Fossilizam

Fossilizam, in a linguistic context, refers to the process by which certain features of a learner’s interlanguage become fixed and resistant to further change, despite continued exposure to the target language. The term is used mainly in second language acquisition and is not related to paleontology.

The concept, often called fossilization in English, emerged from observations in SLA research in the late 20th century, where some errors persisted after extensive practice, feedback, and immersion. In several languages the term appears as fossilizm or fosilizm and describes both individual persistence of forms and, in some discussions, recurring community patterns.

Factors contributing to fossilization include limited or non-target input, reduced motivation for high accuracy, interference from the first language, and the stabilizing effects of routine instructional practices. Mechanisms may involve phonological, syntactic, or lexical forms that become fixed and show little change across contexts, though the particular forms and trajectories can vary with topic, interlocutor, and learning environment.

Implications for language teaching include the need to anticipate which structures are susceptible to fossilization, provide targeted and varied corrective feedback, and employ instructional approaches that promote deeper attention to form-meaning connections, explicit instruction for problematic areas, and opportunities for meaningful use of focus on form.

Critics argue that fossilization can reflect methodological biases or misinterpretations of learner progress, and some researchers emphasize more dynamic, context-dependent trajectories where seemingly fixed forms can still shift under certain conditions.

Fossilizam should not be confused with fossil studies in geology; in linguistics it denotes a stabilization process in language development.