Free Essay Sample on Ways in Learning English

Introduction

For over 50 years, numerous researchers have given special attention to the role of the first language in foreign language learning, writing, and understanding (Yang et al. 2017). The first language has been seen to be crucial to the understanding of the second and third language acquisition. Cross-linguistic influence (CLI) can be referred to as the influence that knowledge of one language has on an individual’s learning or use of another language (Yang et al. 2017). CLI may also be defined as the influence of one language upon another, and in most cases, it affects second language acquisition. CLI has been given different synonyms. They include language transfer, native language influence, language mixing, the role of mother tongue, and language interference (Melby-Lervag & Lervag 2011). These terms are used interchangeably as no term is usually satisfactory on its own. Different authors have defined the term differently. According to Yang et al. (2017), transfer can be defined as the influence resulting from the similarities and differences between the target language and any other language that has been previously acquired. On the other hand, Sheng et al. (2013) refer to transfer as a cover term for several behaviors that intersect with input from the target language and universal human language properties. The main aim of this paper is to provide a detailed analysis of how L1 language influences the learning of L2 English by paying using research on cross-linguistic influence and transfer.

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Different Types of Transfer

There are different types of transfer that needs to be substantiated. They include borrowing transfer and substratum transfer (Melby-Lervag & Lervag 2011). Borrowing transfer is usually the influence a second language has on a previously acquired language. In most cases, it begins with the arrival of strong cultural influences from speakers of other languages who bring words associated with the educational system, the government, and technology into the minority language. Substratum transfer is the cross-linguistic influence of the native language on acquiring the target language, which becomes the second language.

Positive and negative transfer are other types of transfer. Positive transfer is when much of the influence of the native language is helpful, and this is mainly noted when the differences between the two languages are minimal (Melby-Lervag & Lervag 2011). For example, Spanish people have a greater advantage of speaking English and acquiring their vocabulary than the Arabic people due to the similarity of their language. Such words may include Publico in Spanish and the public in English (Yang et al. 2017). Negative transfer refers to the divergence noted due to the difference between the target language and the source language. In most cases, a negative transfer occurs when there is little to no similarities between L1 and L2. Errors are most likely to occur in this type of transfer, and the most common errors that occur include underproduction, overproduction, production errors, and miscomprehension.

Underproduction; it is where L2 learners avoid producing errors when using different objects, words, or sounds that they are not familiar or confident with L2. Overproduction; it is when the L2 learners are seen to produce certain structures within L2 with a higher frequency than the native speaker of that language (Melby-Lervag & Lervag 2011). Production errors; there are various production errors and they include substitution, calque, over differentiation, under differentiation, and hypercorrection.

Cross-linguistic influence has been seen to attract researchers from different areas, even if transfer is not the main object of study. Such areas have included second language writing, second language phonetics, phonology, language contact, and language universals and linguistic typology. Language transfer has been seen to affect all linguistic subsystems. The most affected subsystems include syntax, semantics, morphology, phonology as well as orthography.

Different cross-linguistic theories have shown how L1 can play an important role in promoting the L2 language. Zhang et al. (2010), through his linguistic interdependence hypothesis, suggested that L1 and L2 acquisition were mutually dependent, and both contributed or were drawn from the same common underlying proficiency. It meant that learning of L2 should not compromise the development of L1, and exposure of L2 at school could lead to bilingual development (Yang et al. 2017). Therefore, the context under which the person was learning their languages and the person's proficiency level in their L1, greatly affected language transfer. The contrastive analysis theory has also been used to identify structural similarities and differences between the two languages to make a clear prediction of when and how the cross-linguistic transfer will occur. According to Melby-Lervag and Lervag (2011), cross-linguistic structural similarities are critical to the acceleration of L2 acquisition. Structural differences, on the other hand, may impede L2 acquisition.

Similarities in Word Meanings

Similarities in word meanings are among the main ways in which L1 language influences the learning of L2 English. For example, when Spanish learners are asked to translate texts from Spanish to English, there were clear problems with the correct use of some English verbs. Examples of these sentences include "I see T.V in the afternoon, and I make my homework." The verbs make or do seen to share only a little scope with hacer, which is their correspondent verb in Spanish (Chow, 2014). The Spanish verb hacer was seen to have a very broad semantic field, and this made people produce errors, as they do not know the words to translate to in English (Yang et al. 2017). When translating word to English, Spanish learners were therefore seen to choose words that were similar to the semantic fields they needed, which caused a negative transfer.

