Cross-linguistic Similarity in Foreign Language Learning

Håkan Ringbom

Description

This book explores the importance of cross-linguistic similarity in foreign language learning. While linguists have primarily focussed upon differences between languages, learners strive to make use of any similarities to prior linguistic knowledge they can perceive. The role of positive transfer is emphasized as well as the essential differences between comprehension and production. In comprehension of related languages, cross-linguistic similarities are easily perceived while in comprehension of distant languages they are merely assumed. Production may be based on previous perception of similarities, but frequently similarities are here merely assumed. Initially, effective learning is based on quick establishment of cross-linguistic one-to-one relations between individual items. As learning progresses, the learner learns to modify such oversimplified relations. The book describes the ways in which transfer affects different areas of language, taking account of the differences between learning a language perceived to be similar and a language where few or no cross-linguistic similarities can be established.

Acknowledgements

1. Introduction

2. Different Types of Cross-linguistic Similarities

3. Learner Expectations, On-line Comprehension and Receptive Learning

4. Cross-linguistic Similarities in Comprehension and Production: The Mental Lexicon

5. Transfer: The Use of Cross-linguistic Similarities. The Finnish Scene

6. Tests of English Comparing Finnish and Swedish Speakers in Finland

7. Levels of Transfer: Items and Procedures (Systems)

8. Item Transfer in Production: Areas of Language

9. Skill Theory, Automaticity, and Foreign Language Learning

10. The Development of Foreign Language Learning

11. Consequences for Teaching

12. Further Research Needed

13. Conclusion

Endnotes

Appendices

Sujets

• Disciplines
• Language Arts
• Teaching
• Lettres et linguistique
• Linguistics
• Language Acquisition: A Journal of Developmental Linguistics
• Study
• Professional
• Undergraduate education
• Psycholinguistics
• Postgraduate education
• Language acquisition
• Research
• Postgraduate
• Undergraduate

Informations

• Publié par: Multilingual Matters
• Date de parution: 18 décembre 2006
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781853599361
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

