The Role of Native Language

• Does one’s native language influence L2acquisition?

Transfer: It is a term that was used extensively in thefirst half of the twentieth century and refers to thepsychological process where by prior learning is carriedover into a new learning situation. The learning of taskA will affect the subsequent learning of task B.Examples:

Tennis and table tennis.School mathematics and statistical computation.Roller skate and ice skating.Typewriter and keyboard.

Positive transfer (facilitation) +: This

emphasizes the beneficial effects of prior experience on

current thinking, action, and learning.

Negative transfer (interference) - : The

interference of previous learning in the process of

learning something new, such as as when a U.S. tourist

in England learns to drive on the left side of the road.

Language transfer (also known as L1 interference,linguistic interference, and crossmeaning) refers tospeakers or writers applying knowledge from theirnative language to a second language.

When the L2 and the L1 of the learners have commonrules, it is called positive transfer. On the other hand,negative transfer occurs when the rules of L2 and L1of the learners are in conflict with each other. This isthe cause of numerous mistakes that the L2 learnersmay encounter.

Language transfer example: According to the initialview of language transfer, if speakers of a particularlanguage (in this case, Italian) form questions bysaying:

• Mangia bene il bambino?

• Eats well the baby

• ‘does the baby eat well?’

Then those same (Italian) speakers learning Englishwould be expected to say

• Eats well the baby?

Background

• Underlying much work in the 1950s and 1960swas the notion of language as habit. Secondlanguage learning was seen as thedevelopment of a new set of habits. The role ofthe native language, then, took on greatsignificance, because it was the major cause forlack of success in learning the L2.

• Contrastive Analysis HypothesisCAH is a way of comparing languages inorder to determine potential errors forthe ultimate purpose of isolating whatneeds to be learned and what does notneed to be learned in a second languagesituation. As Lado detailed, one does astructure–by-structure comparison of thesound system, morphological system,syntactic system, and even the culturalsystem of two languages for the purposeof discovering similarities and differences.The ultimate goal is to predict areas thatwill be either easy or difficult for learners.

Views of CAH

1. A priori view (strong version): Onecould make predictions aboutlearning and hence about thesuccess of language-teachingmaterials based on a comparisonbetween two languages.

2. A posteriori view (weak version):The weak version starts with whatlearners do and attempts toaccount for those errors on thebasis of NL-TL differences.

• Downfall of CAH1. Decline of Behaviorism2. Predictions put forward by CAH were mostly wrong.Ex: In French, object pronouns precede the verb.

-Je les vois-I them see-‘I see them’

In English, object pronouns follow the verb. However, thefollowing facts emerge in learner data:By French learners of English

-I see them (produced)*I them see. (not produced).

• Error Analysis

Why errors are important when we want to learnsomething?

• Errors and L2

Why are they important?

Second language errors are not to be viewedsolely as a product of imperfect learning; hence,they are not something for teachers to throwtheir hands up in the air about. Rather, they areto be viewed as indications of a learner’sattempt to figure out some system.

• Mistake and error

-Mistakes are only one time events such as slips oftongue. The speaker who makes a mistake canrecognize it and self-correct it. An error on theother hand is systematic. It occurs repeatedly andis not recognized by the learner.

• What is error analysis?

• It is a type of linguistic analysis that focuses on the errors learners make.

• The comparison is made between the errors a learner makes in producing the TL and the TL form itself.

• How does it differ from the weak version of CA?

• In CA the comparison is made with the nativelanguage, whereas in error analysis it is madewith the TL.

• Steps of EA

1. Data need to be collected.

2. Identify errors

3. Classify errors

4. Quantify errors

5. Analysis of source

6. Remediation

• There are two main error types within an erroranalysis framework:

1. Interlingual

2. Intralingual (determine-examine)

• Researchers have found that early stages oflanguage learning are characterized by apredominance of interference (interlingualtransfer), but once learners have begun toacquire parts of the new system, more andmore intralingual transfer is manifested.

Errors in Error Analysis• «There is a danger in too much attention to learners’ errors.

While errors indeed reveal a system at work, the classroomteachers can become so preoccupied with noticing errors thatthe correct utterances in the second language go unnoticed.While the diminishing of errors is an important criterion forincreasing language proficicency, the ultimate goal of secondlanguage learning is the attainment of communicative fluency(Douglas Brown).»

• Another shortcoming in error analysis is an overemphasis onproduction data. Comprehension data is equally important indeveloping an understanding of the process of SLA.

• Error analysis fails to account for the strategy of avoidance. Ex:Native Japanese speakers were largely avoiding to use relativeclauses and thus not manifesting nearly as many errors assome native Persian speakers.

New trends on the role of previously knownlanguages

Morpheme order studies: These studies argue thatthere is a natural order of the acquisition of Englishmorphemes no matter what the one’s native languageis. Thus, there appeared to be evidence for the lack ofimportance of native language influence (thesestudies were based on mentalist view).

Problems: 1. The tests were biased.

2. Problematic data structure

3. Differantial learning rates and pathsrevealed by other research.

• Avoidance: If a learner finds some particular construction in the targetlanguage difficult to understand it is likely that he/she tries to avoid using orproducing it.

• Schachter (1974) showed that knowledge of the difference between L1 and L2did make a difference to learners’ L2 production. But greater differences didnot imply greater errors. Instead, learners chose to avoid using the moredifficult structure.

• When speaking or writing an L2, the learner is often found to try to avoidusing difficult words or structures, and use some simpler words or structuresinstead. This phenomenon in L2 learning/acquisition is termed 'avoidancebehaviour' first brought to light by Schachter (1974).

• What problems can avoidance cause?

Overproduction: learner produces a given L2structure with much greater frequency thannatives of L2 do.

Interlanguage Transfer

What is interlanguage: An interlanguage is the termfor a dynamic linguistic system that has beendeveloped by a learner of a second language whohas not become fully proficient yet but isapproximating the target language: preservingsome features of their first language orovergeneralizing target language rules in speakingor writing the target language and creatinginnovations.

Interlanguage transfer: The influence of L2 on thirdor fourth languages.