New Perspectives on Transfer in Second Language Learning

Edited by Prof. Liming Yu, Dr. Terence Odlin

Publication date:

09 October 2015

Publisher

Multilingual Matters

Dimensions:

234x156mm
6x9"

ISBN-13: 9781783094332

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.

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.