Explorations Of Language Transfer

When learners of a new language draw on their native language (or on any other that they may know), this earlier acquired linguistic knowledge may influence their success. Such cross-linguistic influence, also known as language transfer, has long raised questions about what linguists can predict about success in the new language and about what processes are involved in using prior knowledge. This book lucidly brings together many insights on transfer: e.g. on the relation between translation and transfer, the relation between comprehension and production, and the problem of how complete any predictions of difficulty may ever be. The discussions also explore implications for future research and for classroom practice. The book will thus serve as a reliable guide for teachers, researchers, translators, interpreters, and students curious about language contact.

This volume, dedicated to language transfer, starts out with state-of-the-art psycholinguistic approaches to language transfer involving studies on psycho-typological transfer, lexical interference and foreign accent. The next chapter on Transfer in Language Learning, Contact, and Change presents new empirical data from several languages (English, German, Russian, French, Italian) on various transfer phenomena ranging from second language acquisition and contact-induced change in word order to cross-linguistic influences in word formation and the lexicon. Transfer in Applied Linguistics scrutinizes, on the one hand, the external sources of language transfer by investigating bilingual resources and the school context, but also by pointing out the differences in academic language in multilingual adolescents. On the other hand, internal sources of language transfer in multilingual classrooms are illuminated. A final chapter directs its focus on methodological issues that arise when more than one language is studied systematically and it offers a solution on causal effects for the investigation of heritage language proficiencies. The chapter also includes studies that exploit more innovative methodologies on L1 identification and clitic acquisition.

"Knowing a foreign language provides an advantage for understanding, working in, and building relationships with a particular language community. However, military personnel can expect to encounter multiple languages in their operational experiences over a career. Thus, it is important to understand what impact learning a foreign language has beyond its applications with a specific population. This report reviews research on the extent to which foreign language proficiency facilitates further language and cultural learning. Empirical research shows relationships among language learning and intercultural and language-related outcomes, but evidence for a direct causal contribution is lacking. In children, knowing a second language develops metalinguistic awareness, which can contribute to further language learning. However, other factors limit the degree of proficiency that can be expected. Evidence of benefits for cross-cultural attitudes and behavior is similarly scarce. The likely impact of language education and training on adults is therefore unknown, particularly for personnel who lack intrinsic motivation or language aptitude, or who hold negative attitudes about the language community. General characteristics such as intercultural sensitivity and interpersonal skills have been shown to contribute more to outcomes than do language skills. Evidence is currently insufficient to view language as the cornerstone of cultural capability."--Page i.

The chapters in this volume represent an approach to the notion of language transfer which reflects the paradigm shift originating from cognitive science. The perception and expression of ideas and events in one language in terms of another language is considered only a special case of one of the fundamental processes in human problem solving-reasoning by analogy. Transfer in language production is seen as a basic metaphorical concept denoting language interaction that must be discussed in connection with other metaphorical concepts denoting language interaction as well. If this is true, the assessment of language transfer in light of the production paradigm has hardly begun. It will continue to be a topic of far-reaching consequences for a theory of language processing and language acquisition.

The topic of this bibliography in its broadest sense is the subject of a wide range of academic disciplines. Given these circumstances, the particular associations and connotations of the terms ‘transfer’ and ‘interference’ in each of these areas are legion, with resultant differences in meaning in the disparate literature on these subjects. And yet it is, in one way or another, contact and interaction of languages in the speaker/hearer and learner, in language acquisition contexts, as well as in society in general, which is basic to these two concepts throughout the various disciplines. The discovery of this basic unitary notion is surely one of the reasons for the new interest in these phenomena. In light of all this, a bibliography cannot at present avoid being highly/ selective in order to demarcate an interdisciplinary area of research in its own right and with its own status. The establishment of such an area is one of our main aims. The focus of interest in this bibliography, admittedly, is directed towards the psycholinguistics of language contact and interaction.

This book explains the detectionbased approach to investigating crosslinguistic influence and illustrates the value of the approach through a collection of five empirical studies that use the approach to quantify, evaluate, and isolate the subtle and complex influences of learners’ nativelanguage backgrounds on their English writing.

"This cutting edge volume explores holistic trends in multilingualism, analysing the processes of both 'becoming multilingual' and 'being multilingual'. Multilingualism has increased in recent years due to globalisation, transnational mobility and the spread of Information and Communications Technology (ICT). This volume explores some of the trends in the study of multilingual education by putting together research studies that analyse the processes of both 'becoming multilingual' and 'being multilingual' in educational contexts."--Publisher's website.

This is the first book that discusses the effect of foreign language learning on first language processing. The authors argue that multilingual development is a dynamic and cumulative process characterized by transfer of different nature, and results in a common underlying conceptual base with two or more language channels that constantly interact with each other. Language representation and processing are discussed from a cognitive-pragmatic rather than a lexical-syntactic perspective. This required the review of several crucial issues of L2 acquisition, such as transfer, vocabulary development, conceptual fluency, and pragmatic skills. The authors also reviewed a large body of literature touching on cognitive psychology, linguistics, psycholinguistics, SLA, philosophy, and education in order to explain multilingual development and the positive effect of foreign language learning on the first language. An important read for linguists and language educators alike, this volume: * attempts to explain multilingual development from a cognitive-pragmatic perspective, * argues that foreign language learning has a positive effect on the development and use of mother tongue skills, * relies on research findings of several different disciplines, * builds on the results of quantitative research conducted by the authors, and touches on a wide range of literature.