UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA - Facultad de Filosofa, Letras y Cs.

de la Educacin
MASTER OF LINGUISTICS APPLIED TO TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Module: LANGUAGE AND LEARNING THEORIES
February 2016. M.A. Vernica Aguirre

Paul Bernal Arellano

Professor Vernica Aguirre
TRANSFER
05 March, 2016

Second language teachers in their professional life encounter difficulties in the learning
process such as the influence of the speaker mother tongue L1 into the second language L2.
Though second language ideally be purely taught, the presence of the mother tongue in
second language learning is considered inevitable because this is inherent to the learners,
and it is part of their context and culture. This phenomenon, which is called transfer, its
role in L2 along with the formation of interlanguage will be addressed in this essay.
Before defining transfer, it is important to clarify the difference between second language
and foreign language. In this regard, Rebecca Oxford (1990) states that the difference lays
in where the languages are learned and their social and communicative functions they are
used for. On one hand, second language is understood as the one that has social and
communicative functions in bilingual countries where learners have the opportunity to use
it. On the other hand, a foreign language does not have social or communicative functions
because learners are not in contact with the target language outside the classroom
environment.
Regardless this difference, Chomsky (as cited in Cook, 1985) and his theory of Universal
Grammar tries to attribute language development to biological factors based on the
existence of a LAD (language acquisitions devise) which allows the discovery of rules and

UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA - Facultad de Filosofa, Letras y Cs. de la Educacin

MASTER OF LINGUISTICS APPLIED TO TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Module: LANGUAGE AND LEARNING THEORIES
February 2016. M.A. Vernica Aguirre

structures of a language. Contrary to these beliefs, Watson and Skinner (as cited in Mergel,
1998) developed the theory of stimuli-response which creates habits through constant
positive reinforcements. Habit formation theories have been taking into account as theories
of language learning because children improve their mother tongue through imitation of
adults expressions. It was assumed that this process also occurred with L2 acquisition.
Martinez (1999). However, repetition of written or spoken language patterns which are of
great value in the acquisition of a native language would cause difficulties in learning a
second language due to lack of implicit meaning carried in repetition of language patterns.
This in turn would explain how L1 interferes in L2 learning and why the SL learner makes
errors.
At this point, it is necessary to make a distinction between acquisition and learning.
Stephen Krashen (1981) in his theory of the monitor model, developed to explain the
acquisition of a SL, clearly explains acquisition as a subconscious development of language
abilities without the knowledge of rules; contrary to learning which refers to the
conscious knowledge of rules that govern a language and the ability to explain them.
This phenomenon called transfer is defined by the Websters Third New World
International Dictionary (1986), as the carry-over or generalization of learned responses
from one type of situation to another, especially the application in one field of study or
effort of knowledge, skill, power, or ability acquired in another. In the field of linguistics,
transfer may be understood as the generalization of the learners knowledge about their
native language in any other language to be acquired. The term transfer has been replaced
by cross linguistic influence by authors like Sharwood-Smith (1983) who thought it may

UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA - Facultad de Filosofa, Letras y Cs. de la Educacin

MASTER OF LINGUISTICS APPLIED TO TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Module: LANGUAGE AND LEARNING THEORIES
February 2016. M.A. Vernica Aguirre

refer to avoidance or borrowing. Dulay et al., (1982) as well substituted transfer by

interlingual errors arguing that it refers to learners errors of L1 into L2 independently the
process and conditions they occur. In this regard, this author argues that these errors only
occur in two specific situations, when children are forced to use L2 when they are not ready
in an inappropriate environment and during certain language class activities. In these
particular conditions, language interference can be referred as negative transfer; however,
this interference may result in the correct use of the target language which is known as
positive transfer.
Nevertheless, positive and negative transfer are of great value as long as they are
considered a strategy in second language learning. The how, where, why and what to
transfer mentioned by Schumann (1988) would determine the success of L1 inference,
which is inevitable, into L2 by identifying similarities and differences between learners
mother tongue and the second language to be learned. The important role that L1 plays in
the development of L2 has been addressed by authors like Villamil and De Guerrero (1996)
who found that L1 is an essential tool to understand meaning of texts, remembering
vocabulary through associations, exploring and expanding content, and sustaining dialogue.
This has been clearly observed when technology medical students whom I work with are
exposed to reading material related to their career. Previous knowledge these students have
on the field of medical technology considerably influence in understanding of new
information thanks to positive transfer resulting in satisfactory results of learners language
performance. When dealing with new vocabulary, the understanding of cognates and false
cognates make L2 students feel more confident and motivated because they realize Spanish
and English have many commonalities. Likewise, lexical similarities between L1 and L2

UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA - Facultad de Filosofa, Letras y Cs. de la Educacin

