This dissertation investigates interlanguage influence, i.e. the influence of one or more non-native language on the production of a third or additional language. A qualitative and a quantitative study were conducted with speakers of Italian as third or additional language with English, Spanish or French as native or non-native languages. Subjects of Study 1 are a French Ll speaker and an English Ll speaker. Subjects of Study 2 are 238 Spanish L1 speakers and 130 English Ll speakers. Combining a traditional Crosslinguistic Influence (CLI) approach with theories of L 1, L2 and L3 production, we examine the role of crosslinguistic phonological activation during on-line processing and the effect of recency of activation on written production. It is argued that the process of transfer may be constrained by underlying crosslinguistic activation during on-line processing and that the incorporation of non-target lexicon into production may be influenced by the recent activation of a non-native language fonnally dissimilar to the intended target. We also hypothesise the existence of a cognitive process which we refer to as 'system shift' by which learners may transfer a lexical unit from one non-native language to another and then fail to recognize the source of their knowledge in the original linguistic system. We further propose two principles that interact in blocking Ll transfer: perception of correctness and association of foreignness. We also examine the relationship between the incorporation of non-target function words and the rate of subject insertion and omission in written production. Results show the rate of subject insertion to be significantly higher in the texts of English L1 and Spanish LI speakers with knowledge of French as a non-native language. We discuss the implications of our findings for a general and comprehensive theory of CLI

Abstract Acquiring communicative competence and the ability to communicate in writing are essential goals for second language learners and of the highest importance to achieving educational success.  Opportunities to express ideas in writing are essential for students’ language development. Learners therefore need to be encouraged to take the risk of making errors in order to be able to express ideas, thoughts and knowledge with enthusiasm. This thesis defines and investigates some important factors contributing to the development of communicative competence and performance in the context of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT).  The main aim of the study is to focus on how Swedish learners make use of their first language (L1) as a cognitive and strategic source in their written English communication.  Cross-linguistic influence, or transfer errors, from Swedish in the written English of high school students are taken from samples of writing from the Uppsala Learner English Corpus (ULEC).  The study evaluates the potential of transfer from the L1 to either facilitate or inhibit the communicative purpose, i.e., ‘getting the message across’. The most serious errors in the data were found to result in confusing, inappropriate or incomprehensible structures.  Finally, the study draws attention to some aspects of communicative language teaching and learning that teachers should be aware of in the development and assessment of students’ communicative ability in written performance. The study found that negative language transfer was found to affect communication to various degrees of seriousness but could at times also be considered a useful and necessary strategy for getting a message across.  Transfer errors were often idiosyncratic and were most frequent among males between 16-17 years-old enrolled in vocational programmes.  Prepositional transfer errors were the most common, however; incorrectly used lexical items, in particular, false friends and other vocabulary substitutions, as well as literal translations of phrases and idiomatic expressions potentially resulted in the most serious errors.  Word order errors also interfered substantially with the message in many cases.  On the other hand, grammatical transfer errors such as incorrect us of articles, pluralisation and verb tense generally did not change the meaning to any greater extent.  In fact, transfer errors can be communicative as long as the message gets across.

This study assesses the scope of the Crosslinguistic Influence (CLI) hypothesis’ predictions with regard to early bilingual acquisition. To this end, we analyze longitudinal corpus data from four bilinguals attesting the acquisition of subjecthood (null versus overt; preverbal versus postverbal) and the pragmatic adequacy of early null and overt subjects in a null-subject language (i.e., Spanish) in combination with a language differing in its pro-drop parameter setting (i.e., English). Our results indicate that CLI barely affects the development of subjects in the null-subject language at the initial stages, namely at the outset of null and overt subjects, and in turn support the Separate Development Hypothesis. Our bilingual cohort patterns with their Spanish-acquiring monolingual peer in that both groups display comparable proportions of null subjects as well as acquisitional trajectories of null and overt subjects at the early stages of acquisition. Much like monolinguals, bilinguals begin to produce preverbal and postverbal subjects concurrently. The bilingual children and the monolingual child of this study actually produce extremely high rates of pragmatically appropriate covert and overt subjects, which are for the most part target-like from the start, thus pointing to the absence of CLI effects. In light of monolingual and bilingual data, the paper also revisits the hotly debated issue of the ‘no overt subject’ stage of Grinstead (1998, et seq.), its existence in child Spanish being questionable.

