Abstract Research on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is fairly a new fast-developing discipline in the area of applied linguistics. One obvious phenomenon is that the learners’ interlanguage constantly varies and the variation is usually caused by various factors. It is then necessary to study the variation of interlanguage in SLA. Thus, it can perhaps help to improve the learners’ language proficiency. This thesis attempts to analyze the two main factors in causing interlanguage variation, namely linguistic factors and non-linguistic factors. The author will summarize relative implications and offer some suggestions for English Language Teaching (ELT) in China according to these various factors.

Keywords: Second Language Acquisition; interlanguage; interlanguage variation; linguistic factors; non-linguistic factors53678

摘要第二语言习得是上世纪后期新兴的学科，同时也是应用语言学研究领域发展最快的学科。在第二语言习得中，一个显而易见的事实是：学习者所使用的中介语是不断变化的，这种变化通常是由多种因素造成的。因此有必要对二语习得中介语的变化进行研究，这样有利于提高学习者的语言水平。本文试图分析引起中介语变化的两大因素，即语言因素和非语言因素，从而根据这些因素来提出对英语教学的启示，给出一些教学策略，以便更好地促进英语教学。

毕业论文关键词：第二语言习得；中介语；中介语变化；语言因素；非语言因素

Contents

1. Introduction 1

2. Literature Review 2

2.1 Definition of Interlanguage 2

2.2 Definition of Interlanguage Variation 3

2.3 Previous Study 3

3. Factors Influencing Interlanguage Variation 4

3.1 Linguistic Factors 4

3.2 Non-linguistic Factors 9

4. Implications for English Language Teaching 11

4.1 Importance of Teaching Grammar 12

4.2 Importance of Teaching Speaking 13

4.3 Necessity of Cultivating English Thinking Pattern 14

4.4 Necessity of Cultivating Cross-cultural Awareness 15

5. Conclusion 17

Works Cited 19

1. Introduction

Research on Second Language Acquisition (SLA) is fairly a new fast-developing discipline in the area of applied linguistics. In the field of SLA, research on interlanguage attracts researchers’ increasing attention. Larry Selinker's article Interlanguage in 1972 concluded that second language learners process languages inpidually independent of their first and second language.

Selinker provided a comprehensive explanation of interlanguage. The term interlanguage soon became widely recognized by the areas of First Language Research and Foreign Language Teaching. Scholars show great promise and identify with interlanguage from different perspectives. The late 1960s and early 1970s, is when researchers began to agree that interlanguage was systematic. Although the interlanguage theory had been previously accepted, researchers continued to correlate systematicity with interlanguage.

Interlanguage incorporates systematicity and variability. And both are either uniform or contradictory. The variability of learners’ interlanguage created misconceptions as researchers were unsuccessful with proving that interlanguage is a highly coherent and sequential system. Therefore, interpreting interlanguage variation is an imminent issue in the field of SLA. In the 1970s and 1980s, researchers have developed many classifications of interlanguage variation from the viewpoint of sociolinguistics and SLA. Researchers reached a consensus on the phenomenon of variation occurring in interlanguage under different circumstances and different tasks as well as addressing the question of why variation occurs in interlanguage and what rules of the variation are known and applied. Some causes to interlanguage variation have been confirmed. However, it does not mean that there are no other additional causes which are inconvincible and remain to be proved. Moreover, most previous researches only focus on one single factor influencing interlanguage variation; studies are scarce as to the effect of multi-factors on interlanguage variation and the inter-relationship among them. It is only when the studies of causes on interlanguage variation reach a high level and form an independent branch that we can say that the enterprise of interlanguage variation is successful.