Variability in Interlanguage

Abstract

Interlanguage is a common phenomena in second language (L2) acquisition. In the process of L2 acquisition, variability, defined as the performance of L2 learners who use more than one variants of target language where native speakers of the target variety use only one (Towell and Hawkins 1994:142) frequently appears. This paper is to review and examine explanations of the nature of variability in interlanguage. The paper begins with the distinctions of two sources of linguistic knowledge proposed by Schwartz (1994). Next, Krashen’s (1985) and Schwartz’s (1993) view on the role of input in the development of L2 learning, and a modular view of the human mind are illustrated, followed by the proposal of parameter resetting and shallow structure hypothesis by Clahsen and Felser (2006). Finally, a number of conclusions are drawn with regard to the initial variation of interlanguage system.

Key words: variability, interlanguage, parameter resetting