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Cross-Linguistic Influence and Learner Language

Crosslinguistic influence (CLI) is a term used to define the effect that one language has on the usage or knowledge of another language. Also known as linguistic transfer, the study of CLI in cognitive linguistics has provided a vital gateway to the understanding of how languages interact and function in the multilingual mind

1. The Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis (CAH) he CA! is "ased the "ehavioristic and structuralist approaches. It claimed that the principal "arrier to second language ac#uisition is the interference of the first language system with second language system. A scientific, structural analysis of th languages in #uestion would yield a ta$onomy of linguistic contrasts "etween them. his would ena"le the linguist to predict the difficul learner would encounter. %econd language learning involves the overcoming of the differences "etween the two linguistic systems&the native and target languages. 'ith second language learners, there are errors attri"uta"le to the negative transfer of the native language to the target language. (or e$ample, it is easy to detect certain foreign accents and to infer, from the speech of the learner alone, where the learner comes from) especially *erman, (rench, %panish, and +apanese. 'e can predict and descri"e the pattern that will cause difficulty in learning, and those that will not cause difficulty, "y comparing systematically the language and the culture to "e learned with the native language and culture of the student. hose elements that are similar to the learner,s native language will "e simple for him and those elements that are different will "e difficult. Contrastive analysis involves four different procedures1) .escription- the linguist or language teacher, using the tools of formal grammar e$plicitly descri"es the two languages in #uestion. /) A selection is made of certain forms&linguistic items, rules, structures&for contrast, since it is virtually impossi"le to contrast every possi"le facet of two languages. 0) he contrast itself is the mapping of one linguistic system onto the other, and a specification of the relationship of one system to the other.

1) A prediction of error or of difficulty is formulated on the "asis of the first three procedures. hat prediction can "e arrived at through the formulation of a hierarchy of difficulty or through more su"2ective applications of psychological and linguistic theory.

Hierarchy of Difficulty 3y a hierarchy of difficulty, a teacher or linguist could make a prediction of the relative difficulty of a given aspect of the second language. hrough systematic analysis of the properties of the two languages in reference to the hierarchy of difficulty, applied linguists were a"le to derive a reasona"ly accurate inventory of phonological difficulties that a second language learner would encounter. his grammatical hierarchy has si$ categories, discussed in ascending order of difficulty. Level 4& ransfer 5o difference or contrast is present "etween the two languages. he learner can

simply transfer a sound, structure, or le$ical item from the native language to the target language. 6$amples can "e found in certain phonemes and their distri"ution in 6nglish and Ara"ic ( 7s7, 787, 7m7, 7n7), structures (say, general word order), or words (computer, credit card). Level 1&Coalescence wo items in the native language "ecome coalesced into one item in the target language. his re#uires that learners overlook a distinction they have grown accustomed to. (or e$ample, 6$amples- 6nglish third9person possessives re#uire gender distinction (his7her), and in %panish (hey do not (su)) an 6nglish speaker learning (rench must overlook the distinction "etween teach and learn and use 2ust the one word apprendre in (rench Level /&:nderdifferentiation An item in the native language is a"sent in the target language. he learner must

avoid that item. (or e$ample- 6nglish learners of %partish must ;forget; such items as 6nglish do as a tense carrier, possessive forms of wh9 words (whose), or the use of some with mass nouns.

Level 0&<einterpretation An item that e$ists in the native language is given a new shape or distri"ution. 6$ample- An 6nglish speaker learning (rench must learn a new distri"ution for nasali8ed vowels.

Level 1&=ver differentiation A new item entirely, "earing little if any similarity to the native language item, must "e learned. (or 6$ample- An 6nglish. speaker learning %panish must learn to include determiners in generali8ed nominals (>an is mortal76l hom"re es mortal), or, most commonly, to learn %panish grammatical gender inherent in nouns.

Level ?&%plit =ne item in the native language "ecomes two or more in the target language, re#uiring the learner to make a new distinction. 6$ample- An 6nglish speaker learning %panish must learn the distinction "etween ser and estar (to "e), or the distinction "etween %panish indicative and su"2unctive moods.