Cross-linguistic Similarity
in Foreign Language LearningSECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION
Series Editor: Professor David Singleton Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
This series brings together titles dealing with a variety of aspects of language
acquisition and processing in situations where a language or languages other than the
native language is involved. Second language is thus interpreted in its broadest
possible sense. The volumes included in the series all offer in their different ways, on
the one hand, exposition and discussion of empirical findings and, on the other, some
degree of theoretical reflection. In this latter connection, no particular theoretical
stance is privileged in the series; nor is any relevant perspective – sociolinguistic,
psycholinguistic, neurolinguistic, etc. – deemed out of place. The intended readership
of the series includes final-year undergraduates working on second language
acquisition projects, postgraduate students involved in second language acquisition
research, and researchers and teachers in general whose interests include a second
language acquisition component.
Other Books in the Series
Age, Accent and Experience in Second Language Acquisition
Alene Moyer
Studying Speaking to Inform Second Language Learning
Diana Boxer and Andrew D. Cohen (eds)
Language Acquisition: The Age Factor (2nd edn)
David Singleton and Lisa Ryan
Focus on French as a Foreign Language: Multidisciplinary Approaches
Jean-Marc Dewaele (ed.)
Second Language Writing Systems
Vivian Cook and Benedetta Bassetti (eds)
Third Language Learners: Pragmatic Production and Awareness
Maria Pilar Safont Jordà
Artificial Intelligence in Second Language Learning: Raising Error Awareness
Marina Dodigovic
Studies of Fossilization in Second Language Acquisition
ZhaoHong Han and Terence Odlin (eds)
Language Learners in Study Abroad Contexts
Margaret A. DuFon and Eton Churchill (eds)
Early Trilingualism: A Focus on Questions
Julia D. Barnes
Cross-linguistic Influences in the Second Language Lexicon
Janusz Arabski (ed.)
Motivation, Language Attitudes and Globalisation: A Hungarian Perspective
Zoltán Dörnyei, Kata Csizér and Nóra Németh
Age and the Rate of Foreign Language Learning
Carmen Muñoz (ed.)
Investigating Tasks in Formal Language Learning
María del Pilar García Mayo (ed.)
Input for Instructed L2 Learners: The Relevance of Relevance
Anna Nizegorodcew
For more details of these or any other of our publications, please contact:
Multilingual Matters, Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall,
Victoria Road, Clevedon, BS21 7HH, England
http://www.multilingual-matters.comSECOND LANGUAGE ACQUISITION 21
Series Editor: David Singleton, Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland
Cross-linguistic Similarity in
Foreign Language Learning
Håkan Ringbom
MULTILINGUAL MATTERS LTD
Clevedon • Buffalo TorontoLibrary of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Ringbom, Håkan.
Cross-linguistic Similarity in Foreign Language Learning/Hakan Ringbom.
Second Language Acquisition: 21
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Language and languages–Study and teaching. 2. Similarity (Language learning)
I. Title.
P53.777.R56 2007
418.001'9–dc22 2006022410
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue entry for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN-13: 978-1-85359-935-4 (hbk)
ISBN-13: 978-1-85359-934-7 (pbk)
Multilingual Matters Ltd
UK: Frankfurt Lodge, Clevedon Hall, Victoria Road, Clevedon BS21 7HH.
USA: UTP, 2250 Military Road, Tonawanda, NY 14150, USA.
Canada: UTP, 5201 Dufferin Street, North York, Ontario M3H 5T8, Canada.
Copyright © 2007 Håkan Ringbom.
All rights reserved. No part of this work may be reproduced in any form or by any
means without permission in writing from the publisher.
The policy of Multilingual Matters/Channel View Publications is to use papers that
are natural, renewable and recyclable products, made from wood grown in
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our policy, preference is given to printers that have FSC and PEFC Chain of Custody
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Typeset by Wordworks Ltd.
Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd.Color profile: Disabled
Composite Default screen
Contents
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . viii
1 Introduction. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2 Different Types of Cross-linguistic Similarities . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Similarity, Contrast and Zero Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Perceived and ‘Objective’ Similarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Formal and Functional/Semantic Similarity . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
3 Learner Expectations, On-line Comprehension and Receptive
Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
Understanding an Unfamiliar Language . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
The Comprehension of Closely Related Languages: Scandinavia 12
On-line Comprehension and Receptive Learning . . . . . . . . . 14
4 Cross-linguistic Similarities in Comprehension and Production:
The Mental Lexicon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
L1 Comprehension and L1 Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
L2 Comprehension and L2 Production 21
Perceived and Assumed Similarity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24
Cross-linguistic Similarity and the Mental Lexicon . . . . . . . . 26
5 Transfer: The Use of Cross-linguistic Similarities. The Finnish Scene 30
Transfer Studies: History and Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30
The Language Scene in Finland: Characteristics of Finnish and
Swedish . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34
6 Tests of English Comparing Finnish and Swedish Speakers in
Finland . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Primary Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 41
Comprehensive Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42
Commercial Colleges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 43
The Matriculation Examination . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
University Entrance Exams . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 47
v
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vi Cross-linguistic Similarity in Foreign Language Learning
University Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48
International Evaluations. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
Studies by Non-Finnish Researchers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51
Differences between Finnish and Swedish Learners of English . 51
7 Levels of Transfer: Items and Procedures (Systems) . . . . . . . . . 54
Item Transfer, Procedural Transfer and Overall Transfer . . . . 54
Similarities in Reading vs. Similarities in Listening . . . . . . . . 58
8 Item Transfer in Production: Areas of Language . . . . . . . . . . . 61
Phonology . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62
Discourse and Rhetoric: Pragmatic Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . 64
Grammar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 67
Lexis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 71
Non-native Transfer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 78
9 Skill Theory, Automaticity and Foreign Language Learning . . . . 89
The Use of Cross-linguistic Similarities at Different Stages
of Learning 91
Bilingual vs. Monolingual Language Learners. . . . . . . . . . . 94
10 Development of Foreign Language Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . 98
Item Learning for Comprehension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
Item Learning for Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
System Learning for Comprehension . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99
System Learning for Production . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 100
Near-native Proficiency . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101
11 Consequences for Teaching . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
The EuroCom Project . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
Teaching the Use of Learning Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . 104
The Relevance of Cross-linguistic Similarities for Teaching
English to Finnish and Finland-Swedish Learners . . . . . . . 107
12 Further Research Needed 115
Development from Receptive to Productive Competence . . . 115
Cross-linguistic vs. Intralinguistic Similarities . . . . . . . . . . 116
Longitudinal Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 116
13 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 117
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Contents vii
Appendix 1 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 120
Appendix 2 . 121
References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .