This thesis is to start from China’s English teaching practice and draw lessons from the research results at home and abroad in order to propose some English teaching strategies from the perspective of language attrition and improve the proficiency level of English learners。文献综述

3。 Theories about Language Attrition

3。1 Hypotheses about language attrition

3。1。1 The regression hypothesis

According to the regression hypothesis, language attrition follows an opposite order with language acquisition。 That is to say, the language skills acquired first are late to be subject to attrition while those acquired late are first to be subject to attrition。 This hypothesis can be dated back to 19th century when Ribot pointed out that the language representations acquired late suffer from oblivion most easily, which is called The Rule of Ribot。 Freud cited Ribot’s opinion in his On Aphasia in 1981 and used the term “regression” first to refer to the phenomenon that aphasic’s languages returned back to the early language。 According to Freud, the most complex language representations learned latest would be forgotten the earliest。 In 1941, Jacobson applied first The Regression Hypothesis to the study of un-pathological language oblivion in the process of phonology study。 He pointed out that the mode of language oblivion duplicates that of child language acquisition in reverse order。(Jacobson,1941)。 Later, he named this the mirror image of language acquisition。 Freud introduced the regression hypothesis into the study of language attrition in 1980 and named the phenomenon of language attrition “Jacobson’s Regression phenomenon”; hence, this hypothesis is called “Jacobson’s Regression Theory”。 Since then, Jacobson’s Regression Theory has been accepted and believed in with the conviction that it reveals the underlying law of language attrition。 

Nevertheless, the Regression Hypothesis receives criticism later。 Some researchers raise questions about it in terms of the theoretical basis。 In line with the cognitive theory initiated by Piaget, learners’ language competence advances ceaselessly with the enhancement of communicative competence。 Therefore, we can deduce that language attrition is not in inverse order with the language acquisition in the sense that only vocabulary and syntactic systems are affected in un-pathological language attrition。 

3。1。2 The inverse hypothesis

Opposite to the regression hypothesis, the inverse hypothesis thinks that the ultimate achievement of the target language before attrition is the crucial element to affect language attrition。 The ultimate proficiency of the target language has an inverse relationship with the speed of attrition。 That means the better you learn the language, the less you will forget it。 The language representations which are hard to suffer from attrition are not those learned earliest but best。

A number of investigations have testified the validity of the inverse hypothesis。 Bahrick pointed out that with the improvement of the language proficiency level, the proportion taken by language attrition in the whole knowledge frame shrinks little by little。来,自,优.尔:论;文*网www.youerw.com +QQ752018766-

3。1。3 The dynamic system theory

Many linguists study language attrition in terms of dynamic system theory adopted widely in other areas of study。 Like the systems of biology, physics or mathematics, the linguistic system is a dynamic system with continuous changes and developments。 Traditional language acquisition theory tries to explain language acquisition in linear theory i。e。 language learning is in a gradual process from difficult to easy。 In contrast, dynamic system theory stresses the interaction between linguistic system and environment and the according adjustment of the linguistic system。 It lays emphasis on the composition of the evolving linguistic system。 Those changeable factors in the system including pronunciation, grammar and lexicon act upon each other and impose impacts on the whole system。 Each language learner has an independent dynamic system of languages and these independent dynamic systems make up a bigger dynamic system of languages together。 In this big system, the inpidual systems interplay with each other and language learners’ linguistic competence is subject to constant changes。 For instance, after a period of language learning, the learner’s native language and the target language will occur waxing and waning i。e。 language attrition。 In fact, this is the typical representation of the dynamic pattern of language。