This study explores how bilingualism impacts lexical selection within spontaneous spoken language production. The particular analysis focuses on the choice between synonymous verbs in English. The main hypothesis predicts that, as a result of crosslinguistic influence, bilingual speakers of French and English will opt for the English synonym which has structural correspondence to the French translation equivalent more often than monolingual speakers, who do not experience an influence from French. Structural correspondence exists in two distinct ways: in the form of cognates (e.g., applaudir/applaud vs. clap) and in terms of the number of free morphemes used to convey the same semantic information (e.g., lever/raise vs. put up). The language production data was generated by participants viewing video scenes and describing the action as it progressed. The frequency with which the different verbs were used was then compared across the different participant groups: monolingual English speakers and bilingual speakers of both French and English. The bilingual group was also subdivided based on language dominance. A range of different analyses were conducted. A framework is established for interpreting the data. Bilingualism can have one of three main effects on the speech of bilinguals relative to monolinguals: (a) an expanding effect, in which bilinguals use a wider range of lexical forms than monolinguals, (b) a limiting effect, in which bilinguals use a more limited range of lexical items than bilinguals, and (c) a modifying effect, in which the range of lexical items is basically the same between bilinguals and monolinguals but varies in terms of the frequency with which those lexical forms are used (a type of CLI labeled covert). These effects interact with certain speaker variables such as which language is the speakers dominant language. The stage(s) within the language production process at which CLI impacts ultimate lexicalization is also explored. Current models of language production which focus on lexical selection are discussed. The results of this study are most compatible with specific notions such as lexical access being target-language non-specific (see Costa, 2004, for example) and the Weaker Links Hypothesis (e.g., Gollan and Silverberg, 2001; Gollan, Montoya, & Werner, 2002).

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This dissertation combines psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and cognitive linguistic approaches to study the language production phenomenon of crosslinguistic influence (CLI). Modern psycholinguistics has taken an active interest in language production studies, offering a particularly influential model of speech production that is examined in detail. And yet, as many researchers have argued, language data alone are insufficient to paint an accurate portrait of a given speaker’s language use. Whether mono- or multilingual, a speaker’s system of language(s) is itself a sub-system of the language system of the speaker’s family, community, culture, etc. At the same time, recent cognitive linguistic advances in the study of conceptual blending and construction grammar offer unique insights into the structure of the lexicon and even concepts themselves. This dissertation examines the speech production of multilinguals whose English language system has been acquired but is still developing. Such a system is dynamic and subject to unpredictable dynamic effects, here grouped under the general rubric of CLI. The psycholinguistic aspects of this study are concerned with establishing the psychology of students’ language use. The sociolinguistic aspect addresses the need to research the sociocultural background within which the English language system has been acquired. The cognitive linguistic aspects allow in-depth insights into the cognitive and conceptual mechanisms underlying the... [to full text] / Šioje disertacijoje, siekiant ištirti kalbos produkavimo fenomeną, taikomi psicholingvistikos, sociolingvistikos ir kognityvinės lingvistikos metodai. Šių dienų psicholingvistai atliko daugybę kalbos produkavimo tyrimų, siūlydami itin svarbų kalbos produkavimo modelį, kuris bus išsamiai išnagrinėtas. Tačiau, kaip