TY - JOUR
T1 - L1 and L2 transfer to L3 in L3 and L2 learners of Standard Arabic
AU - Albirini, Abdulkafi
AU - Saadah, Eman
AU - Alhawary, Mohammad T.
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© John Benjamins Publishing Company
PY - 2020/12/4
Y1 - 2020/12/4
N2 - This study examines the influence of previously acquired languages - namely, Colloquial Arabic (CA) and English - on the acquisition of Standard Arabic (SA) by L3 and L2 learners. It reports on the role of typological and structural proximity in language transfer and whether transfer patterns change over time. The study involved 105 participants: 41 CA-L1, English-L2 learners of SA, 47 English-L1 learners of SA, and 17 Arabic-L1 speakers. The participants completed three written tasks focusing on: definite article use, verb subcategorization rules, and sentential negation. The results indicate that CA plays a positive role in L3 learners' acquisition of SA, mainly in forms where SA and CA converge, whereas English seems to play more of a negative role for both L3 and L2 learners. Thus, structural proximity seems to play a positive role in transfer to the L3. Negative transfer, irrespective of proximity/distance, diminishes as learners advance in their study of SA.
AB - This study examines the influence of previously acquired languages - namely, Colloquial Arabic (CA) and English - on the acquisition of Standard Arabic (SA) by L3 and L2 learners. It reports on the role of typological and structural proximity in language transfer and whether transfer patterns change over time. The study involved 105 participants: 41 CA-L1, English-L2 learners of SA, 47 English-L1 learners of SA, and 17 Arabic-L1 speakers. The participants completed three written tasks focusing on: definite article use, verb subcategorization rules, and sentential negation. The results indicate that CA plays a positive role in L3 learners' acquisition of SA, mainly in forms where SA and CA converge, whereas English seems to play more of a negative role for both L3 and L2 learners. Thus, structural proximity seems to play a positive role in transfer to the L3. Negative transfer, irrespective of proximity/distance, diminishes as learners advance in their study of SA.
KW - Arabic heritage speakers
KW - L3 acquisition
KW - Language transfer
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85106831125&partnerID=8YFLogxK
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U2 - 10.1075/lab.18013.alb
DO - 10.1075/lab.18013.alb
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:85106831125
SN - 1879-9264
VL - 10
SP - 745
EP - 774
JO - Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
JF - Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism
IS - 6
ER -