Fossilization in Adult Second Language Acquisition

Han (linguistics and education, Columbia U.) examines the notion of "fossilization"—the cessation of learning despite exposure to input, adequate motivation to learn, and opportunities for communicative practice. The author investigates why learners suffer fossilization differentially; why L2 learners learning the target language under seemingly identical learning conditions experience differing degrees of success; what current knowledge tells us about lack of learning, and about the genera...