Overgeneralization of target language semantic rule is also seen to cause errors. This is where the semantic rule is used beyond the normal domain of that rule. Such overgeneralizations may include the use of phrases such as I do, which refer to the process of performing all activities (Melby-Lervag & Lervag 2011). Such learners may use phrases such as I do my homework, I do my bed, I do my chores, and I do my hair. It shows that the use of do has been overgeneralized. The negative transfer, as well as the overgeneralization, are difficult to weigh as all processes are seen to interact to account for these errors.

It can also be noted that semantic differences do not always mean that it will lead to learning difficulties. Some words are seen to have the same meanings in different languages. For example, the English verb to know has the same meaning as the Spanish words conocer and saber. Spanish learners have, in most circumstances, been seen to understand the proper use of know in sentence construction, and example of these sentences include I know English, I know Europe, as well as I, know Geography. On the other hand, American learners were seen to have difficulty translating English words into Spanish. English verbs to have and to know usually have a broader semantic scope that the Spanish words conocer and saber, and therefore translating the English verbs to Spanish is faced with errors (Melby-Lervag & Lervag 2011). All the above difficulties may be associated with errors due to the interaction processes, overgeneralization of the target language semantic rule, and a negative transfer due to native language influence.

Similarities and Dissimilarities in Word Forms

The similarities and dissimilarities in word forms are greatly important to how quickly a person may learn a foreign language. For example, Spanish learners find it easy to understand the meanings of English words similar to Spanish words or whose spellings are identical. It was noted that the Spanish learners did not recognize the meaning of words that they did not know or whose spellings were not similar to that of their native language. The major examples of English words that Spanish learners mostly get correct due to their similarity in Spanish are Insect( Insecto), important(importante), telephone(Telefono) as well as public(public) (Zhang et al. 2010). There are also words that are not similar in English and Spanish, and they include land, law, and dizzy and Spanish students are therefore seen not to recognize their meanings easily.

A positive transfer may be experienced in the above examples as Spanish learners can correctly guess the meaning of English cognates. It is crucial to the acquisition of the second language (Chow, 2014). Another advantage for Spanish speakers or other language speakers whose languages share the same lexicon with English is that they can focus on learning other vocabularies, which is advantageous to them.

There are, however, pitfalls or drawbacks that come with some languages having the same lexicon with English. Some words may be misleading, and the meaning across different languages may be different. Examples of Spanish and English words that look the same but have different meanings are actually and actualmente (Melby-Lervag & Lervag 2011). Spanish learners may think that actually means actualmente, which is really not true, and this is evidence of negative transfer that occurs due to native language influence. There are still no clear illustrations that learners will find one language easier to learn even if it possesses many lexical similarities with their native language.

Lexicon and Morphology

lexicon contains information on both morphological and syntactic information as well as about the meaning of words that is showed through bound morphemes such as suffixes and prefixes and which cannot stand alone (Sheng et al. 2013). In other native languages, especially the Spanish, the adjectives used must agree in number with the nouns they modify. Therefore, there is native language influence, and different rules such as pluralization are transferred to other languages. The following are examples of sentences affected by such morphemes.

Spanish learners are seen to have examples of words with the bound morpheme –s at the end, such as foots, womans, cows, and many others. In English, the bound morpheme-s signals that the nouns are in their plural states (Melby-Lervag & Lervag 2011). The Spanish however, use their linguistic rule of pluralization and put it into the English language. Such errors can be categorized as the use of the linguistic rule of pluralization.

Conclusion

Learners of the second language are seen to play a certain role in the formation of their second language syntax. Negative and positive transfer have been seen to be related to issues such as relative clauses, word-order, negation, as well as articles (Sheng et al. 2013). Word order, being the most intensively studied syntactic property in second language acquisition, has been greatly useful in understanding cross-linguistic influence and transfer (Zhang et al. 2010). A great example of these is the Italian and English languages. Both languages are seen to follow a specific word order, which is the subject, verb or verb phrases, and the object hence the abbreviation SVO. The English language is seen to be rigid compared to other languages such as Italian, which are flexible.