MASTER OF LINGUISTICS APPLIED TO TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Module: LANGUAGE AND LEARNING THEORIES
February 2016. M.A. Vernica Aguirre

facilitate learning because learners identify L2 words, which have a common etymology
origin as L1 words. Nevertheless, I have experienced as a L2 learner and witnessed as a
teacher the use of false cognates which result in negative transfer. For instance, the English
word actually and the Spanish word actualmente seem to be cognates; however, they
differ in meaning: actually does not mean actualmente but de hecho which is clearly
a negative transfer due to native language influence. To deal with negative transfer when
using false cognates I have empirically use visual aids like flash cards to create a visual
impact which help L2 learners overcome the difficulties of word form influence. As well as
lexical differences, semantic alterations

may lead to significant learning difficulties;

however, transfer of meaning play sometimes a facilitating role as in the case of the
Spanish verbs conocer and saber which resembles to the English verb to know. For
example, Spanish speakers learning English perfectly distinguish between I know Cuenca
from I know anatomy. Even though, the Spanish verb hacer is generalized when using
the corresponding English verbs do and make which are related to creation and
realization. For example, when Spanish speakers write I do a cake they are generalizing
the use of do to every process which results in negative semantic transfer. Being a
common mistake among Spanish speakers learning English, pedagogical strategies such as
the use of mind maps displaying a narrow English concept of the verbs do and make
may help L2 learners to overcome this difficulty. Morphological and syntactic constrains
are also found when transfer occurs in misplacing elements in a structure that learners have
fossilized in Spanish. This entirely interferes with the new structure, for example, the
correct syntactic place of the possessive determiner and the genitive phrase. As it is
mentioned previously, transfer may be considered as a learning strategy because learners

UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA - Facultad de Filosofa, Letras y Cs. de la Educacin

MASTER OF LINGUISTICS APPLIED TO TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Module: LANGUAGE AND LEARNING THEORIES
February 2016. M.A. Vernica Aguirre

recognition of similarities between L1 and L2 help them surpass beginning levels of

English learning. Concerning the use of L1 into L2, Krashen (1981) proposes the
employment of the mother tongue at the beginning of L2 learning to achieve
communicative limitations while more L2 input is acquired. Similarly, in the L2 learning
process, learners create a system of communication called intralanguage, which is a
combination of transfer, overgeneralization, simplification, and the correct understanding of
L2. This term was coined by Larry Selinker in 1972 to define learners linguistic stage in
their process of L2 acquisition. Use of intralanguage has to be considered part of the
process because this is an essential tool learners have to achieve higher levels of language
learning.
As a conclusion, being part of a teaching language community for a considerable time, I
have witnessed the interference of L1 Spanish into L2 English. Unfounded arguments have
made us L2 teachers underestimate the importance of the influence of L1 into L2. In our
particular case, use of Spanish language in an English class has been even forbidden.
However, thanks to literature supporting the use of the mother tongue during the process of
learning a second language, especially in early stages, L2 teachers are becoming aware of
the significant role transfer plays in the acquisition of L2. Hence, the usefulness and
inevitable presence of the native language in second language learning process must be
rather considered as an effective pedagogical instrument.

UNIVERSIDAD DE CUENCA - Facultad de Filosofa, Letras y Cs. de la Educacin

MASTER OF LINGUISTICS APPLIED TO TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE
Module: LANGUAGE AND LEARNING THEORIES
February 2016. M.A. Vernica Aguirre

REFERENCES
Cook, V. J. (1985). Chomsky's universal grammar and second language learning. Applied
Linguistics, 6(1), 2-18.
Dulay, H. (1982). Language Two. Oxford University Press, 200 Madison Ave., New York,
NY 10016.
Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisition. Second Language Learning, 19-39.
Martinez , G. (1999). Idiomas extranjeros. Lineamientos curriculares. Ministerio de
educacin nacional.
Mergel, B. (1998). Instructional design and learning theory. Retrieved January,4, 2010.
Oxford, Rebecca L. (1990). Language Learning Strategies: What Every Teacher Should
Know. New York: Newbury House.
Schumann, J. (1988). Interview in TESOL Newsletter. March issue: 8-9.
Selinker, Larry. 1972. Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics in
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Sharwood Smith, M (1983). "Crosslinguistic aspects of second language acquisition". In
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Verma, M. H. (2005). Learners attitude and its impact on language learning.Invertis
Institute of Engineering & Technology, Bareilly, 243, 123.
Villamil. O. and De Guerrero, M (1996). Peer revisin in the L2 classroom: Socialcognitive activities, mediating strategies, and aspects of social behavior (p.60).
Journal of Second Language Writing, 5.
Websters Third New World International Dictionary (WNW) [Z]. New Haven: The
Merriam Webster, Inc, 1986