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Directionality and complexity of L1 transfer in L2 acquisition: Evidence from L2 Chinese discourse

  • Boping Yuan EMAIL logo and Yvonne Lin

Abstract

First language (L1) transfer is a common phenomenon in second language (L2) acquisition. However, it will be argued in this article that although there are indeed pervasive influences of learners’ L1 in L2 acquisition, L1 transfer is not everywhere and it can be directional. We compare data from Chang’s (2001b. Discourse effects on the second language acquisition of English and Chinese dative structures. Honolulu: University of Hawai’i at Manoa PhD dissertation, 2004. Discourse effects on EFL learners’ production of dative constructions. Journal of Kaohsiung University of Applied Sciences 33. 145–169.) studies of Chinese-speaking learners of English with data of our study of English-speaking learners of Chinese to examine whether their L2 English discourse and L2 Chinese discourse are equally influenced by their L1 discourse rules. We focus on learners’ answers to wh-questions with a double object construction or a prepositional object construction. The results demonstrate that L1 transfer takes place in Chinese-speaking learners’ L2 English discourse but not in English-speaking learners’ L2 Chinese discourse. This directionality of L1 transfer is accounted for on the basis of computational complexity of linguistic structures involved and on an economical consideration.

Acknowledgements

We would like to express our sincere thanks to all the participants in this empirical study. Without their participation and support, this project would have been very difficult, if not impossible. Thanks also go to IRAL reviewers for their insightful comments on and suggestions for earlier versions of this article. In addition, we would like to acknowledge the support that the first author received for this project from the National Research Centre for Foreign Language Education (MOE Key Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences at Universities), Beijing Foreign Studies University, China, where he has been an Overseas Research Fellow.

Appendix A: Distribution and percentage of English-speaking CSL participants by location

ABC
LocationNo. of CSL participantsPercentage

(B/121*100 %)
Australia119.09
Canada1310.74
China1814.88
Hong Kong75.79
UK3226.44
USA2218.18
Others1814.88
Total121100

Appendix B: Distribution of CSL participants in each location and university/institution/ company as well as percentage of participants having been to Chinese-speaking areas

ABCDE
LocationUniversity/Institution/CompanyNo. of CSL parti-cipantsNo. of CSL participants having been to Chinese- speaking areasPercentage (D/C*100 %)
Australia111090.91
CanberraThe Australian National University1110
Canada131292.31
MontréalHEC Montréal65
VancouverUniversity of British Columbia77
China1818100.00
BeijingBeijing University33
Beijing Language and Culture University33
Capital Normal University College of International Education22
Tsinghua University1010
Hong Kong77100.00
ShatinChinese University of Hong Kong33
PokfulamUniversity of Hong Kong44
UK322887.50
CambridgeUniversity of Cambridge109
EdinburghUniversity of Edinburgh33
LeedsUniversity of Leeds11
LondonUniversity of London:
School of Oriental and African86
Studies
The London School of11
Economics and Political
Science
University College London10
NottinghamUniversity of Nottingham22
OxfordUniversity of Oxford55
SheffieldUniversity of Sheffield11
USA222090.91
Berkeley, CaliforniaUniversity of California Berkeley22
San Diego, CaliforniaUniversity of California San Diego11
New Haven, ConnecticutYale University22
Manoa, HonoluluUniversity of Hawaii at Manoa33
Chicago, IllinoisUniversity of Chicago11
Wellesley, MassachusettsBabson College11
Ann Arbor, MichiganUniversity of Michigan11
Kalamazoo, MichiganWestern Michigan University11
Minneapolis, MinnesotaUniversity of Minnesota11
New York CityColumbia University65
New York CityNew York University11
Syracuse, New YorkSyracuse University11
Durham, North CarolinaDuke University10
Othersprofessional institutions/companies1818100.00
Total12111393.39
  1. Note: the percentage of CSL learners recruited from the universities: 85.12 % (103/121*100 %), and that from the professional institutions/companies: 14.88 % (18/121*100 %).

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