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Chart 3 Consolidation of the average results of all of the tests. 

 

The findings presented above support one out of four types 
proposed by Els (see Van Els, 1986 in part 1.1. of this article) 
namely, loss of L2 in L1 environment has occurred. Chart 3 
shows that the results of pre-test and post test conducted in 
October are fairly the same. The average result of pre-test in 
March was 40% whereas post-test in October was 42%. As ,, 
Roman Jakobson embedded language regression into linguistic 
framework and claimed that language attrition is the mirror image 
of language acquisition’’ (Waltens & Cohen, 1989, p.130). 
Schmid (2014) suggests that expertise in a foreign language occur 
in different layers. Hence, as a mirror of image of acquisition,  
attrition happens from the top layer to the bottom    
 
5 Conclusions 

The results presented in that experiment confirm the assumptions 
established at the beginning of that investigation. They prove that 
even after such amount of time like 3 months a forgetting process 
begins immediately. However, it occurred that the level of 
competence of the learner is not as important as it was assumed. 
Therefore, the null hypothesis (H0) conjecturing that these 
students with higher level of language proficiency will forget less 
after a break from a foreign language instruction has to be 
rejected. 
 
Comparing the results from Chart 2 from the previous section it is 
clear that those students who had high results in the post test 
written in June, namely 90%, after incubation period their second-
language skills decline considerably to 41%. Thus, their scores 
were almost the same as the pre-test ones. It can be assumed that 
students with lower proficiency level do not follow a typical 
forgetting curve proposed by Ebbinghaus ( see Kurch, 1999, p. 
102). According to the results they forget less than those with 
better grades. These findings may be explained in the following 
way, either students with lover proficiency level have more 
positive attitude towards the target language or they seek more 
possibilities and opportunities during the incubation period to 
retain their language competence.   
 
Therefore,  the findings of the investigation support the 
alternative hypothesis (H1) assuming that the occurrence of 
second language attrition will not ensue from learners’ language 
level of proficiency. However, after conducted studies it can be 
seen than all four language skills are affected. Though, some of 
them are more likely to be influenced than the others. The 
investigation proof that grammar and lexical competence are 
more likely to suffer a high attrition process.  
 
Moreover, grammatical loss concerning tenses and conjunctions 
of verbs appear quite frequently. Correspondingly to Olshtain 
(1986) the author of this article noticed ,, reduced accessibility in 
vocabulary retrieval in all situations of attrition where there is a 
reduction of language loss over long periods of time’’( Olshtain, 
1986, p.163). 
Finally, results of the investigations presented in this article proof 
the second-language attrition ensues from a certain order which 
defines productive skills as the one that are more influenced than 
receptive ones. Problems in lexical retrieval, followed by attrition 
in morphology and syntax seem to be the first symptom of 
language forgetting. However, in order to fully comprehend how 

the human mind deals with language it is advisable to conduct 
further research in this area.   
 
Summing up, activities carried out before and after the learning 
process are both significant in the process of storing and 
consolidating the information. The memory is prone to the impact 
of new stimulus and is subject to previously assimilated memory 
material influence. This means that an event which was 
remembered might be forgotten a week later not because the time 
went by but the other things that record distorted or removed a 
memory trace. The more we are active after learning something 
the greater possibility of forgetting the acquired knowledge is. If 
we learn things thoroughly it is less likely that they will be 
dismissed from mind, despite the impact of subsequent 
experience and information.  
 
Therefore, both of linguistic and psychological point of view, the 
foreign language requires not only specific teaching methods but 
also a specific organization of learning process if it is going to be 
assimilated by learners and become an instrument of cognition 
and communication that operates parallel to the native language. 
 
Literature: 
 
1. De Bot, Kees & Weltens, Bert. (1995). Foreign language 
attrition. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 15: 151–164.  
2. Cohen, Andrew D. (1989). Attrition in the productive lexicon 
of two Portuguese third language speakers. Studies in Second 
Language Acquisition, 11: 135–149. 
3. Ecke, Peter (2004). Language attrition and theories of 
forgetting: A cross-disciplinary review. International Journal of 
Bilingualism, 8 (3): 321–354. 
4. Gardner, R. C. (1982) Social factors in language retention. In 
R. D. Lambert & B. Freed (eds), Loss of Language Skills. 
Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House. 
5. Hansen, Lynne (1999). Second language attrition in 
Japanese contexts. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 
6. Köpke, Barbara & Schmid, Monika S. (2007). Bilingualism 
and attrition. In: Language Attrition. Theoretical perspectives. 
Eds. Köpke, Barbara; Schmid, Monika, S.; Keijzer, Merel & 
Dostert, Susan. Amsterdam, Philadelphia: John Benjamins 
Publishing Company.  
7. Kurch, I. (1992). Język a psychologia, Warszawa, WSP, 
p.102 
8. Olshtain, Elite. (1989), "Is second language attrition the 
reversal of second language acquisition?" Studies in Second 
Language Acquisition, 11: 151–165. 
9. Schmid, Monika S. & de Bot, Kees. (2004). Language 
Attrition. In: The Handbook of Applied Linguistics. Eds. Davies, 
Alan & Elder, Catherine. Oxford: Blackwell Publishing. 210–234. 
10. Schöpper-Grabe, Sigrid. (1998). Use it or lose it?– Zum 
Phänomen der Foreign Language Attrition. Zeitschrift für 
Fremdsprachenforschung, 9 (2): 231–263. 
11. Weltens, Bert (1987). The attrition of foreign-language skills: 
A literature review. Applied Linguistics, 8: 22–37 
12. Weltens, Bert & Cohen, Andrew. D. (1989). Language 
attrition research: An introduction. SSLA, 11: 127–133. 
13. Van Els, Theo (1986). An overview of European research on 
language attrition. In: Language Attrition in Progress. Eds. 
Weltens, Bert, de Bot, Kees & van Els, Theo. Dordrecht: Foris 
Publications. 3–18. 
 
Primary Paper Section: A 
 
Secondary Paper Section: AI 

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