Editing Language transfer (section)

==Types of language transfer==
[[File:Spanish orthography.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Blackboard in [[Harvard University|Harvard]] classroom shows students' efforts at placing the [[ü]] and [[acute accent]] [[diacritic]]s used in [[Spanish orthography]].]]
When the relevant unit or structure of both languages is the same, linguistic interference can result in correct language production called ''positive transfer'': here, the "correct" meaning is in line with most native speakers' notions of acceptability.<ref>{{cite conference |last=Shatz|first=Itamar|year=2017|url=http://itamarshatz.me/wp-content/uploads/Native-Language-Influence-During-Second-Language-Acquisition-A-Large-Scale-Learner-Corpus-Analysis.pdf|title=Native Language Influence During Second Language Acquisition: A Large-Scale Learner Corpus Analysis|conference=Proceedings of the Pacific Second Language Research Forum (PacSLRF 2016)|pages=175–180|location=Hiroshima, Japan|publisher=Japan Second Language Association|access-date=10 September 2017}}</ref> An example is the use of [[cognates]]. However, language interference is most often discussed as a source of [[error (linguistics)|errors]] known as ''negative transfer'', which can occur when speakers and writers transfer items and structures that are not the same in both languages.

===Negative transfer===
Within the theory of [[contrastive analysis]], the systematic study of a pair of languages with a view to identifying their structural differences and similarities, the greater the differences between the two languages, the more negative transfer can be expected.<ref>Lennon, P. (2008). Contrastive analysis, error analysis, interlanguage. In S. Gramley & V. Gramley (Eds.), ''Bielefeld Introduction to Applied Linguistics'' (pp. 51-60). Bielefeld, Germany: Aisthesis.</ref> For example, in [[English language|English]], a preposition is used before a day of the week: "I'm going to the beach ''on'' Friday." In [[Spanish language|Spanish]], instead of a preposition the definite article is used: "Voy a la playa el viernes." Novice Spanish students who are native English-speakers may produce a transfer error and use a preposition when it is not necessary because of their reliance on English. According to Whitley, it is natural for students to make such errors based on how the English words are used.<ref>{{cite book|last=Whitley|first=M. Stanley |title=Spanish-English Contrasts: A Course in Spanish Linguistics|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=yyqU_tXek1EC&pg=PA358|access-date=12 May 2013|year=2002|publisher=Georgetown University Press|isbn=978-0-87840-381-3|page=358}}</ref> Another typical example of negative transfer concerns [[German language|German]] students trying to learn English, despite being part of the same [[Germanic languages|Germanic language family]]. Since the German noun "Information" can also be used in the plural – "Informationen" – German students will almost invariably use "informations" in English, too, which would break the rules of [[uncountable noun]]s.<ref>{{cite book|last=Wahlbrinck |first=Bernd (2017) |title= German-English Language Interference: 56 Innovative Photocopiable Worksheets for Teachers & ESL Students|isbn=978-3-00-057535-8|year=2017 |publisher=Tumbleweed Edition }}</ref>
From a more general standpoint, Brown mentions "all new learning involves transfer based on previous learning".<ref name=Bransford>Bransford , J. D., Brown, A. L., & Cocking, R. R. (2000). ''[[How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School (expanded edition)|How people learn: Brain, mind, experience, and school]]''. (Expanded ed., [http://www.csun.edu/~SB4310/How%20People%20Learn.pdf PDF]). Washington D.C.: National Academy Press, {{ISBN|0309070368}}.</ref> That could also explain why initial learning of L1 will impact L2 acquisition.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Alfaifi |first1=Abdullah |last2=Saleem |first2=Mohammad |date=2024 |title=Negative transfer and delay in proficiency development: L1 influenced syntax issues faced by Arab EFL learners |url=https://doi.org/10.30564/fls.v6i4.6664 |journal=Forum for Linguistic Studies |volume=6 |issue=4 |pages=42–57 |doi=10.30564/fls.v6i4.6664 |issn=2705-0602|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

===Positive transfer===
The results of positive transfer go largely unnoticed and so are less often discussed. Nonetheless, such results can have an observable effect. Generally speaking, the more similar the two languages are and the more the learner is aware of the relation between them, the more positive transfer will occur. For example, an [[English-speaking world|Anglophone]] learner of [[German language|German]] may correctly guess an item of German vocabulary from its English counterpart, but [[word order]], [[phonetics]], [[connotations]], [[collocation]], and other language features are more likely to differ. That is why such an approach has the disadvantage of making the learner more subject to the influence of "[[false friend]]s", words that seem similar between languages but differ significantly in [[semantics|meaning]]. This influence is especially common among learners who [[folk linguistics|misjudge the relation between languages]] or mainly rely on [[visual learning]].<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Solé Alonso|first1=Gemma|url=https://ddd.uab.cat/record/179972|title=False friends in advanced learners of English. The effect of task type and mode|last2=Pladevall Ballester|first2=Elisabet|date=2017|others=Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona}}</ref>

In addition to positive transfer potentially resulting in correct language production and negative transfer resulting in errors, there is some evidence that any transfer from the first language can result in a kind of technical, or analytical, advantage over native (monolingual) speakers of a language. For example, L2 speakers of English whose first language is [[Korean language|Korean]] have been found to be more accurate with perception of [[unreleased stop]]s in English than native English speakers who are functionally monolingual because of the different status of unreleased stops in Korean from English.<ref name="ChangMishler2012">{{Harvnb|Chang|Mishler|2012}}</ref> That "native-language transfer benefit" appears to depend on an alignment of properties in the first and the second languages that favors the linguistic biases of the first language, rather than simply the perceived similarities between two languages.