Third language acquisition

: the stage of L3 learning as a factor in cross linguistic influence

Abstract

This thesis exammes cross-linguistic influence (CLI) in Third Language Acquisition by British university students. In common with other students of German in Great Britain, the majority of students in the School of Modem Languages at Bangor, studying German, have English as L1, French as their L2 and German as their L3. The purpose of this thesis is to report on findings of a study carried out with first and third year students of German at Bangor University. The written and oral work collected for the purpose of this study is, as one might call it, "authentic academic data" and consists of essays, short texts, presentations and interviews. The aim of the study is to investigate if the stage of acquisition of the third language, i.e. beginners and intermediate, should be added as a key variable in CLI. The present study investigates beginners and intermediate students. The data was analysed using an adapted version of Hufeisen's framework (1998) and the findings suggest that the stage of L3 learning is indeed an important factor.
On the one hand it has an effect on the amount of CLI in L3 production, as (negative) CLI decreases with increasing L3 proficiency in the oral productions. On the other hand it seems to have an influence on the quality of CLI. Depending on the medium, lexical and syntactic transfers decrease (in the oral tasks) or increase (in the written tasks) with increasing L3 proficiency.

Date of Award	Jul 2010
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	Bangor University
Supervisor	Edward Williams (Supervisor)