SECOND LANGUAGE LEARNING AND TRANSFER THEORY: A THEORETICAL ASSESSMENT1

Abstract

Extrapolation from laboratory experiments to real life learning situations is not a scientifically rigorous process. Nevertheless, it is possible to be systematic without at the same time being rigid about the manner in which additions to knowledge are made. The analysis of transfer effects in second language learning should be molecular and have a systematic character that could potentially organize the knowledge language teachers have developed through their experience in the classroom. The analysis presented in the paper outlines some specific transfer expectations under four different conditions of second language acquisition: coordinate and compound training for related and unrelated languages. Some unexpected predictions are generated; for example, with related languages a compound setting will yield more positive transfer (hence be more facilitative) than a coordinate setting. Similarities between two languages in terms of their surface features are more relevant to the operation of transfer effects than deep structure relations. A distinction must be made between structural factors based on contrastive analyses and non‐structural factors pertaining to the learner's attitudes and the sociolinguistic context of the learning situation. Transfer effects operate at various levels of language functioning (e.g., mechanical skills, semantic sensitivity, communicative competence) and measures to assess these effects are suggested.