Language attrition when learning a foreign language

The paper deals with the traditional approach to language attrition understood as a process of the individual’s native language or a second language erosion through another language contact and studies the attrition of a second language in majority language settings during its acquisition. The structural model of memory and the mechanism of forgetting are analyzed. The research proves the relationships of language attrition with retroactive inhibition when new language material interferes with the acquired knowledge. The study elaborates on the factors leading to language attrition in technical university students. They were revealed through the analysis of the vocabulary chosen by students while reading and translating job-related texts. It is argued that such wrong strategies of text processing (using machine translation to translate text or its parts, making notes in texts) are typical for school students as well. The author concludes that it is necessary to identify the students’ language attrition in time and take systematic measures to eliminate its effects.