The Effect of Knowledge About the L1 on Foreign Language Skills and Grammar

Abstract

Cummins´s (1978, 1979) Developmental Interdependence hypothesis states that a learner's competence in a second language is partly dependent on the level of competence already achieved in the first language. Likewise, this author's Common Underlying Proficiency model of bilingualism (Cummins, 1980) suggests that a bilingual or multilingual person's thoughts that accompany reading, writing, talking and listening stem from a common underlying proficiency or central operating system. Therefore it can be concluded that there is one integrated source of thought, irrespective of the language in which the bilingual/multilingual person is functioning. However, it has been observed (Cummins, 2000) that it takes considerably longer to attain a higher level of competence in academic language tasks than in everyday conversational situations. With these theories in mind, this paper examines the effect of knowledge about language on the learning of foreign language skills and grammar. The data were collected through a questionnaire, a metalinguistic awareness test, Raven's Progressive Matrices Test, a linguistic creativity test, and English tests completed by 252 students. It was hypothesised that: (1) student's knowledge about language would have a significant effect on the writing, reading and grammar English tests, and (2) the effect of this knowledge will lessen as regards the listening and speaking tests.