dauguma mokslininkų įrodinėjo, vien tik kalbos duomenų nepakanka norint pateikti išsamų konkretaus kalbos vartotojo kalbos vartojimo vaizdą. Nepriklausomai nuo to, ar kalbantysis yra vienakalbis, ar dvikalbis, jo kalbos (-ų) sistema pati yra kalbančiojo šeimos, bendruomenės, kultūros ir kt. kalbos sistemų posistemė. Be to, dabartinės kognityvinės lingvistikos progresas nagrinėjant konceptualiąją metaforą, konceptualųjį derinimą ir konstrukcijų gramatiką teikia unikalių įžvalgų apie žodyno ir net pačių sąvokų struktūrą. Šioje disertacijoje yra nagrinėjamas daugiakalbių, kurie jau yra įsisavinę anglų kalbos sistemą, tačiau kurių kalbos įgūdžiai tebesivysto, kalbos produkavimas. Tokia sistema yra dinamiška ir priklauso nuo iš anksto nenumatomų kintamųjų, kurie šiame darbe pateikti bendrame skyriuje tarpkalbinė įtaka. Psicholingvistiniu šio tyrimo požiūriu siekiama nustatyti studentų kalbos vartojimo psichologinius aspektus. Sociolingvistiniu šio darbo aspektu pabrėžiamas poreikis išnagrinėti sociokultūrinę aplinką, kurioje tiriamieji įsisavino anglų kalbos sistemą. Kognityvinės lingvistikos aspektai leidžia giliau pažvelgti į kognityvinius ir konceptualius mechanizmus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą]

Šioje disertacijoje, siekiant ištirti kalbos produkavimo fenomeną, taikomi psicholingvistikos, sociolingvistikos ir kognityvinės lingvistikos metodai. Šių dienų psicholingvistai atliko daugybę kalbos produkavimo tyrimų, siūlydami itin svarbų kalbos produkavimo modelį, kuris bus išsamiai išnagrinėtas. Tačiau, kaip dauguma mokslininkų įrodinėjo, vien tik kalbos duomenų nepakanka norint pateikti išsamų konkretaus kalbos vartotojo kalbos vartojimo vaizdą. Nepriklausomai nuo to, ar kalbantysis yra vienakalbis, ar dvikalbis, jo kalbos (-ų) sistema pati yra kalbančiojo šeimos, bendruomenės, kultūros ir kt. kalbos sistemų posistemė. Be to, dabartinės kognityvinės lingvistikos progresas nagrinėjant konceptualiąją metaforą, konceptualųjį derinimą ir konstrukcijų gramatiką teikia unikalių įžvalgų apie žodyno ir net pačių sąvokų struktūrą. Šioje disertacijoje yra nagrinėjamas daugiakalbių, kurie jau yra įsisavinę anglų kalbos sistemą, tačiau kurių kalbos įgūdžiai tebesivysto, kalbos produkavimas. Tokia sistema yra dinamiška ir priklauso nuo iš anksto nenumatomų kintamųjų, kurie šiame darbe pateikti bendrame skyriuje tarpkalbinė įtaka. Psicholingvistiniu šio tyrimo požiūriu siekiama nustatyti studentų kalbos vartojimo psichologinius aspektus. Sociolingvistiniu šio darbo aspektu pabrėžiamas poreikis išnagrinėti sociokultūrinę aplinką, kurioje tiriamieji įsisavino anglų kalbos sistemą. Kognityvinės lingvistikos aspektai leidžia giliau pažvelgti į kognityvinius ir konceptualius mechanizmus... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / This dissertation combines psycholinguistic, sociolinguistic and cognitive linguistic approaches to study the language production phenomenon of crosslinguistic influence (CLI). Modern psycholinguistics has taken an active interest in language production studies, offering a particularly influential model of speech production that is examined in detail. And yet, as many researchers have argued, language data alone are insufficient to paint an accurate portrait of a given speaker’s language use. Whether mono- or multilingual, a speaker’s system of language(s) is itself a sub-system of the language system of the speaker’s family, community, culture, etc. At the same time, recent cognitive linguistic advances in the study of conceptual blending and construction grammar offer unique insights into the structure of the lexicon and even concepts themselves. This dissertation examines the speech production of multilinguals whose English language system has been acquired but is still developing. Such a system is dynamic and subject to unpredictable dynamic effects, here grouped under the general rubric of CLI. The psycholinguistic aspects of this study are concerned with establishing the psychology of students’ language use. The sociolinguistic aspect addresses the need to research the sociocultural background within which the English language system has been acquired. The cognitive linguistic aspects allow in-depth insights into the cognitive and conceptual mechanisms underlying the... [to full text]