. !ar"edness and #niversal $ra%%ar >arkedness theory accounts for relative degrees of difficulty "y means of principles of universal grammar. >em"ers of a pair of related forms are distinguished "y the fact that a marked mem"er of a pair contains at least one more feature than the th marked one. he unmarked mem"er of the pair is the one with a wider range of distri"ution than the marked one. In the case of the 6nglish indefinite articles (a and an), an is the more comple$ or marked form (it has an additional sound) and a is the unmarked form with the wider distri"ution. >arked items in a language are more difficult to ac#uire than unmarked. :niversal grammar (:*) is ;<ules@ that are shared "y all languages. %uch rules are a set of limitations or parameters of language. .ifferent languages set their parameters differently, there"y creating the characteristic grammar for that language. 3y discovering innate linguistic principles that govern what is possi"le in human languages, we may "e "etter a"le to understand and descri"e contrasts "etween native and target languages and the difficulties encountered "y adult second language learners.

&. Learner Language %econd language learning is a process of the creative construction of a system in which learners are consciously testing hypotheses a"out the target language from a num"er of possi"le sources of knowledge. lnterlanguage he intralingual effects of learning are clear in second language ac#uisition. %econd language learning is a creative process of constructing a system in which learners are consciously testing hypotheses a"out the target language from a num"er of possi"le sources of knowledge- of the target language, a"out the native language, a"out life, human "eings, and the universe. lnterlanguage refers to the separateness of a second language learner,s system, a system that has a structurally intermediate status "etween the native and target languages. 3y a gradual process of trial and error and hypothesis testing, learners slowly esta"lish closer appro$imations to the system used "y native speakers. he term ;appro$imative system; refers to the same general phenomenon in second language learning "ut stresses the successive appro$imation to the target language. he term ;idiosyncratic dialect; connotes the idea that the learner,s language is uni#ue to a particular individual, that the rules of the learnerAs language are peculiar to the language of that individual alone. his is neither the system of the native language nor the system of the target language, "ut instead falls "etween the two

'. (rror Analysis !uman learning is a process that involves the making of mistakes. %uccess comes "y profiting from mistakes and o"taining feed"ack from the environment. he mistakes a person made in this process of constructing a new system of language needed to "e analy8ed carefully. hey help in understanding the process of second language ac#uisition.

1) !ista"es and (rrors >istakes and errors are two very different phenomena. A mistake refers to a performance error that is either a random guess or a Bslip,; in that it is a failure to utili8e a known system correctly. All people make mistakes, in "oth native and second language situations. hey are not the result of a deficiency in competence "ut the result of some sort of "reakdown in the process of producing speech. 6rrors of a second language learner are direct manifestations of a system within which a learner is operating at the time. 6rror are noticea"le deviations from the adult grammar of a native speaker, reflecting the interlanguage competence of the learner. An e$ample of errors is ;.oes +ohn can singC;. Det, the difference "etween an error and a mistake is not always clear. (or e$ample, if an 6nglish learner says B+ohn cans sing,@ "ut on other occasions says ;+ohn can sing,@ it is difficult to determine whether Bcans@ is a mistake or an error. !owever, the widespread of such utterances reveals a kind of errors. 6rror analysis is the e$amination of errors attri"uta"le to all possi"le sources, not 2ust those which result from negative transfer of the native language. 6rror arise from several possi"le general sources- interlingual errors of interference from the native language, intralingual errors within the target language, the sociolinguistic conte$t of communication, psycholinguistic or cognitive strategies, and countless affective varia"les.

) (rrors in (rror Analysis he classroom foreign language teacher ran "ecome so preoccupied with noticing errors that the correct utterances in the second language go unnoticed. Another shortcoming in error analysis is an overstressing of production data) com9 prehension data is e#ually important in developing an understanding of the process of second language ac#uisition. 6rror analysis fails to account for the strategy of avoidance. he a"sence of error does not reflect competence since learners may avoid the structures that pose difficulty for them. 6rror analysis can keep us too closely focused on specific languages rather than viewing universal aspects of language. he interlanguage systems of learners may have ele9

ments that reflect neither the target language nor the native language "ut rather a universal feature of some kind.

