Language Transfer

Lan-Hsin Chang National Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences

I. Behaviorist Views
Stimuli and responses Complex behaviorscomponent parts effective learning Habit formation; analogy Impediment to learning: interference from prior knowledge Degree of difficulty: positive and negative transfer Errors expected; should be avoided

Behaviorist Views--II
Chomskys (1959) review of Skinners Verbal Behavior Animal behavior in the lab vs. humans language behavior Value of correction/reinforcement? Reconsideration of L1 in L2 learning

II. Terminology

Transfer: influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has been previously (and perhaps imperfectly) acquired (Odlin 1989:27)

III. The Manifestations of Transfer

Errors (negative transfer): transfer or intralingual errors? Facilitation (positive transfer); Ushaped behavior Avoidance: infrequent use or avoidance? Over-use: e.g., overgeneralization of the regular past tense inflection

IV. Contrastive Analysis1

Difference = difficulty Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) (Lado 1957) include steps of description, selection, comparison, and prediction Types/hierarchy of difficulty in L2: (more difficult) split new absent coalesced correspondence (less difficult) (p. 307)

IV. Contrastive Analysis2

1. Strong form: errors can be predicted 2. Weak form: some are traceable; a posteriori explanation Strong form: theoretically untenable Work form: impractical/inadequate Lost ground to error analysis in the 1970s

V. The Minimalist Position--1

Emphasize the universal processes of language learning

V. The Minimalist Position--2

A. Interference in language contact situations and second language acquisition Interference in bilinguals: social factors; bidirectional; increased with proficiency in the two languages Interference in language learning: not motivated by social factors; unidirectional; decreased as the learner became more proficient (Dulay & Burt, 1972)
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V. The Minimalist Position--3

Borrowing transfer (L2 L1) vs. substratum transfer (L1 L2): not always clear-cut

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V. The Minimalist Position--4

B. Empirical research and the CAH Not easy to distinguish interference errors from developmental errors Error tokens vs. error types (Kellerman 1987)

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V. The Minimalist Position--5

C. Word order studies of transfer Reasons for relatively few instances of basic word order transfer (Odlin 1990): 1. relative lack of research on beginner learners (most likely to have word order transfer) 2. highly conscious of word order (involves arrangement of semantically important elements)
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V. The Minimalist Position--6

D. Minimalist theoretical positions on transfer: the similarity between L2 and L1 acquisition interference reflected ignorance of the L2 (Newmark & Reibel 1968) L1 transfer communication strategy (a means of overcoming a communication problem) Not learning strategy (a device for developing interlanguage) transfer rejected transfer relocated within a cognitive framework
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VI. Constraints on Transfer-1

Language level: pronunciation, lexis, discourse, and grammar (less affected)

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VI. Constraints on Transfer --2

Sociolinguistic factors the social context: focused (e.g., classroom settings) vs. unfocused contexts (e.g., natural settings) macrosociolinguistic perspective the relationship between the speaker and the addressee: careful vs. vernacular styles micro-sociolinguistic perspective
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VI. Constraints on Transfer --3

Markedness: core (unmarked) vs. periphery (marked) rules Hypotheses:

unmarked L1 forms more likely be transferred to correspondingly marked L2 forms marked L1 forms less likely be transferred to correspondingly unmarked L2 forms
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VI. Constraints on Transfer --4

Markedness Differential Hypothesis (Eckman 1977) more marked forms in TL than in the NL are difficult to language learners - vagueness of markedness

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VI. Constraints on Transfer --5

Prototypicality (Kellerman 1977; 1978; 1979; 1986; 1989) native speakers intuitions to determine the unmarkedness or prototypicality of lexical items learners resist transferring nonprototypical meanings

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VI. Constraints on Transfer --6

Language distance and psychotypology (learners perceptions about language distance) the actual language distance affects positive transfer learners psychotypology governs what they actually transfer

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VI. Constraints on Transfer --7

Developmental factors The learners general level of development restructuring continuum: L1 (starting point of L2) Natural principles of language acquisition interlanguage not necessarily a restructuring continuum, except phonology

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VII. Towards a theory of first language transfer

Communication transfer: borrowing (a performance phenomenon not a learning process) (Corder 1983); production and comprehension transfer Learning transfer: transfer a process of hypothesis construction and testing A framework for explaining first language transfer (p. 339)
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VIII. Conclusion: problems in the study of transfer

Difficult to distinguish communication transfer from learning transfer

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