The aim of this study is to investigate crosslinguistic influence in the Arabic language of Iraqi Arabic-Swedish bilingual children (5-7) who live in Sweden. The scope is to study lexical, morphological and syntactic uses in the children’s speech that do not belong to the Iraqi Arabic variety (IAV). The used research method was interview method that has been applied in a descriptive framework without any normative evaluations. The interviews were based on a series of narrative pictures that had already been designed for the Multilingual Assessment Instrument for Narratives (MAIN). The primary material is a corpus which totals 164 recorded minutes that were obtained from twelve Iraqi Arabic-Swedish bilingual children who are 5-7 years old. The secondary material was sociolinguistic background information that was obtained from the children’s parents by using a questionnaire. The results revealed the following main points: (1) Most of the children’s linguistic uses that did not belong to IAV occurred mainly on the lexical level, less on the morphological level and least on the syntactic level. (2) Not all linguistic uses that do not belong to the IAV indicate a crosslinguistic influence in the children’s language development, because some of these uses occur occasionally. (3) Many linguistic uses that do not belong to the IAV were related to Modern standard Arabic (MSA), other Arabic varieties and Swedish, but some of them, e.g. morphological observations, were not related to a specific language. (4) Diglossia and bilingualism have led to different crosslinguistic influences on the children’s speech. Diglossia has led to lexical influence and bilingualism has led to lexical and syntactic influence. (5) The combination of diglossia and bilingualism can increase the crosslinguistic influence on the bilingual children compared to other bilingual children that do not experience this combination of both phenomena. (6) The fact that the children use MSA spontaneously along with their mother tongue shows that they learn MSA before they start school. (7) Use of other Arabic varieties by the children along with their mother tongue can bring these different Arabic varieties closer to the IAV and may also create a mixed variety in the future, if there is continuous and intensive language contact. (8) The results indicate the possible types of language acquisition for all children’s languages/varieties but without normative evaluation as the following: IAV as L1 (first language/mother tongue), Swedish as L1 or ESLA (early second language acquisition), MSA as ESLA or L2, and other Arabic varieties as ESLA or L2.

This thesis presents a study of the relationship between test-takers’ first language, listening proficiency and their performance on paired speaking tests. Forty participants from two different L1 backgrounds (20 Urdu and 20 Thai) participated in the study. They took two paired speaking tests: one with a shared L1 partner, and one with a non-shared L1 partner, as well as a listening test and a monologic speaking test to measure their listening ability and individual speaking ability. After each paired speaking test, the participants were also interviewed about their test-taking experience. All speaking tests and interviews were video recorded and transcribed. Raters awarded test-takers analytical speaking test scores (grammar and vocabulary, discourse management, pronunciation and interactive communication) and provided comments to justify their scores. Raters also participated in a stimulated recall session. The mixed-methods approach was utilised in analysing and triangulating different data sources. The data analysed in this study included listening and speaking test scores, raters’ perceptions of the test-takers’ speaking performance gathered from stimulated recalls and test-takers’ stimulated recall interviews, as well as the interactional discourse data in the paired speaking formats. The combination of quantitative analysis, Conversation Analysis (CA) and thematic analysis informed the relationship between test-takers’ listening proficiency, their L1 and their paired speaking performance.

