Crosslinguistic Influences

Question 1

What were the primary aims of Error Analysis (aka Performance Analysis)?

Answer 1

• To identify types and patterns of errors, in order to…
• Create error taxonomies
• This way, transfer errors can be predicted

Question 2

What is Transfer/ Crosslinguistic Influences?

Answer 2

Knowledge of the L1 that can both positively and negatively influence L2 development.

Question 3

What is Markedness?

Answer 3

Markedness refers to an aspect about the language that stands out as being more unusual in comparison to another language.

Question 4

Which factors influence and/or limit the occurrence of transfer?

Answer 4

• L1 Influences on the Development Speed.
• Markedness
• Transferability

Question 5

How does L1 influence the L2 developmental process?

Answer 5

-L1s can influence the speed at which a language is learned. All language learners (regardless of their L1) follow the same developmental paths when learning an L2.
-However, L1 backgrounds can change the rate at different stages of the learning process.
Example: All L2 English learners begin negation preverbally. Pre-verbal negators (like Italian, Spanish, etc.) will stay at this stage longer than Post-verbal negators (like Norwegian or German).

Question 6

How does Markedness influence L2 learning?

Answer 6

• Markedness deals with frequency ranking of language aspects. The more marked a language or language feature is, the rarer it is.
• The more marked a language is in comparison to the L1 the harder it is for that learner to learn. The less marked the easier.
• Example:

Question 7

How does Markedness influence L2 learning?

Answer 7

• Markedness deals with frequency ranking of language aspects. The more marked a language or language feature is, the rarer it is.
• The more marked a language is in comparison to the L1 the harder it is for that learner to learn. The less marked the easier.
• Example: Voiced stops (like wave or tab) are more marked than voiced ones. German however does not have voiced stops, so development here is more difficult (pronouncing the words as wafe or tap).

Question 8

What is transferability? How does it affect L2 Learning?

Answer 8

• Transferability refers to how transferable L1 phenomena is to the L2. This is dependent on the learners’ conscious and unconscious intuitions on how transferable some things are.
• This is dependent on how marked or language specific a feature of the L1 appears to be. If it is viewed as marked it is less likely to be transferred.

Question 9

How does Transfer manifest itself?

Answer 9

• Errors of Commission
• Avoidance (Errors of Omission)
• Under- and Overuse
• Positive L1 influences on learning rate.
• Influence beneath the surface (ex. Info structuring)

Question 10

What is Underuse and Overuse?

Answer 10

• When L1 knowledge inhibits certain L2 choices and primes others.
• Example: Finnish uses suffixes to denote location, whereas English uses prepositions. This previous L1 knowledge leads finish learners to underuse prepositions or overuse some prepositions (using “in” for “from”).

Question 11

How can L1 have positive influences on L2 learning?

Answer 11

Having similar traits with the L2 can help a learner.
-Example: German learners of French have an easier time learning gender of words than English learners. This is because English doesn’t have genders, whereas German does.