Definition
Crosslinguistic influence is also known as "transfer", and has displaced the older term "interference", to preempt the unwanted implication that L1 knowledge hinders L2 development.
Overview
In the '50s and '60s, the hypothesis was that differences between L1 and L2 resulted in the learner experiencing difficulties in her L2 (among specific learner groups with the same L1). Contrastive Analysis sought to compare similarities and differences between L1 and L2 pairs.
In the '60s and '70s, SLA researchers (turning to analyses of actual learner language using the new methodology of Error Analysis and Performance Analysis) found out that externally catalogued L1-L2 differences could determine neither the linguistic knowledge nor the linguistic behavior of L2 learners.
Early SLA researchers concluded that not only differences, but even more often, misleading similarities between L1 and L2 cause the so-called learning difficulties. German researcher Henning Wode (1976) called this principle the Crucial Similarity Measure. Roger Anderson (1983) in the US added the principle of Transfer to Somewhere, suggesting that both L1 and L2 must have some feature that invites the (mis)perception of a similarity.
The findings in the '70s and '80s led to the understanding that learners' psychological perceptions of L1 and L2 similarities and/or differences are really the forces the shape crosslinguistic influence, rather than external language comparisons. The judgement can be (but not necessarily) made as a conscious, strategic choice, such as when there is a gap in L2 knowledge, and the best available solution is to rely on L1 knowledge.
Key Concepts
Universal sequences of language development: L2 learners, regardless of L1 background, go through predictable paths in their acquisition of certain L2 phenomena, especially in:
- morphology, particularly grammatical markers like -ing, -s, -ed
- morpho-semantics, such as the encoding of verb tense
- word order, for example, in questions and with negation
- other syntactic phenomena, such as relative clauses
Interlanguages are said to be systematic, natural languages in their own right. Note however that while L1 transfer cannot radically alter the route of L2 acquisition, it can impact the rate of learners' progress along their natural developmental paths. This was first proposed by Zobl (1982).
For example, for L2 English learners whose native languages do not contain articles, there is a big initial disadvantage in the rate of acquisition.
Markedness: closed set of possibilities within a linguistic system, where the given possibilities rank from simplest and most frequent among languages of the world (unmarked) to the most complex and rarest (marked). This is an important source of universal influence, and the existence of each marked member presupposes the existence of the less marked members, but not the other way around.
Markedness Differential hypothesis: the general implication for L2 development is that marked froms tend to be more difficult to learn and therefore cause more interlanguage solutions, and that a form that is more marked in the L1 is less likely to be transferred than a form that is less marked.
Transferability (psychotypology): the claim that L1 transfer is partly a function of learners' conscious or subconscious intuitions about how transferable certain phenomena are. Kellerman (1985) noted that transferability interacts with L2 proficiency to shape what may or may not be transferred, regardless of apparent L1-L2 similarities or differences.
Avoidance (errors of omission): where negative L1 transfer does not lead to noticeable errors of commision or ungrammaticalities in L2. In such cases, because learners take fewer risks in the L2, avoidance may also delay their L2 development of the area being avoided.
Underuse and Overuse: there tends to be an underuse of certain L2 forms because the same forms are not present in the L1 (i.e., they are more marked in L1); conversely, there is usually an overuse when the forms are more marked in the L2. While knowledge of the L1 can often have a positive impact on the rate of L2 learning, especially if they are typologically and genetically close (such as sister languages German and English), it is interesting to note that it is possible for one L1 group to learn faster than another through overuse in a particular L2 form.
Information structure: a subtle L1 transfer comparing topic-prominent and subject-prominent languages. Carroll et al. (2000) argue that information structure in the L1 continues to exert an important if subtle influence on the L2 even at very advances stges of proficiency.
For example, English and Romance languages prefer existential constructions (where new referents are introduced), while German favors locational constructions.
Pragmatic competence - crosslinguistic influences go well beyond form-form or form-function correspondences to extend to and include all layers of language at the levels of form, meaning, and function, as well as pragmatic competence.
Latest Developments
There is growing evidence that suggests that knowledge of two (or more) languages can accelerate the learning of an additional one, especially if L1 and L2 are typologically related to L3, because there are more relevant cognates and similarities in forms and meanings.
Also, better vocabulary learning strategies would have been developed by the time L3 is being learned.
Of note is that all previously learned languages (and not just L1) can influence additional learning, usually because they are typologically closer to L3, or that the learner is more proficient in that language, or that it is the last one learnt immediately prior to the learning of L3 (especially if it was also learnt as a foreign language). L1 does not hold a privileged status in the acquisition of additional languages, except in the area of semantic transfer.
However, as the learner gains proficiency in L3, the presence of or the functional roles played by each language in L3 production gradually recede.
Next, Jung Min will post some questions to help you think more about this chapter. In particular, she will refer to interlingual identifications, which is found in section 3.2 on page 2 of the chapter.
Happy holidays, and don't sweat over this! ;-)
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