Concept Meaning
Language transfer The influence resulting from the similarities and differences between
the target language and any other language that has been previously
acquired. It affects all linguistic subsystems including pragmatics and
rhetoric, semantics, syntax morphology, phonology, phonetics, and
orthography.
Cross-linguistic influence The study of effects of transfer between two languages. It can affect
comprehension as well as production. It can result in both negative
transfer, or interference, or positive transfer.
Positive transfer A structure is acquired more easily based on influence from the L1.
Study by Ijaz, 1986 Speakers of German and Urdu tend to provide English prepositions
resembling the closest equivalent in their native languages. Finnish
speakers omit the preposition in their written descriptions of a silent
film; Swedish speakers did not.
Study by Master, 1987 Learners whose L1 includes articles used similarly to the articles in
English tend to acquire the English articles faster than learners whose
L1 does not include similar articles.
Study by Kellerman, 1979 In certain circumstances, learners avoid transferring similar
structures, due to their belief that such structures are unlikely to be
transferable between languages. Transfer is therefore subject to
multiple influences; not predictable.
General developmental Factors which affect the learner’s developing system.
processes
Overgeneralization The learner’s tendency to over apply rules of the target language
where they are not warranted. It’s an indication that learners have
internalized certain rules and are applying them even when
inappropriate; they’re not merely imitating the input; it’s not due to
L1 influence; it shows they’re using the knowledge they’re acquiring.
Markedness Notion that certain features are more natural, frequent, or basic than
others across languages, or unmarked (voiceless stops), while others
are less so, or marked (voiced stops).
Markedness Differential This hypothesis proposes that, in general, if a given language contains
Hypothesis a marked structure, it is likely to contain the unmarked equivalent as
well. The areas of difficulty that a language learner will have can be
predicted on the basis of a systematic comparison of the grammars of
the native language, the target language and Markedness relations:
those areas of the target language which differ from the native
language and are more marked than the native language will be
difficult; the relative degree of difficulty of the areas of the target
language which are more marked than the native language will
correspond to the relative degree of Markedness; those areas of the
target language which are different from the native language, but are
not more marked than the native language will not be difficult. MDH
stems from typological Markedness theory (Greenberg, 1966).
Contrastive Analysis Differences in structures between two languages do not
Hypothesis systematically lead to predictable difficulties.
Developmental Fixed series of stages in language development (phonological,
sequences syntactic, semantic), such as the sequence for developing negation.
Study by Cancino et al., Learners begin by adding “no” before a verb, similar to how negation
1978 is expressed in Spanish, then said “don’t”. Most reached a stage
where they were able to form the negative properly. Identifiable
Language transfer The influence resulting from the similarities and differences between
the target language and any other language that has been previously
acquired. It affects all linguistic subsystems including pragmatics and
rhetoric, semantics, syntax morphology, phonology, phonetics, and
orthography.
Cross-linguistic influence The study of effects of transfer between two languages. It can affect
comprehension as well as production. It can result in both negative
transfer, or interference, or positive transfer.
Positive transfer A structure is acquired more easily based on influence from the L1.
Study by Ijaz, 1986 Speakers of German and Urdu tend to provide English prepositions
resembling the closest equivalent in their native languages. Finnish
speakers omit the preposition in their written descriptions of a silent
film; Swedish speakers did not.
Study by Master, 1987 Learners whose L1 includes articles used similarly to the articles in
English tend to acquire the English articles faster than learners whose
L1 does not include similar articles.
Study by Kellerman, 1979 In certain circumstances, learners avoid transferring similar
structures, due to their belief that such structures are unlikely to be
transferable between languages. Transfer is therefore subject to
multiple influences; not predictable.
General developmental Factors which affect the learner’s developing system.
processes
Overgeneralization The learner’s tendency to over apply rules of the target language
where they are not warranted. It’s an indication that learners have
internalized certain rules and are applying them even when
inappropriate; they’re not merely imitating the input; it’s not due to
L1 influence; it shows they’re using the knowledge they’re acquiring.
Markedness Notion that certain features are more natural, frequent, or basic than
others across languages, or unmarked (voiceless stops), while others
are less so, or marked (voiced stops).
Markedness Differential This hypothesis proposes that, in general, if a given language contains
Hypothesis a marked structure, it is likely to contain the unmarked equivalent as
well. The areas of difficulty that a language learner will have can be
predicted on the basis of a systematic comparison of the grammars of
the native language, the target language and Markedness relations:
those areas of the target language which differ from the native
language and are more marked than the native language will be
difficult; the relative degree of difficulty of the areas of the target
language which are more marked than the native language will
correspond to the relative degree of Markedness; those areas of the
target language which are different from the native language, but are
not more marked than the native language will not be difficult. MDH
stems from typological Markedness theory (Greenberg, 1966).
Contrastive Analysis Differences in structures between two languages do not
Hypothesis systematically lead to predictable difficulties.
Developmental Fixed series of stages in language development (phonological,
sequences syntactic, semantic), such as the sequence for developing negation.
Study by Cancino et al., Learners begin by adding “no” before a verb, similar to how negation
1978 is expressed in Spanish, then said “don’t”. Most reached a stage
where they were able to form the negative properly. Identifiable