On s’accorde aujourd’hui sur la nécessité de la dimension textuelle dans l’enseignement de la langue écrite. L’objectif de notre recherche est de mettre à l’essai une démarche pédagogique visant à enseigner la compréhension/expression écrite en prenant appui sur la typologie textuelle et en adoptant une approche stratégique. Compte tenu que les Coréens apprennent le français comme deuxième langue étrangère après l’apprentissage de l’anglais, nous menons notre recherche dans un contexte d’apprentissage multilingue (le coréen, le français et l’anglais). Nous effectuons notre recherche à Montréal. Nous sélectionnons vingt- et-un apprenants coréens âgés de 14 à 15 ans en passant des entrevues sur les caractéristiques de leurs expériences scolaires et leurs apprentissages des langues. Ils possèdent tous un bagage éducatif solide en anglais mais leurs niveaux de français sont variés (i.e. sept sujets débutants, sept intermédiaires et sept avancés). Notre recherche se base sur trois expérimentations. Dans la première, nous nous intéressons notamment au rôle de la typologie textuelle auprès des débutants, dont les caractéristiques sont représentatives des apprenants coréens qui sont grammaticalement et lexicalement faibles en français. Nous mobilisons les connaissances textuelles par le biais des textes en anglais puis nous mesurons si les participants peuvent les utiliser dans les textes en français. Nous vérifions cette utilisation en comparant les résultats de la perception du fonctionnement de l’écrit en français avant et après la mobilisation des connaissances textuelles. Les donnés empiriques révèlent que les apprenants coréens qui n’ont pas encore maîtrisé les compétences de base réussissent à percevoir le fonctionnement de l’écrit en français grâce à leurs connaissances textuelles préalablement mobilisées en anglais.Dans notre deuxième expérimentation, nous examinons l’effet de l’enseignement de la typologie textuelle sur la lecture stratégique dans l’apprentissage multilingue. Nous offrons le cours de lecture stratégique avec un texte en français et examinons l’effet de cette pratique. En comparant les résultats de la compréhension avant et après le cours, nous vérifions que le cours de lecture stratégique est efficace non seulement sur la perception du fonctionnement de l’écrit, mais également sur l’apprentissage de la grammaire et du vocabulaire. Nous vérifions également l’influence translinguistique du français vers l’anglais. Dans la troisième expérimentation, nous examinons l’effet de l’enseignement de la typologie textuelle sur le processus de production écrite en français. Nous recueillons les productions des participants avant et après le cours de l’écriture. Nous les analysons avec les mêmes grilles de codage concernant la forme typologique et le sens culturel. Nous observons que les scripteurs qui ont l’occasion de mobiliser explicitement leurs connaissances textuelles peuvent obtenir des performances plus élevées concernant la forme typologique ainsi que le sens culturel après le processus de production. Nous en concluons que la didactique effectuée à partir de la typologie textuelle a toute sa pertinence dans l’apprentissage multilingue et que l’approche stratégique peut stimuler la mise en place de la typologie textuelle pour appréhender la langue écrite au niveau textuel tant en lecture qu’en écriture. / The concept of text-level organization is required in French literacy education for Korean learners. The major objective of this study was to explore a strategic approach which emphasizes the concept of textual typology on text-level language learning, as well as its cognitive and cultural dimensions of transfer, particularly in relation to French literacy education in multilingual learning (Korean, French and English). The textual typology which is deeply embedded in the empirical traditions of French literacy education has been a useful educational tool not only for teaching rhetorical conventions but also for practicing lexical and grammatical usage. Data were obtained from 21 Korean aged 14 to 15 years who study in English-French multilingual learning environments in Montreal. For comparative purposes, the results of the reading activity of three groups of seven students with elementary, intermediate and advanced competence in French as a second foreign language were analyzed. Our empirical research focuses on three issues. The first issue deals with whether the textual typology facilitates access to the text-level meaning as a useful pedagogical tool especially for low French level learners who have a limited vocabulary and grammar. We mobilized students’ background knowledge using English texts and we verified if they use it when they read French texts. The Post hoc contrasts showed that the textual typology is a profitable tool especially for beginners. The second issue is concerned with the practice of the strategic reading approach using a textual typology. The post-hoc about reading comprehension provided empirical support for the positive effects of reading strategies, not only for learning rhetorical conventions but also for understanding lexical and grammatical usage. And the results indicate crosslinguistic influence effects as well. The third issue focuses on the writing process with emphasis on the rhetorical norm in French writing. An analysis of students’ written texts showed that the rhetorical pattern of textual typology guided effectively to well formed writings in rhetorical and cultural dimension. In conclusion, the results demonstrated that the participants could effectively use the textual typology as well-developed networks of relevant prior knowledge in multilingual learning. And the strategic approach could stimulate the practice of the textual typology in textual comprehension and composition during reading and writing process.