| The purposes of this study were: (1) to investigate the second language learningexperiences of advanced English learners whose interlanguages have fossilized withoutreaching near-native proficiency; (2) to clarify the causes of their fossilization; (3) toadvance de-fossilizing strategies. Three research questions were addressed: (1) What arethe fossilized linguistic items in Chinese learners' IL system? (2) What factors have ledto the widespread phenomenon of fossilization among advanced English learners? (3)Whether error correction is necessary in general? This study is based mainly onSelinker's theories of interlanguage and fossilization. This investigation followed the descriptive research where case study and generalsurvey ways are applied. A non-English-major graduate from the author's classparticipated in this study as the subject. It was concluded that: (1) Reappearing errors are the demonstrations of competencefossilization. Through the analysis of learners' reappearing errors collected in the casestudy, we can discover the causes of competence fossilization. (2) The fossilizedlearners are less sensitive to the forms provided in the input, as well as less able tomaintain new, target-like forms in their speaking and writings. Therefore, they could notdevelop their performance toward the target language norms despite all the time spentstudying and all the amount of input they are exposed to. (3) Teachers' correctivefeedback, i.e., error correction, is necessary in that students can improve more easilytheir English proficiency if they are aware of where and what their errors are. (4)Increasing awareness of/sensitivity to authentic L2 forms by exposing to accurate andappropriate TL input and paying attention to particular aspects and uses of the TL ismost significant for learners to eventually overcome fossilization. (5) Learners must behighly motivated, have high levels of self-confidence, be willing to take moderate risks,and believe they can solve their learning problems.
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