Vandreia Sehnem

Dr. Cecelia Cutler

M.S.Ed in TESOL
Spring, 2014
Learner Language: Stages of acquisition
Based on the idea supported by many language researchers that many second language
learners errors during the interlanguage stage (interlingual errors) are related to the learners first
language, I would like to analyze a second language learners writing sample to bring some
examples of this phenomena. In addition I will attempt to identify the given learners
interlanguage stage based on the same writing sample.
To start, as Dam (2010) explains, interlanguage is a stage in the second language learning
process when the learners produce their language borrowing patterns from their mother tongue.
Following these patterns, or knowledge of their first language, might lead to some errors in the
production of the second language. Based on this idea, I identified some errors according to
some examples that are given by Dam (2010) in his article. The errors are based on Spanishspeaking English language learners.
The first problem identified in the writing sample is related to the question formation
word order chosen by the student. Dam (2010) explains that in Spanish any word order is
accepted to make questions and there are no counterparts for question words. I believe that in
this example the student might have confused the statement that he/she made with a question,
and changed the word order in the last part of the sentence. Nenny is so curious that she even
goes to a box that is not even for sale and ask what is it. Another problem identified is that the
student did not use the subject pronoun in a sentence. Spanish is a pro-drop language, I therefore
believe that this might have been the reason for the student not to have used the subject he in

the sentence. One day gives his family and Esperanza a ride. The next interlingual error
identified is related to the use of articles. As Dam (2010) points out, in Spanish, indefinite
articles are not used before nouns describing social status, profession, and occupation. In this
example the student did not use the article before the noun boyfriend. Marin has boyfriend in
Puerto Rico, but she wants to marry a rich person to conduct a good life. These are the
examples of errors related to the first language which I could identify from the writing sample.
When it comes to the students interlanguage stage with respect to negation, my guess
would be that the given student is between the interlanguage levels III and IV. My idea is based
on the following examples excerpted from the students writing sample:
She does not like it at all.
Only Lucy and Rachel do not laugh when she tells them her name.
They dont respect anything.
Rosa has too many kids that she cannot take care of them properly.
As it can be seen, the student makes proper use of the auxiliary do in most of his/hers negative
sentences, but the student does not make use of the verb to be in any moment. In addition the
student uses the modal can in one of the sentences, which is part of the interlanguage level III.
Based on this data I would say that the student is transitioning from one level to the other.
To conclude, I would like to say that it was interesting to see some examples of
interlingual errors. As a second language user and learner, I was able to make some connections
with my own interlingual errors while developing this activity. In addition, I was pleased to learn

a little more about the different stages of language acquisition and its relation to the use of
negative sentences.

References
DAM, Phap. Mother-Tongue Interference in Spanish-Speaking English Language
Learners Interlanguage. < http://www.viethoc.com/Ti-Liu/bien-khao/khaoluan/mother-tongueinterferenceinspanish-speakingenglishlanguagelearners
%E2%80%99interlanguage> Vien Viet-Hoc Institute of Vietnamese Studies. Last
update 2010.