Studies on Transfer in Second Language Acquisition

StudiesonTransferinSecondLanguageAcquisitionShaozhongLiuGuangxiNormalUniversity,Guilin,541004,ChinaAbstract:Transferisapervasivetermandthishasledtodiverseinterpretationsandresearchpracticesofit.Thispaperreviewedtherelatedliteratureontransferstudiesinsecondlanguageacquisition,linguisticstudiesandnon-linguistic.Italsomadeasurveyaboutapproachesintransferstudies,nativespeakers’attitudestowardtransfer,andtransfersmadebyChineselearnersofEnglish.Itwasarguedthattransferresearchevolvedfromalinguistic-to-non-linguisticpath,andthereisanecessityinthecurrenttrendtoshiftfromtheformertothelatter.Keywords:transfer,linguistictransfer,pragmatictransfer,secondlanguageacquisition1.DefiningtransferTransfer,derivedfromtheLatinword“transferre”,means“tocarry”,“tobear”or“toprint,impressorotherwisecopy(asadrawingorengraveddesign)fromonesurfacetoanother”(Webster’sThirdNewWorldInternationalDictionary,1986).Sotospeak,whenwesay“technologytransfer”,wemeanthetransferorcarry-overoftechnologyfromoneownertoanother.Transfercanalsomean“thecarry-overorgeneralizationoflearnedresponsesfromonetypeofsituationtoanother”,especially“theapplicationinonefieldofstudyoreffortofknowledge,skill,power,orabilityacquiredinanother”(Webster’sThirdNewWorldInternationalDictionary,1986).Theuseof“transfer”in“linguistictransfer”issuchanexample.Bylinguistictransfer,wemeanwhatthelearnerscarryovertoorgeneralizeintheirknowledgeabouttheirnativelanguage(NL)tohelpthemlearntouseatargetlanguage(TL).Heretransferdoesnotindicatewhetherwhatiscarriedoverisbadorgood.Thismeaningfromthedictionaryshowsthattransferisaneutralwordinoriginandnature.Linguisticsconcerns,inoverall,withthestaticstructureswithinalanguagesystem.ViewedfromtheTLgrammaticalrules,certainNL-basedlinguistictransfersarefoundtocoincidewithlinguisticerrors.Inthisway,NL-basedlinguistictransfersaredividedintotwobroadtypes,positiveandnegative.ThoseNL-basedusesthatdonotleadtolinguisticerrorsarelabeledaspositivetransfer,whereasthosethatleadtoerrors,negativetransfer.Insecondlanguageclassroomteaching,apositivelinguistictransferisgenerallynotattacked,butanegativelinguistictransfer,almosttoallinstructors,isdefinitelynotrecommendedforthelearners,sinceitiserroneous.Pragmatics,abranchoflinguisticswhichstudieshowpeopleinterpretandproducemeaninginaspecificcontext(Leech,1983;Liu,2000),alsoclaimsaninterestintransfer.Forpragmaticians,theyareinterestedinfindingoutinwhatwayNL-basedtransfersinfluencethelearnersincomprehendingandperformingaspeechactinaTLandwhethersuchtransfersareappropriateinthecontext.Apparently,pragmaticsdivergesfromlinguisticsininterpretingtransferinthatithasmaintainedtheneutralsenseornaturalattributeoftransfer.Sincepragmaticsaimsatexploringtheappropriatenessofspeechthatisfreefromright-wronglinguisticgrammar,everythingunderpragmaticinvestigationiscorrect,grammaticallyspeaking.Inliteraturetodate,inpragmatics-orientedstudiesoftransfers,interestsandendeavorshavebeenattachedtothefindingoutofthedifferencesordeviationsbetweenthesedivergentformsfromtheTLandwhetherthesedeviantformsareappropriate,fromtheangleofTLspeakers.AnexampletoillustratethispointistheJapaneselearners’overuseoftheexpression“Iamsorry”inconversations.ItwasreportedthattherearemanycasesinwhichJapanesestudentsusedthisexpressionwhichisactuallynotneededinEnglish,sincetoEnglishspeakers,theexpressionisusedonlyforanapology.ThisindicatesthelearnersfallbackontheJapaneseroutineexpression“suminmasen”whichmeans,literally,“I’msorry.”Hence,thisisnotanexampleoferror,butofappropriateness(Beebe&Takahashi,1992).Inpractice,transferhasattractedpeopleofdifferentacademicbackgroundsandledresearcherstodifferentinterpretationsanddefinitionsoftheterm.Scarcella(1983),forinstance,wasinterestedinthetransferofdiscourseaccentandbelievedhatitisareflectionof‘conversationalfeatures’suchasformsandfunctionsofconversationalmanagement.Kellerman&Sharwood-Smith(1986)studiedtheexactitudeofthetermandtriedtodrawadistinctionbetweentransferandinfluence.Tothem,transferisnotthesamethingascross-linguisticinfluence.WhereastransferreferstothoselinguisticbehaviorsincorporatedfromL1intoILwithoutcapturingotherinterlingualeffects,cross-linguisticinfluence,ontheotherhand,referstothoseL1effectssuchasavoidance,L1constraintsonL2learningandperformance,anddifferentdirectionalityofinterlingualeffects.ThisviewisfurtherelaboratedinSharwood-Smith(1994).ToOdlin(1989),transferjustmeanstheinfluenceresultingfromsimilaritiesanddifferencesbetweenthetargetlanguageandanyotherlanguagethathasbeenobviously,andperhapsimperfectly,acquired.Thisdefinitionthussuggeststhattransfercanoccuratanylevels,strategic,linguistic,discoursal,andpragmatic.Wolfson(1989)analyzedhowthetransferofspeakingrulesfromone’sownnativespeechcommunityinfluencesinteractingswithmembersofthehostcommunity.Sheinsistedthattransfermainlystandsfortheuseofrulesofspeakingfromone’sownnativespeechcommunitywheninteractingwithmembersofthehostcommunityorsimplywhenspeakingorwritinginasecondlanguage.ForWolfson,thetwoterms,sociolinguisticandpragmatic,areinterchangeable,andsoarehersoci