The role of prior knowledge in L3 learning and use

Evidence on psychotypological dimensions

Study by Muiris Laoire and David Singleton (2006;2007)

Ireland: at least two languages (English and Irish) are at the language users disposal when they approach the study of a third language. Research on multilingualism: why do we resort to language Y when using language Z?
PSYCHOTYPOLOGY perspective: lg user perceives Y as typologically closer to Z than any other available language L2 FACTOR perspective (Hammarberg 2001): lg Y is, just as lg Z, a non-native lg; Acquisition mechanisms for L2 different from those of L1; hence a reactivation of the L2 type mechanisms in L3 acquisition; A desire to suppress L1 as being non-foreign;

Study A: English, Irish and French

cross-lexical influence

Study A typological background

Languages under analysis: English, Irish and French;

belong to different lg families but are not equidistant Thousands of borrowings from French into English; many shared borrowings from Latin and Greek; French loanwords in Irish counted in hundreds; Latin borrowings completely assimilated;

Distance between English and French is considerably smaller than between Irish and French. Cognates shared by French are quickly recognized by learners

Study A general overview

Hypothesis: Given the greater lexical proximity, AND perceived proximity between English and French (as opposed to that between Irish and French), cross-lexical influence from English would far outstrip any such influence from Irish (p82)

Study A conducted in two parts: in 2004 and 2005. The first part (2004) proved the influence from English to be predominant, but English was the participants L1, and therefore another study (2005) with balanced bilinguals was required to neutralize the possible role of the L1 factor;

Study A - participants
1st part: conducted in 2004 in classes of three secondary schools in the south-west of Ireland, involving 42 learners in all Class A [N=13] was in a mixed English-medium comprehensive school in a small village. Students had a 4-and-a-half-year education in French and twelve-and-a-half-year education in Irish. Class B [N=15]: similar to Class A, but the school was located in a large town. Class C [N=14] was in a small Irish-medium secondary school for girls located in a small town. 2nd part: conducted in 2005, with 24 pupils from classes in two seperate secndary schools; all participants were in late teens and had been studying French for four and a half years. Class D [N=11]: based in an Irish-medium school located in the south-west Gaeltacht region. Students had been studying French for four and a half years and were identified by the class teacher as balanced bilinguals. Class E [N=13]: based in a small Irish-medium school in Connemara. Their profile in relation to experience in French resembled that of Class D.

Study A methodology and instrumentation

TASK 1: subjects were to read 20 French sentences and supply a synonymous and an antonymous expression for an underlined word in each of the sentences, e.g.:
1. Maman a perdu ses cls. EXPRESSION SYNONYME: EXPRESSION ANTONYME: 2. Quand il a vu la personne qui arrivait, il a cri de joie. EXPRESSION SYNONYME: EXPRESSION ANTONYME:

The level of the text designed to trigger a conscious lexical search in which resources of other available languages would be considered

Study A methodology and instrumentation

TASK 2: subjects were to translate the underlined target lexical items into English or Irish (to check whether the language of Task1 was at their level), state for each example whether they found it difficult or easy to supply a synonym, and comment on their search for an appropriate word (INTROSPECTION), e.g.:
1. perdu TRANSLATION: SYNONYM: difficult/not difficult Comments on search:

Study A results
Examples of indications of English influence in data from the French synonym/antonym provision (TASK 1) expensif: as synonym for cher (dear), non-existent in French; cf. Eng expensive despis: as synonym for dteste (detest), non-existent in French; cf. Eng despise Examples of indications of Irish influence in data from the French synonym/antonym provision (TASK1) trablod: as synonym for guerre (war), non-existent in French; cf. Irish triobloid (troubles) crua: as synonym for complexe (complex), non-existent in French; cf. Irish crua (difficult)

Study A results
Examples of references to English in introspection data (TASK2): It sounds like the english so thats what I went by thought of it in english and translated cosil le focal Barla (like the English word) Samoineamh as Barla (Thinking in English) Examples of references to Irish in introspection data (TASK2): I couldnt think of any word. I thought about words in english and Irish and french I kept thinking of the Irish word smaoinigh m as Gaeile ar dts (I thought in Irish at first)

Study A results
After the data was quantified, it turned out that English predominated massively over Irish in both tasks:
Elements indicating English/Irish influence in French synonym/antonym provision task: English: Irish: Study A, Part I 46 (93.9%) 3 (6.1%) Study A, part II 15 (79%) 4 (21%)

References to English/Irish in introspection task: English: Irish: Study A, Part I 359 (98.9%) 4 (1.1%) Study A, part II 48 (92%) 4 (8%)

Study A conclusions
L2 factor proved to play a minor role in participants crosslinguistic consultation when faced with challenges in their L3 of the two L1 of the bilinguals, the language mostly drawn upon was English.
Our learners quest for lexical resources beyond their knowledge of French seemed to be influenced by the recognition of the lexical closeness of English and French (p99)

Study B: English, Irish and German

morphosyntactic influence

Study B typological background

Languages under analysis: English, Irish and German.

