overgeneralization quite disturbing. I consider his findings to be the errors that arrive in the process of acquisition. The decision to learn a second language already indicates the learner’s readiness but moving from one language to the other is like migration, one often moves with the burdens of the first language and struggles to master the second language.