The use of prior linguistic knowledge in the early stages of L3 acquisition

Rebekah Rast (1)

1 SFL - Structures Formelles du Langage

This paper examines cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition relative to language typology, psychotypology and proficiency level. In partic- ular, it observes how learners make use of their background languages when faced with a language they know little to nothing about. The participants, na- tive French speakers with English as a common L2 (other L2s varied) exposed to Polish (L3) for the very first time, were tested on initial exposure and then at various intervals up to 8 hours. The input provided to our learners from the moment of first exposure was recorded and transcribed. This methodology al- lowed us to analyze learners' use of prior linguistic knowledge (L1 and other L2s) when performing tasks in a language with low proficiency. Tasks included translating written and spoken sentences, judging grammaticality and rear- ranging words in sentences. Despite a limited number of participants in each language group, results indicate tendencies. They not only suggest an impor- tant role for both typology and psychotypology at this level of proficiency, but they also reveal that even minimal knowledge of a background language can be the source of cross-linguistic influence of various types.

Mots clés: third language acquisition; transfer; cross-linguistic influence; Polish

Mots clés: acquisition L3; input; transfert; polonais

Domaines: Linguistique

Rebekah Rast. The use of prior linguistic knowledge in the early stages of L3 acquisition. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 2010, 48 (2/3), pp.159-183. ⟨hal-00715520⟩