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L3 Syntactic Transfer: Models, new developments and implications
Edited by Tanja Angelovska and Angela Hahn
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 5] 2017
► pp. 103–124

Chapter 5
Transfer or no transfer; that is the question

The role of the L1 & L2 in L3 acquisition

Over the past two decades, various theories have been put forward regarding the role of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in third language (L3) acquisition. This study aims to test the validity of these hypotheses by investigating the syntactic development from a processing perspective. It examines two different learner groups, the first group consists of English L3 learners with Turkish as their L1 and German as their L2 and the second group consists of English L2 learners with German as their L1. In line with the DMTH, it is predicted that the learners will transfer features from their L1 or their L2 to English, only when they are developmentally ready to acquire the features to be transferred, but not before that.

Keywords: L3 acquisition, L2 acquisition, syntax, cross-linguistic influence, Turkish, German, English
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Literature review
    • L2 Transfer
    • L1 Transfer
    • L1 & L2 transfer (Mixed Transfer Theories)
    • Summary
    • The Developmentally Moderated Transfer Hypothesis
  • The study
    • Research questions
    • Data
    • Data analysis
  • Results and discussion
    • Comparison between English L3 and L2 acquisition from a processability perspective
    • CLI in English L3 acquisition
  • Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
Published online: 15 August 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.5.06wir
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Cited by 2 other publications

Angelovska, Tanja & Angela Hahn
2017. L3 syntactic transfer – an integrative approach. In L3 Syntactic Transfer [Bilingual Processing and Acquisition, 5], ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Plötner, Kathleen
2023. Chapter 14. Construction grammar and foreign language learning (L3). In Constructions in Spanish [Constructional Approaches to Language, 34], ► pp. 375 ff. DOI logo

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