Cover not available
Part of
L3 Syntactic Transfer: Models, new developments and implications
Edited by Tanja Angelovska and Angela Hahn
[Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 5] 2017
► pp. 195–222

Chapter 9
(When) do L3 English learners transfer from L2 German?

Evidence from spoken and written data by L1 Russian speakers

This study examines the negative interlanguage transfer of the verb-second (henceforth V2) by adult speakers with L1 Russian, advanced L2 German and at either elementary or intermediate L3 levels of English, whereby L2 and L3 were acquired subsequently and formally. It questions if and which of the existing L3 transfer models will offer the best prediction for the source of negative interlanguage transfer by responding to two existing gaps: (a) taking into consideration the dominant language used on a daily basis and (b) comparing spoken and written data.

Keywords: third language acquisition, cross-linguistic influence, non-facilitative transfer, verb second, proficiency, language dominance, writing, speaking
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • Background
    • Existing models on transfer in L3A
    • L1 Factor
    • The L2 Status Factor
    • The Cumulative Enhancement Model (CEM)
    • The Typological Primacy Model (TPM)
    • The verb-second phenomenon
    • V2 Transfer in L3A in relation to proficiency
    • Language dominance and transfer
    • Predictions and hypotheses
  • Research methodology
    • Participants
    • Procedure and instruments
      • Oxford Quick Placement Test (OQPT) for determining proficiency
      • German Language Usage Scoring for determining language dominance
      • Writing task
      • Story Telling Speaking Task
      • Analysis and scoring
    • Results
    • Classification of V2 sentences
  • Discussion of results
  • Conclusion and future implications
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 15 August 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/bpa.5.10ang
References
Abutalebi, J., Cappa, S. F., & Perani, D.
(2001) The bilingual brain as revealed by functional neuroimaging. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 4(2), 179–190. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Angelovska, T., & Hahn, A.
(2012) Written L3 (English): Transfer phenomena of L2 (German) lexical and syntactical properties. In D. Gabrys-Barker (Ed.), Crosslinguistic influences in multilingual language acquisition (pp. 23–40). Heidelberg: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bardel C., & Falk Y.
(2007) The role of the second language in third language acquisition: The case of Germanic syntax. Second Language Research, 23(4), 459–84. DOI logo.Google Scholar
(2012) Behind the L2 status factor: A neurolinguistic framework for L3 research. In J. Cabrelli Amaro, S. Flynn, & J. Rothman (Eds.), Third language acquisition in adulthood (Studies in Bilingualism 46) (pp. 61–78). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Belcher, D., & Hirvela, A.
(Eds.) (2008) The oral-literate connection: Perspectives on L2 speaking, writing, and other media interactions. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berkes É., & Flynn S.
(2012) Further evidence in support of the cumulative-enhancement model: CP structure development. In J. Cabrelli Amaro, S. Flynn, & J. Rothman (Eds.), Third language acquisition in adulthood (Studie in Bilingualism 46) (pp. 143–164). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Berman, R. A., & Slobin, D. I.
(1994) Relating events in narrative: A crosslinguistic developmental study. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Birdsong, D.
(2006) Dominance, proficiency, and second language grammatical processing. Applied Psycholinguistics, 27(1), 46–49. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Bohnacker, U.
(2006) When Swedes begin to learn German: From V2 to V2. Second Language Research, 22(4), 443–486. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Brehmer, B., & Usanova, I.
(2015) Let’s fix it? Cross-linguistic influence in word order patterns of Russian heritage speakers in Germany. In H. Peukert (Ed.), Transfer effects in multilingual language development (Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 4) (pp. 161–190). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
Cabrelli Amaro, J., & Rothman, J.
(2015) The relationship between L3 transfer and structural similarity across development: Raising across an experiencer in Brazilian Portuguese. In H. Peukert (Ed.), Transfer effects in multilingual language development (Hamburg Studies on Linguistic Diversity 4) (pp. 21–52). Amsterdam: John Benjamins.Google Scholar
De Angelis, G.
(2007) Third or additional language acquisition. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
De Angelis, G., & Selinker, L.
(2001) Interlanguage transfer and competing linguistic systems in the multilingual mind. In J. Cenoz, B. Hufeisen, & U. Jessner (Eds.), Cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition: Psycholinguistic perspectives (pp. 42–58). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Ellis, R., & Barkhuizen, G.
(2005) Analysing learner language. Oxford: OUP.Google Scholar
Erechko, A.
(2003) On subject-verb inversion in Russian. In M. van Koppen, J. Sio, & M. de Vos (Eds.), Proceedings of ConSOLE XI. Leiden: SOLE Publications.Google Scholar
Fallah, N., Jabbari, A. A., & Fazilatfar, A. M.
(2016) Source(s) of syntactic CLI: The case of L3 acquisition of English possessives by Mazandarani – Persian bilinguals. Second Language Research, 32(2), 225–245. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Falk, Y., & Bardel, C.
(2010) The study of the role of the background languages in third language acquisition. The state of the art. International Review of Applied Linguistics, 48(2–3), 185–219. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Falk, Y.
(2011) Object pronouns in German L3 syntax: Evidence for the L2 status factor. Second Language Research, 27(1), 59–82. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Falk Y., Lindqvist, C., & Bardel, C.
(2015) The role of L1 explicit metalinguistic knowledge in L3 oral production at the initial state. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 227–235. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Flynn, S., Foley, C., & Vinnitskaya, I.
(2004) The Cumulative-Enhancement Model for language acquisition: Comparing adults’ and children’s patterns of development in first, second and third language acquisition of relative clauses. The International Journal of Multilingualism, 1(1), 3–16. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Gass, S., & L. Selinker
(Eds.) (1983) Language transfer in language learning. Rowley, MA: Newbury House.Google Scholar
Gertken, L. M., Amengual, M., & Birdsong, D.
(2014) Assessing language dominance with the Bilingual language profile. In P. Leclercq, A. Edmonds, & H. Hilton (Eds.), Measuring L2 proficiency: Perspectives from SLA. (pp. 208–225). Bristol: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Gullberg, M., & Peter I.
(2003), Language background questionnaire. Developed in the dynamics of multilingual processing. Nijmegen: Max Planck Institute for Psycholinguistics.Google Scholar
Green, D.
(2017) Language control and the acquisition of L3 syntax: the centrality of individual differences. In T. Angelovska & A. Hahn (Ed.), L3 syntactic transfer: Models, new developments and implications (Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 5). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Haider, H.
