Transfer in language learning

Interference

• The term:
• Interference refers to the influence of one language on another in the speech of bilinguals who use both languages.
• It most commonly affects:
• Pronunciation
• Grammar
• Sytactics
• Vocabulary
• Semantics

Types of interference

• Phonological
• Lexcial
• Grammatical
• Syntactical

Phonological interference

• Phonological interference is a common type of interference, its most prominent manifestation being a “foreign accent including stress, rhyme, intonation speech sounds from the first language influencing the second language .
• Ex: Uzbek learners confuse (mispronounce) th [ϴ] they pronounce it [z]
• Korean learners can’t pronounce “r” at the beginning of a word when they speak rayhon as layhon.

Lexical interference

• Meaning related words that have similar or related meanings are confused and wrong choice is made.
• He wrote the letter on the board.

element of alphabet a letter that can be posted

If the learner translates this utterance as:

U xatni doskaga yozdi. Instead of

U harfni doskaga yozdi.

Syntactic interference

• Includes errors in verb form and tenses and in sentence structure.
• We have the word order in all languages

in Uzbek

Men do’stimni ko’rdim

In English

I saw my friend

Interference I my friend saw

S+object+v
S+V+obj

Grammatical interference

• Grammatical interference is defined as the first language influencing the second in terms of word order, use of pronouns and determinants, tense and mood. Also inflectional notions are included in this type.

agree – disagree

un

I am interested in English.

to

The prices levelled off (up) in this month.

Factors that cause interference

• Speakers bilingualism background
• Disloyalty to target language
• The limited vocabulary of TL mastered by learner
• Needs of synonym
• Prestige and style

• Human learning is fundamentally a process that involves the making of mistakes.
• First language interference influences in learning the target language. It has positive and negative effects. The greater the differences between the two languages, the more negative the effects of interference are likely to be.

Thanks for your attention!