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INTERLANGUAGE AS CHAMELEON 1
Author(s) -
Tarone Elaine
Publication year - 1979
Publication title -
language learning
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.882
H-Index - 103
eISSN - 1467-9922
pISSN - 0023-8333
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-1770.1979.tb01058.x
Subject(s) - interlanguage , psychology , linguistics , second language acquisition , second language , indirect speech , cognitive psychology , philosophy
The clam is made that Labov's “Observor's Paradox” and the fire methodological axioms leading to this paradox apply to inter language Thus, we may mew interlanguage as a continuum of styles, which is defined by the amount of attention paid to speech; the most systematic second‐language learner speech is produced when the learner is paying the least attention to speech. Yet, when we do research, the presence of the researcher and the tasks presented to the learner, lead our subjects to pay attention to their speech. Therefore, we cannot claim that research can ever observe the most truly systematic form of a learner's interlanguage—unattended or “unmonitored” speech. The methodological implications of the claim are explored, and recommendations for research are made.