(2010) The syntax of German. Cambridge: CUP. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hahn, A. & T. Angelovska
(2017) “Input-Practice-Output: A Model for Teaching L3 English after L2 German with a Focus on Syntactic Transfer”. In Angelovska, T. & A. Hahn (eds.). L3 Syntactic Transfer: Models, New Developments and Implications. In Bilingual Processing and Acquisition Series [BAP], Vol. 5. Ed. Schwieter, J. Amsterdam: John Benjamins. (pp. 299–319). DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Håkansson, G., Manfred, P., & Susan, S.
(2002) Transferand typological proximity in the context of second language processing. Second Language Research, 18(3), 250–273. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Harris, C. L., Gleason, J. B., & Aycicegi, A.
(2006) When is a first language more emotional? Psychophysiological evidence from bilingual speakers. In A. Pavlenko (Ed.), Bilingual minds: Emotional experience, expression, and representation (pp. 257–283). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
Hermas, A.
(2010) Language acquisition as computational resetting: Verb movement in L3 initial state. International Journal of Multilingualism, 7(4), 343–62. DOI logo.Google Scholar
(2014a) Multilingual transfer: L1 morphosyntax in L3 English. International Journal of Language Studies, 8(2), 1–24.Google Scholar
(2014b) Restrictive relatives in L3 English: L1 transfer and ultimate attainment convergence. Australian Journal of Linguistics, 34(3), 361–87. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Hernandez, A., Ping, L., & MacWhinney, B.
(2005) The emergence of competing modules in bilingualism. Trends in Cognitive Sciences, 9(5), 220–225. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Holmberg, A.
(2012) Verb second. In T. Kiss & A. Alexiadou (Eds.), Syntax – An international handbook of contemporary syntactic research. Berlin: Walter de GruyterGoogle Scholar
Kormos, J., & Trebits, A.
(2012) The role of task complexity, modality, and aptitude in narrative task performance. Language Learning, 62(2), 439–472. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Kupisch, T.
(2007) Determiners in bilingual German-Italian children: What they tell us about therelation between language influence and language dominance. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 10(1), 57–78. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Lloyd-Smith, A., Gyllstad, H., & Kupisch, T.
(2016) Transfer into L3 English: Global accent in German-dominant heritage speakers of Turkish. Linguistic Approaches to Bilingualism. DOI logo.Google Scholar
MacWhinney, B.
(2000) The CHILDES project: Tools for analyzing talk (3rd ed.), Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Mayer, M.
(1969) Frog, where are you? New York, NY: Dial Press.Google Scholar
Montrul, S., De La Fuente, I., Davidson, J., & R. Foote
(2012) The role of experience in the acquisition and production of diminutives and gender in Spanish: Evidence from L2 learners and heritage speakers, Second Language Research, 29(1), 87–118. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Paradis, M.
(2004) A neurolinguistic theory of bilingualism (Studies in Bilingualism 40). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rah, A.
(2010) Transfer in L3 sentence processing: Evidence from relative clause attachment ambiguities. International Journal of Multilingualism 7(2), 147–161. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Rankin, T. S.
(2012) The transfer of V2: Inversion and negation by German and Dutch learners of English. International Journal of Bilingualism, 16(1). 139–158. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Robertson, D., & Sorace, A.
(1999) Losing the V2 complaint. In E. Klein, & G. Martohardjono (Eds.), The development of second language grammars. A generative approach (Language Acquisition and Language Disorders 18) (pp. 317–359). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Rothman, J.
(2010) On the typological economy of syntactic transfer: Word order and relative clause high/low attachment preference in L3 Brazilian Portuguese. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Teaching (IRAL), 48(23), 245–73. DOI logo.Google Scholar
(2011) L3 syntactic transfer selectivity and typological determinacy: The Typological Primacy Model. Second Language Research, 27(1), 107–27. DOI logo.Google Scholar
(2013) Cognitive economy, non-redundancy and typological primacy in L3 acquisition: Evidence from initial stages of L3 Romance. In S. Baauw, F. Drijkoningen, & M. Pinto (Eds.), Romance languages and linguistic theory 2011(Romance Languages and Linguistic Theory 5) (pp. 217–47). Amsterdam: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2015) Linguistic and cognitive motivations for the Typological Primacy Model (TPM) of third language (L3) transfer: Timing of acquisition and proficiency considered. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition, 18(2), 1–12. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., Alemán Bañón, J., & González Alonso, J.
(2015) Neurolinguistic measures of typological effects in multilingual transfer: introducing an ERP methodology. Frontiers in Psychology, 6. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Rothman, J., & Halloran, B.
(2013) Formal linguistic approaches to L3/Ln acquisition: A focus on morphosyntactic transfer in adult multilingualism. Annual Review of Applied Linguistics, 33, 51–67. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Sağın Şimşek, Ç.
(2006) Third language acquisition: Turkish – German bilingual students’ acquisition of English word order in a German educational setting. Münster: Waxmann.Google Scholar
Sánchez, L.
(2012) ‘Luisa and Pedrito’s dog will the breakfast eat’: Interlanguage transfer and the role of the second language factor. In G. De Angelis & J. M. Dewaele (Eds.), New Trends in crosslinguistic influence and multilingualism research (pp. 86–104). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
(2014) An inquiry into the role of L3 proficiency on crosslinguistic influence in third language acquisition. Odisea. Revista de Estdios Ingleses, 15, 169–188.Google Scholar
Sharwood Smith, M., & Kellerman, E.
(1986) Crosslinguistic influence in second language: an introduction. In E. Kellerman & M. Sharwood Smith (Eds.), Crosslinguistic influence in second language acquisition (pp. 1–9). Oxford: Pergamon.Google Scholar
Slabakova, R., & Garcia Mayo, M. P.
(2017) Testing the current models of third language acquisition. In T. Angelovska & A. Hahn (Eds.), L3 syntactic transfer: Models, new developments and implications (Bilingual Processing and Acquisition 5). Amsterdam: John Benjamins DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Weissberg, B.
(2000) Developmental relationships in the acquisition of English syntax: writing vs. speech. Learning and Instruction, 10(1), 37–53. DOI logo.Google Scholar
Weissberg, R.
(2006) Connecting speaking and writing in second language writing instruction. Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2009) The acquisition of word order. Micro-cues, information structure, and economy (Linguistik Aktuell/Linguistics Today 145). Amsterdam/: John Benjamins. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Williams, J.
(2008) The speaking-writing connection in second language and academic literacy development. In D. Belcher & A. Hirvela (Eds.), The oral-literate connection: Perspectives on L2 speaking, writing, and other media interactions (pp. 10–25). Ann Arbor, MI: The University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Cited by

