Problem Areas in the Study of Language Attrition

Language Attrition Research: An Introduction

“…A central contribution in this respect is the one made by Andersen (1982): He formulated a number of "linguistic feature hypotheses" which have led to certain decisions in terms of test design in the case of the University of Pennsylvania/Center of Applied Linguistics Language Skills Attrition Project (see, e.g., Lambert & Moore, 1986), as well as in the French attrition project carried out at the University of Nijmegen (Weltens, 1989;Weltens et al, in this issue). Basically, Andersen's hypotheses center around two mechanisms: L2/FL areas that contrast with the LI are more vulnerable than the ones that are similar in both languages involved; and, secondly, elements that are less "functional," "marked," or "frequent" are more vulnerable than those that are more so.…”

Variables in Second Language Attrition

“…2. We focus on empirical studies of L2 attrition, but a number of earlier reviews with other perspectives may be of interest to readers (Ginsberg, 1986 ;Hansen, 2001 ;Hansen & Kurashige, 1999 ;Lambert & Moore, 1986 ;Oxford, 1982 ;Vechter, Lapkin, & Argue, 1990 ;Weltens, 1987 ;Weltens & Cohen, 1989 ).…”

The attrition of French as a foreign language

“…also Lambert & Moore 1986). Therefore, research into foreign-language attrition may -directly or indirectly -contribute to an evaluation of the effectiveness of foreign-language teaching in the present educational system, in particular with respect to the situation in which students have the opportunity to drop a FL after four years of training (see Research plan 23 also section 2.3 below).…”