Oral Fossilization: Causes And Their Solutions

Fossilization is an unavoidable feature in foreign language study. To a great extent, oral fossilization blocks language learners'proficiency of the target language. Therefore, how to reduce or avoid fossilization is an inevitable problem deserving a good consideration.On the basis of former studies and researches, the paper has summed up and analyzed fossilization especially oral fossilization. In the meantime, the author has analyzed causes of fossilization in the process of foreign language study integrated with the questionnaire and oral tests as well as the errors. On the basis of the analyses of the causes, the author has put forward some tentative solutions to reduce or avoid fossilization.Besides introduction and conclusion, the thesis is made up of three chapters. Chapter one is the literature review of fossilization in second language acquisition field. It introduces the definition, features, classification and causes of fossilization and furthers to introduce the definition, features and possible causes of oral fossilization. Chapter two is the emphasis of this thesis. Through the analysis of oral tests, the questionnaire, the author has summed up the everlasting errors of the subjects and got corresponding causes of oral fossilization. Due to complicated variables of fossilization and difficulty in controlling them, it is hard for the author to calculate frequencies of errors and relative coefficient of causes of fossilization. Therefore the author has adopted a descriptive method in analysis of fossilization. In chapter three, first the author has analyzed oral fossilization and then put forward some tentative ways to reduce fossilization in foreign language learning according to these causes and analyses.