German and English are both Germanic languages, BUT in lexical terms English is more Romance than Germanic. Concerning morphosyntax: In English non-finite clauses of purpose (Im here to buy books) the direct object (DO) follows the main verb. In German, the opposite is true, the main verb is placed after DO(Ich bin hier, um Bcher zu kaufen = Im here in order books to buy). The same rule holds for Irish (T m anseo chun leabhair a cheannach = Am I here in order books for buying) In English there is no morphological inflection in NPs after prepositions (The box is empty. Put the book on the box), while it is present (and extremely complex) in both German and Irish.

Study B general overview

Given the similarities between Irish and German and their common distance from English () the learners of German might consciously or unconsciously draw upon Irish. This perception might be more firmly established in learners with more exposure to and experience of Irish(p91)

The study looked at two groups of English-speaking participants, for whom German was their L3, and who had Irish as their L2 or (in a few cases) as second L1. The study focused on two areas of morphosyntax where Irish is closer to German than English: word order in non-finite purpose clauses, and morphological inflection in NPs following prepositions.

Study B participants
32 native speakers of English learning German as their L3. All were male, attending the same school (large boys secondary school in a large city in the south-west of Ireland); all had been studying German for at least 4 years and Irish for at least 11 years;

Group A [N=22]: students studying German as L3 through the medium of English, whose L2 was Irish;
Group B [N=10]: participants in an Irish-medium programme; for most of them, Irish was their L2, but for four of them it was a second L1; (Group B: increased exposure to Irish)

Study B methodology and instrumentation

TASK 1: WORD ORDER Subjects were asked to supply a noun/pronoun with a verb (provided in parenthesis) in correct word order in 5 non-finite purpose clasuses in German, e.g.:
Will hat kein Brot. Er muss spter ausgehen um _______ (kaufen)

Hypothesis: subjects may resort to Irish as their source language, since the Irish word order is similar to German

Study B methodology and instrumentation

TASK 2: MORPHOLOGICAL INFLECTION IN NPs AFTER PREPOSITIONS subejcts were presented with 5 incomplete sentences and required to fill them with the appropriately inflected form of the definite article following a given preposition to express the meaning indicated in the accompanying drawing, e.g.:
Die Damme kommt _________ Kirche (aus).

Hypothesis: this task would trigger cross-linguistic consultation, specifically of Irish, where parallel morphological inflections exist.

Study B methodology and instrumentation

Introspection instrument was also used. Having completed the tasks, the subejcts were asked to supply a short profile of themselves as learners and to introspect on their production. Qs: for TASK 1: How long have you been learning German (Irish)? How do you rate yourself as a learner of German (Irish)? How did you find the excercise? How long did it take you to complete it? For TASK 2: State whether you found the excercise difficult or easy; state which of the languages you study helped you most in making changes and why;

Study B QUAN results

A dictinction was made between subjects production of correct word order, and lexico-grammatical accuracy; (1 point for WO and 1 for accuracy) TASK 1

English-medium students (N=22)

Word order:

95/110 (86.36%)

Lexicogrammatical accuracy:

34/110 (30.9%)

Irish-medium students (N=10)

Word order:

50/50 (100%)

Lexicogrammatical accuracy:

16/50 (32%)

Both sets of data were subjected to a t-test, but no significant difference between the groups emerged (p=0.1166)

Study B QUAN results

TASK 2:

English-medium students (N=22)

Case:

64/110 (58.8%)

Accuracy:

49/110 (44.5%)

Irish-medium students (N=10)

Case:

25/50 (50%)

Accuracy:

16/50 (32%)

Both sets of data were subjected to a t-test, but no significant difference between the groups emerged (p=0.49)

Study B QUAN results

To sum up the quantitative results:

Learners knowledge of WO in Irish non-finite purpose clauses may have a facilitative effect on their capacity to produce appropriately ordered clauses in German, BUT exposure to Irish experienced by Group B did not differentiate them significantly from Group A

Study B QUAL results

Concerning WO, though subjects drew upon their L2 to produce correct L3 sentences, it appears they were not metalinguistically aware of it only 50% of informants included some comments on the process of production, and these were mostly short comments, e.g.: Wasnt sure about the gender Couldnt remember plural The translation was easy I guessed There were even fewer comments on the facilitative role of English or Irish in completing the task: 25% of informants made some reference either to English or Irish or to both English and Irish; in all: 21 references to English, 5 references to Irish; English words resemble German words English similarities in words lernen and Monate

Study B - conclusions
Learners ability to produce correct WO in German was at a high level, even though their accuracy level was very low. This is strengthen by the fact that English-speaking learners of German without Irish seem to have great difficulty with German WO (Pienemann 1998; Jansen 2008) There was no indication that the learners knowledge of morphological modifications in prepositional phrases in the L3; the similairites between Irish and German in this area are not obvious enough for learners to trigger psychotypologically based facilitation

THE END