&) Identifying and Descri)ing (rrors %ystems are in a constant state of flu$ as new information flows in and, through the process of su"sumption, causes e$isting structures to "e revised. hey are not sta"le. hatAs why itAs difficult to analy8e production and comprehension data. he first step in the process of analysis is the identification and description of errors. A ma2or distinction is made at the outset "etween overt and covert errors. A num"er of different categories for description of errors have "een identified in research on learner language. a) he most generali8ed "reakdown can "e made "u identifying errors of addition, omission, su"stitution, and ordering, following standard mathematical categories. ") 'ithin each categories, levels of language can "e considered - phonology or orthography, le$icon, grammar and discourse. c) 6rrors may also "e viewed as either glo"al or local. d) Lennon suggests that two related dimensions of error, domain and e$tent should "e considered in any error analysis.

') *ources of (rrors 3y trying to identify sources we can "egin to arrive at an understanding of how the learnerAs cognitive, and affective self relates to the linguistic system and to formulate an integrated understanding of the process of second language ac#uisition. Interlingual Transfer he "eginning stages of learning a second language are characteri8ed "y a good deal of interlingual transfer from the native language, or, interference. 6nglish learners may say ;sheep; for Bship,@ or Bthe "ook of +ack@ instead of ;+ackAs "ook;. (luent knowledge of a learnerAs native language of course aids the teacher in detecting and analy8ing such errors.

Intralingual Transfer Intralingual transfer (within the target language itself) is a ma2or factor in second language learning. =vergenerali8ation, is the negative counterpart of intralingual transfer. 6$amples of overgenerali8ation are B.oes +ohn can singC@) B!e goed,@ and BI donAt know what time is it,@ he teacher or researcher cannot always "e certain of the source of an apparent intralingual error, "ut repeated systematic o"servations will often remove the am"iguity. Conte+t of Learning 6rrors may "e caused "y the conte$t of learning. 'hen you learn 6nglish language in the school, your conte$t of learning is the classroom. %o, errors may occur "y misleading e$planation from the teacher. 3ut, in untutored language, the conte$t of learning is sociolinguistic conte$t. 6.g. certain dialect such as +apanese immigrant living in a >e$ican9 American area of a :.%. his accent is >e$ican9American 6nglish mi$ed with +apanese accent Co%%unication *trategies Learners use production strategies in order to enhance getting their messages across, "ut at times these techni#ues can themselves "ecome a source of error. 6$amples are word coinage, circumlocution, and false cognates. ;Let us work for the well9done of our country; had an incorrect appro$imation of the word welfare. ,. *tages of Interlanguage Develop%ent here are many different ways to descri"e the progression of linguistic development. It is useful to think in terms of four stages, "ased on o"servations of what the learner does in terms of errors alone. he first stage is random errors or presystematic, in which the learner is only vaguely aware that there is some systematic order to a particular class of items. (or e$ample, B+ohn cans sing,@ B+ohn can to sing,@ and B+ohn can singing,@ said "y the same learner within a short period of time, might indicate a stage of e$perimentation and inaccurate guessing. he second is emergent stage in which the learner has "egun to discern a system and to internali8e certain rules. hese rules may not "e Bcorrect@ "y target language standards, "ut they are nevertheless legitimate in the mind of the learner. he learner is still una"le to

correct errors when they are pointed out "y someone else. Avoidance of structures and topics is typical. L- I go New York. NS: You're going to New York? L: [doesn't understand] What? he third stage is the systematic stage in which the learner is now a"le to manifest more consistency in producing the second language. he most salient difference "etween the second and third stage is the a"ility of learners to correct their errors when they are pointed out&even very su"tly&to them. Consider the 6nglish learner who descri"ed a popular fishing9resort area. L- These fish are serving in the restaurants NS: ( aughing] The fish are serving? L: ( aughing! "h# no# the fish are served in the restaurants$ he fourth stage is the sta"ili8ation stage or Bpostsystem9 atic@ stage. !ere the learner has relatively few errors and has mastered the system to the point that fluency and intended meanings are not pro"lematic. correct. his stage is characteri8ed "y the learnerAs a"ility to self9

