Larry Selinker
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Larry Selinker is professor emeritus of linguistics at the University of Michigan and former director of the university's English Language Institute.[1] In 1972, Selinker introduced the concept of interlanguage, which built upon Pit Corder's previous work on the nature of language learners' errors. Corder's and Selinker's work became the foundation of modern research into second-language acquisition, and interlanguage is accepted as a basic principle of the discipline.[2]
Selinker received his B.A. from Brandeis University in 1959, where he studied Near-Eastern studies. He received his M.A. from The American University in 1960, in the subject of linguistics.[3] Selinker studied at Georgetown University for his doctorate, which he received in 1966.[2]
Career
After completing his PhD, Selinker moved to the University of Washington, where he became assistant professor of linguistics and director of English for foreign students from 1966 to 1975. From 1968 to 1969 he was a Fulbright scholar at the University of Edinburgh, where he researched the psycholinguistics of second-language acquisition. He left Washington in 1975, when he earned a Fulbright scholarship at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. In Jerusalem, Selinker focused on advanced reading for second-language learners. In 1976–1977 he taught at San Jose State University.[3]
Selinker moved to the University of Michigan in 1977, and he remained there until his retirement in 1993. During his time in Michigan he served as a visiting professor at Carnegie Mellon University in 1991, and spent his third Fulbright scholarship at the University of Kassel in Germany in 1992.[3]
Following his career at Michigan, Selinker was appointed to a chair at Birkbeck College, University of London. There he served a turn as Head of the Department of Applied Linguistics, taught second language acquisition and supervised student research – both undergraduate and postgraduate.
