Approximative System

illiam Nemser (1971) employs the term ‘Approximative system’ to identify a learner’s linguistic system which is distinct from his mother tongue and the target language he is attempting to learn. Here by the term ‘approximative’ he means that the learner is progressing towards the target language and his system is developmental in nature. The term system implies that he is using aset of rules and hence his language is not a random.

As the learner receives more and more exposure and collects new data he attempts to change his system. He constantly tries to alter his system to bring the system closer to the target language. Hence his system should be studied from three points of view (1) his mother tongue. (2) his target language and (3) as an independent system itself.

It is important to study this system separately because it can ‘provide attested information or immediate utility in teaching and course development on patterns of learning behavior for the principal structures of the target languages’ (Nemser 1971). What Nemser is trying to suggest is that the materials based on Contrastive linguistic studies are not so effective because they take into consideration only the learner’s mother tongue and his target language. If learner’s learning behavior as revealed from the study of his approximative system is understood we should be able to foresee the problems of a particular learner with respect to a particular target language.

The learner’s system is ‘internally structured’ and it varies according to the learner’s level of proficiency. According to Nemser this system is affected by two types of interference (1) internal (That is learner strategies which operate on the input) (2)external (That is learner’s previous learning experience). If the learner’s approximative system is analysed systematically we might be able to anticipate how a learner will react with respect to a particular target language structure viewing it from a particular language.

According to Nemser there are two stages in the learning process ofa second language learner. These two stages are identified as the early stages and the later stages. In the early stages a  second language learner does not differentiate properly the phonological grammatical and lexical categories of his mother tongue and target language. In the later stages after learning the distribution of some of the formal elements he extends their distribution and commits errors. So his former stages are characterized by reinterpretation, hypercorrection and analogy.

A number of studies have revealed the influence of mother tongue in beginners and the influence of overgeneralization in advanced learners. Thereby it can be seen that Nemser is right in saying that in the initial stages there is an ‘underdifferenciation’ of the various categories of the target language from that of the learner’s mother tongue while in the later stages there is reinterpretation of whatever is misunderstood. Further, it has often been observed that a particular rule of subsystem which poses problems to one learner is easily acquired by another. This could be because of the learning strategies that each learner may be using. Hence Nemser  rightly stresses the need to study individual learner’s systems to gain in sight into their learning strategies.

Nemser also suggests that attempts should be made to keep the learner’s system transient or moving towards the target system. He says, “effective language teaching implies preventing, or postponing as long as possible, the formation of permanent intermediate systems and subsystems (deviant phonological and grammatical structures)”. According to him a study of the learner system could make valuable contribution to contrastive linguistic theory and general for tackling students’ problems. According to him, an ultimate goal might be the reformulation of the native language and the target language descriptions in terms of permitting the accurate projection of the learner’s approximative system throughout its successive stages in each contact situation. But it should be noted that this is not an easy task and a large number of studies have to be carried out before we could attempt such a description.