-. .aria)ility In Learner Language +ust as native speakers of a language vacillate "etween e$pressions, learners also e$hi"it variation, sometimes within the parameters of accepta"le norms, sometimes not. (irst, incorrect forms coe$ist with correct. Conte$t has also "een identified as a source of variation. 5ota"le among models of varia"ility are 6laine aroneAs capa"ility continuum paradigm and <od 6llisAs varia"le competence model. arone chose to focus her research on conte$tual he varia"ility. %he suggested four categories of variation- variation according to linguistic conte$t, psychological processing factors, social contest, and language function. forms vary. =ne of the most fruitful areas of learner language research has focused on the variation that arises from the disparity "etween classroom conte$ts and natural situations outside language classes. 6llis drew a sharp distinction "etween planned and unplanned discourse in order to e$amine variation. emphasis on conte$t led us to look carefully at the conditions under which certain linguistic

/. 0ossili1ation

%ome incorrect linguistic form may remain or fossili8e in the learner,s competence after the four stages of learner language development have completed. (ossili8tion is a common e$perience in which various errors in a learner,s second language persist despite what is otherwise a fluent command of the language. It means the relatively permanent incorporation of incorrect linguistic forms into a person,s second language competence. If an incorrect form is given positive feed"ack followed "y a positive cognitive feed"ack, this will result in reinforcing the incorrect form and accordingly in fossili8ing it in the learner,s "rain. here are two types of feed"ack1) Affective feed"ack- affective positive affective feed"ack is when you keep listening to someone talking, neutral is when you are not want to maintain other talking, and negative is when you donAt listen to other talking. /) Cognitive feed"ack- positive cognitive feed"ack is when you say to someone ;I understand you message;, neutral is when you say to someone ;I,m not sure if I understand you or not;, and negative is when you say to someone ; I don,t understand what you are saying, it,s not clear. feed"ack is inappropriately given. hus, fossili8ed items occur when the proper

2. (rrors in the Classroo% 1) Audio9lingual >ethod- errors were viewed as phenomena to "e avoided "y overlearning, memori8ing, and getting it right from the start. /) Community language learning, the natural approach- a laisse89faire approach to error, under the assumption that natural processes within the learner will eventually lead the ac#uisition. CL Approaches, task9"ased instruction - advocate an optimal "alance "etween attention to form (and errors) and attention to meaning. .igil and 3ller4s %odel Affective feed"ack allows the sender to continue attempting to get a message across or the sender to a"ort such attempts.

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Cognitive feed"ack- the point at which error correction enters. 5oncorrective feed"ack that says I understand your message or corrective feed"ack that takes on a myriad of possi"le forms and causes the learner to make some kind of alteration in production.Cognitive feed"ack must "e optimal in order to "e effective. oo much negative cognitive feed"ack often leads learners to shut off their attempts at communication. oo much positive cognitive feed"ack serves to reinforce the errors of the speakerIlearner (fossili8ation). he task of the teacher is to discern the optimal tension "etween positive and negative cognitive feed"ack.

5. 0or%-0ocused Instruction

(rom9focused instruction (((I) means any pedagogical effort which is used to draw the learnersA attention to language form either implicitly or e$plicitly. =n the other end of the continuum are a) implicit, peripheral references to form) ") noticing the learnerAs paying attention to specific linguistic features in input, c) the incorporation of forms into communicative tasks, or grammar consciousness raising. he research on this issue addresses a num"er of #uestions1. Are some types of ((I more "eneficial than othersC /. Is there an optimal time to provide ((IC 0. Are particular linguistic features more affected "y ((IC 1. .o particular students "enefit more from ((IC It is sometimes hard to find enough evidence or studies, "ut most of the answers for the #uestions a"ove were yes.

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3rown, !. .. (1HGF). Jrinciples of Languages Learning and eaching. / nd ed. 5ew +ersey) Jrentice !all