L1 influence on Second Language Acquisition and Teaching

L1 influence on Second Language Acquisition and Teaching

1. The term transfer

   • During the heyday of contrastive analysis (CA) the influence of the first language was thought to have a negative effect in the L2, therefore the term interference was used to refer to this phenomenon.

2. Contrastive Analysis, Error Analysis and the Creative Construction Hypothesis

   • CA has pedagogic origins, it was originally created to teach a L2.
     • This trend follows the behaviourist view of language acquisition where a stimulus produces a response and the relationship between both creates a habit.

3. The Interlanguage Hypothesis

   • In 1972 Selinker proposed the Interlanguage hypothesis (IL), which meant a turning-point in the field of SLA. According to Selinker, the IL shares features both with CCH and with CA.

4. Recent approaches

   • Three main recent approaches have emerged in the field of Second Language Acquisition, which also consider CLI: the multicompetence framework, the renewed interest in linguistic relativity and the development of conceptual transfer as well as its comparison with the thinking-for-speaking hypothesis

5. The multicompetence framework

   • Multicompetence refers to the knowledge of more than one language in the same mind . The L2 user is seen as a whole person therefore this trend does not focus on the monolingual speaker as the ideal reference.

6. Linguistic relativity

   • The notion that thought is shaped by language is related to linguistic determinism (Whorf, 1956). The Whorfian view considered that thought and action are determined by language. If languages differ, their speakers will also differ in the way they perceive situations.

7. Conceptual transfer and thinking-for speaking

   • The Conceptual Transfer Hypothesis (CTH) focuses on the relationship between language and cognition, more specifically on the effects of the patterns of cognition of one language in the acquisition of another.