Interlanguage Theory Revisited: Implications for the Classroom

Abstract

The study aimed to investigate the development of learners’ interlanguage. It also tried to track the sources of the errors that they committed. To discover these errors, the researchers adopted a mixed methods approach. The findings revealed that the participants involved actively in learning the target language and their endeavors manifested all types of errors which may indicate that some of these errors are systematic and universal. The errors were classified according to their sources and their impact on students learning. The findings also revealed that the shortcomings of grammatical knowledge and the lack of exposure to the target language might have a negative impact on students’ interlanguage and the production of native-like competence. Some of the errors indicated that the mother tongue interferes, while other errors indicated interlingual and intralingual strategies effect and attempts of simplification and miss-use of grammatical rules. Some suggestions for further research and pedagogical implications were provided.