Language1 influence on Language2
Language 1 influence on learning other languages
Abstract
Second language learners resort to their mother tongue or first language and some strategies to make learning of their second language easier. This is what referred to as language transfer. How does this transfer help? Is L1 influence on L2 the same for all languages and learners?
INTRODUCTION: All second language learners have already acquired at least their first language before starting to learn an additional one, and a great number of them should have practiced and used it in context. Thus, they should have a complete owning of their first language knowledge and sometimes knowledge of other languages. But, the first language knowledge stays an important source of influence on second language learning. Many researches have been carried out on the topic in contemporary SLA field and crosslinguistic influence was delved to find out what are the positive and negative consequences that the first language can play on the second language acquisition.
LANGUAGE TRANSFER: In the 1950’s and the 1960’s it was assumed (contrastive analysis) that the first language played an impact on L2 acquisition whether positively, when the two languages are similar or negatively when they are not. However, this idea does not seem to be useful as sometimes certain L1 and L2 similarities do not help. An example for this was the research that Kenneth Hyltenstam (1977) carried on the three Turkish learners that had trouble with pre-negation in the Swedish language though they had the same form in their language. (Ortega 2009) Sometimes this similarity can be a source of trouble, especially if we consider cognates for example: the verb Bekommen in German which is not the equivalent of to become in English but to get / acquire. In this case instructors should make their students aware of these cognates which are not synonymous as they may
Abstract
Second language learners resort to their mother tongue or first language and some strategies to make learning of their second language easier. This is what referred to as language transfer. How does this transfer help? Is L1 influence on L2 the same for all languages and learners?
INTRODUCTION: All second language learners have already acquired at least their first language before starting to learn an additional one, and a great number of them should have practiced and used it in context. Thus, they should have a complete owning of their first language knowledge and sometimes knowledge of other languages. But, the first language knowledge stays an important source of influence on second language learning. Many researches have been carried out on the topic in contemporary SLA field and crosslinguistic influence was delved to find out what are the positive and negative consequences that the first language can play on the second language acquisition.
LANGUAGE TRANSFER: In the 1950’s and the 1960’s it was assumed (contrastive analysis) that the first language played an impact on L2 acquisition whether positively, when the two languages are similar or negatively when they are not. However, this idea does not seem to be useful as sometimes certain L1 and L2 similarities do not help. An example for this was the research that Kenneth Hyltenstam (1977) carried on the three Turkish learners that had trouble with pre-negation in the Swedish language though they had the same form in their language. (Ortega 2009) Sometimes this similarity can be a source of trouble, especially if we consider cognates for example: the verb Bekommen in German which is not the equivalent of to become in English but to get / acquire. In this case instructors should make their students aware of these cognates which are not synonymous as they may
References: Ortega, L. (2009) Second language acquisition: Crosslinguistic influences. Routledge, Taylor & Francis group (2013). O 'Neill. B, Bennett. J & Vanier. C: Crossing linguistic boundaries: Making the most of cross-linguistic influence in the language classroom. Document accessible through this weblink: http://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/WPLC/article/viewFile/5672/2198 Norbert. F. Cross-linguistic Influence, Transfer and Other Kinds of Language Interaction: Evidence for Modularity from the Study of Bilingualism. Document accessible through this weblink: http://www.lingref.com/isb/4/061ISB4.PDF Khaled. K, First language (Ll) influence on second language (L2) reading: the role of transfer. Document accessible through this weblink: http://goo.gl/lGWmnF Luz.C.V. The Role of the L1 in The acquisition and use of the L2: new perspectives. Document accessible through this weblink: http://www.raco.cat/index.php/bells/article/viewFile/98198/148953