New Perspectives on Transfer in Second Language Learning: (92 Second Language Acquisition)

When people attempt to learn a new language, the language(s) they already know can help but also hinder their understanding or production of new forms. This phenomenon, known as language transfer, is the focus of this book. The collection offers new theoretical perspectives, some in the empirical studies and some in other chapters, and consists of four sections considering lexical, syntactic, phonological and cognitive perspectives. The volume provides a wealth of studies on the influence of Chinese on the acquisition of English but also includes studies involving Finnish, French, Hindi, Korean, Persian, Spanish, Swedish and Tamil. It will be of great interest to researchers and students working in the areas of crosslinguistic influence in second language acquisition, language pedagogy and psycholinguistics.

Table of Contents:
1. Terence Odlin and Liming Yu: Introduction 2. Scott Jarvis: The Scope of Transfer Research Part One: Lexical Perspectives 3. David Singleton: Cross-Lexical Interaction and the Structure of the Mental Lexicon 4. Jia Li and Jinting Cai: L1 Transfer in Chinese Learners' Use of Spatial Prepositions in EFL 5. T. Sima Paribakht and Marjorie Bingham Wesche: L1 Influences in L2 Lexical Inferencing Part Two: Syntactic Perspectives 6. Shaopeng Li and Lianrui Yang: An Investigation into Topic-Prominence in the Interlanguage of Chinese EFL Learners: In a Discourse Perspective 7. Yusong Gao: Investigating the Impact of L1 Morphology and Semantics upon L2 Acquisition of English Detransitivized Constructions by Chinese and Korean Learners 8. Hui Chang and Lina Zheng: The Acquisition of the Chinese Causative Construction by English-Speaking Learners Part Three: Phonological Perspectives 9. Hong Li, Lei Zhang and Ling Zhou: L1 influence on the Learning of English Lexical Stress Patterns: Evidence from Chinese Early and Late EFL Learners 10. David Mitchell: SLA Perspectives on Language Contact: An Experimental Study in Retroflexion Part Four: Cognitive Perspectives 11. Terence Odlin: Language Transfer and the Link between Comprehension and Production 12. Chuming Wang: Context and Language Transfer 13. Terence Odlin: Conclusion: A Few More Questions

About the Author :
Liming Yu is Professor Emeritus, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, China and President of the China Educational Linguistics Association. His research interests have focused on language transfer in second language acquisition, the disciplinary nature of second language acquisition and theory and practice in bilingual education. He has published extensively, including Language Transfer in Language Learning (Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press). Terence Odlin is Associate Professor Emeritus of English, Ohio State University, USA and his research interests focus on language contact and language transfer. He is the author of Language Transfer (Cambridge University Press) and editor or co-editor of four other volumes. He has also published articles and chapters in several journals and edited volumes.

Review :
There is nothing more satisfying than seeing established researchers join forces with lesser known colleagues to push theoretical, methodological and geographical boundaries. Terence Odlin, the grandfather of transfer research, teamed up with Liming Yu and produced this excellent book, including contributions by Western and Chinese scholars who bring in a fresh Asian perspective. -- Jean-Marc Dewaele, Birkbeck, University of London, UK This volume is an interesting and innovative collection of articles on language transfer. It is unique in its presentation of papers on both theoretical perspectives and data-based studies in the context of the interaction between English and Chinese as L1 and L2 (among others). It is essential reading for anyone concerned with the processes of second language acquisition and multilingualism, not just the featured subject of language transfer. -- Danuta Gabrys-Barker, University of Silesia, Poland With its logical categorization of studies as well as accessible writing style, lucid explanation of theories and experiments as well as pedagogical comment, and reflections on transfer in each study, this is undoubtedly an ideal academic volume not only for SLA researchers and language teachers, but for undergraduates and postgraduates involved in SLA research as well. -- Pengfei Lei and Jinfen Xu, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China Language and Education, 2016