FORGETTING A SECOND LANGUAGE1

Abstract

A previous study by this author investigated group patterns of foreign language retention among young children after being removed from a language contact situation for a period of time. The present study was undertaken to provide an in‐depth look at three students in an effort to determine whether the last things learned are, in fact, the first things to be forgotten, and whether forgetting entails unlearning in reverse order from the original learning process. Three subjects were administered an Oral Language Achievement Measure individually on a test‐retest basis at the beginning of June 1973, the 20th month of language contact, and again in September 1973, after the children had started second grade. Two subjects provided examples to support the notion that some of the things that are learned last are also the first to be forgotten when the learners are removed from second language contact for a period of time. The third subject provided an example of reversion to an earlier pattern in the use of the definite article, perhaps skipping stages in between. Some data suggest that forgetting may produce forms that were never tried out during the process of language acquisition prior to the respite. Other data suggest that a pause in the learning process may actually cause a reduction in certain problem areas. Although the findings from this study are merely suggestive, since they are based on insufficient data to make them definitive, this is considered a first step in the direction of investigating the ways in which young children forget a language in which they have been immersed.