THE ROLE OF L1
Ref l ect i on
Recall (reflect on) your personal experience in learning English (especially at t he early st age of your learning).
How did your first language influence your learning?
What influences were t hey?
Under st andi ng TERMS
First language (L1) = mot her t ongue = nat ive language
Second language (L2), foreign language (FL), t arget language (TL)
Behavi or i st l ear ni ng t heor y:
Learning is a habit format ion: a habit is
Per cept i on about habi t
Old habit s inhibit /prevent t he learning of new habit s. Thus, L1 int erferes SLA.
t r ansf er
Ellis (1994): “ L1 t ransfer refers t o t he
incorporat ion of feat ures of t he L1 int o t he knowledge syst em of t he L2 which t he
t r ansf er
“
[t ransfer is] t he use of t he nat ive language
(or ot her language) informat ion in t he
acquisit ion of an L2 (or addit ional
language)
”
Gass (1996: 321)
“
[t ransfer is] influence t hat t he learner
’
s L1
exert s on t he acquisit ion of an L2
”
Tr ansf er Real i zat i on
Facilit ation Avoidance
Over use (overgeneralisat ion)
Negat i ve t r ansf er
Posi t i ve t r ansf er
Posi t i ve t r ansf er
is transfer which makes learning easier, and may occur when bot h t he nat ive language
and t he t arget language have t he same form. E.g., bot h French and English have t he word
t able, which can have t he same meaning in bot h languages.
Negat i ve t r ansf er / i nt er f er ence
The use of a nat ive-language pat t ern or rule
which leads t o an ERROR or inappropriat e form in t he TARGET LANGUAGE.
E.g. : a French learner of English may produce t he incorrect sent ence
I am here since Monday.
inst ead of
I have been here since Monday
Di f f er ences of L1 and L2
Er r or s
Errors should be avoided. Errors are evidence of non-learning.
Cont r ast i ve anal ysi s
St rong form: all errors can be predict ed by ident ifying t he differences bet ween L1 and L2.
Resul t s of compar i son:
5. No similarit y bet ween L1 and L2
Or der of di f f i cul t y
In t erms of learning difficult y, 1 t o 6 above are ordered from zero t o great est . (Is t his t he
Cr i t i ci sms of CA hypot hesi s
Empirical research
Theoret ical crit icisms: Chomsky’s at t ack on t he behaviorist t heory
CA: Reappr ai sal
The learning difficult y predict ed by CA might be realized as avoidance inst ead of error
Int erference is more likely t o occur when t here is some similarit y rat her t han when t here is a t ot al difference
Avoi dance
when speaking or writ ing a second/foreign language, a speaker will oft en t ry t o avoid using a difficult word or st ruct ure, and will use a simplerword or st ruct ure inst ead.
Avoi dance St r at egy
a st udent who is not sure of t he use of t he
relat ive clause in English may avoid using it and use t wo simpler sent ences inst ead:
That ’s my building. I live t here. inst ead of