Cited by 8 other publications

Angelovska, Tanja
2018. Cross-linguistic awareness of adult L3 learners of English: a focus on metalinguistic reflections and proficiency. Language Awareness 27:1-2 ► pp. 136 ff. DOI logo
Angelovska, Tanja
2019. InstructedL3Acquisition ofEnglish. In The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Angelovska, Tanja
2020. From L3 Acquisition to Teaching English. In The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching, ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Angelovska, Tanja, Dietmar Roehm & Sabrina Weinmüller
2023. Uncovering transfer effects of dominance and proficiency in L3 English acquisition using the visual moving window paradigm and grammaticality judgments. Applied Linguistics Review 14:1 ► pp. 115 ff. DOI logo
Foryś-Nogala, Małgorzata, Olga Broniś, Marcin Opacki & Agnieszka Otwinowska
2023. Cross-linguistic influences, language proficiency and metalinguistic knowledge in L3 Italian subject placement. International Journal of Multilingualism 20:2 ► pp. 308 ff. DOI logo
Lloyd-Smith, Anika, Henrik Gyllstad, Tanja Kupisch & Stefano Quaglia
2021. Heritage language proficiency does not predict syntactic CLI into L3 English. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 24:3 ► pp. 435 ff. DOI logo
Puig-Mayenco, Eloi, Jorge González Alonso & Jason Rothman
2020. A systematic review of transfer studies in third language acquisition. Second Language Research 36:1 ► pp. 31 ff. DOI logo
Sletova, Natalia
2023. L2 writing as a scaffold for L2 speaking accuracy. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 33:2 ► pp. 207 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 12 april 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.