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Mr Bean exits the garage driving or does he drive out of the garage? Bidirectional transfer in the expression of Path

  • Meritxell Muñoz and Teresa Cadierno EMAIL logo
Published/Copyright: December 14, 2018
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching
From the journal International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching Volume 57 Issue 1

Abstract

This paper examines bidirectional transfer between L1 English and L2 Spanish in the motion domain, both in boundary crossing [BC] and non-boundary crossing [NBC] situations. It focuses on the semantic component of Path. Furthermore, it examines whether learners’ proficiency has an impact on the degree of cross-linguistic influence [CLI] between their L1 and L2. An experimental study was conducted with five groups of informants: an English monolingual group, a Spanish monolingual group and three groups of L1 English learners of L2 Spanish. The findings support the existence of bidirectional transfer. The three groups of learners exhibited L1 typological patterns when retelling motion events in L2: (a) they used fewer path verbs than the monolingual Spanish group in BC and NBC; (b) they produced examples of satellites encoding the Path in BC and NBC; and (c) they expressed event conflation with one main verb in BC. In addition, the L2 influenced the L1, although this influence was restricted to learners with higher levels of L2 proficiency who used more path verbs than the monolingual English group. These results provide evidence for the role of bidirectional transfer in second language acquisition.

Keywords: bidirectional transfer; cross-linguistic influence; English; motion events; Path; thinking for speaking; second language acquisition; Spanish

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Appendixes

Appendix A: Path verbs used by Spanish NS group and learner groups in L2

Spanish NSs NBC: bajar “to go down” (7), ir “to go” (4), llegar “to arrive” (2), aterrizar “to land” (2), salir “to exit” (1), dirigirse “to head to” (1), colarse “to sneak” (1), caer “to fall” (1).

Spanish NSs BC: entrar “to enter” (9), salir “to exit” (6), meterse “to go into” (3), irse “to leave” (3), caer “to fall” (3), dirigirse “to head to” (1), recorrer “to go across” (1), pasar “to pass/ to go over” (1).

Low proficiency BC: entrar “to enter” (24), ir “to go” (19), caer “to fall” (10), salir “to exit” (9), llegar “to arrive” (3), venir “to come” (1), pasar “to pass/to go over” (1), abandonar “to leave” (1).

Low proficiency NBC: ir “to go” (21), llegar “to arrive” (7), caer “to fall” (3), exitar[3] “to exit” (2), subir “to go up” (2), volver “to come back” (2), venir “to come” (1), escapar “to escape” (1), entrar “to enter” (1), cruzar “to cross” (1).

Intermediate BC: entrar “to enter” (18), ir “to go” (15), caer(se) “to fall” (14), salir “to exit” (11), dejar “to leave” (2), pasar “to pass” (2).

Intermediate NBC: caer “to fall” (8), ir “to go” (6), bajar “to go down” (5), descender “to descend” (3), salir “to exit” (2), pasar “to pass” (1), cruzar “to cross” (1), entrar “to enter” (1), subir “to go up” (1), desembarcar “to unship” (1), llegar “to arrive” (1).

Upper Intermediate BC: entrar “to enter” (25), caer “to fall” (10), ir “to go” (9), salir “to leave” (6), pasar “to pass” (4), bajar “ to go down” (2), arribar “to arrive” (2), cruzar “to cross” (2).

Upper Intermediate NBC: bajar “to go down” (12), pasar “to pass” (3), ir “to go” (3), aterrizar “to land” (2), caer “to fall” (2), llegar “to arrive” (1), entrar “to enter” (1), subir “to go up” (1).

Appendix B: Path verbs used by English NS group and learner groups in L1

English NSs NBC: fall (3), land (1), descend (1).

English NSs BC: go (12), fall (10), land (4), enter (1).

Low proficiency NBC: land (8), fall (5), go (2), return (1), come (1), exit (1), arrive (1), cross (1)

Low proficiency BC: enter (19), go (17), fall (17), leave (10), land (3), pass (1), make its way (1), arrive (1), exit (1)

Intermediate NBC: fall (10), go (7), land (4), come (2), descend (1).

Intermediate BC: go (18), fall (15), enter (10), leave (5), land (4), exit (1), drop (1)

Upper Intermediate NBC: go (6), land (5), reach (4), fall (4), descend (2).

Upper Intermediate BC: enter (12), fall (12), go (7), leave (2), land (1), reach (1)

Appendix C: Examples with event conflation: Low and Intermediate groups

(2) Low proficiency group:

  1. La pelota fue encima de la valla en la dirección del calle, al lado del banco y en el autobús.

    “the ball went up the fence in the Street direction, next to the bench and into the bus”

  2. La pelota fue afuera del campo, arriba una valla y en un autobús.

    “the ball went out the golf course, up the fence and into the bus”

  3. La pelota fuiste over la valla, over el banco y into de autobús.

    “the ball went over the fence, over the bench and into the bus”

  4. La pelota va a muchos lugares, como la valla, el banco y finalmente en el autobús.

    “the ball goes to many places, such as the fence, the bench and into the bus”

  5. La pelota fue debajo de la valla, el banco y adentro el autobús.

    “the ball goes under the fence, the bench and inside the bus”

(3) Intermediate proficiency group:

  1. La pelota está rebotando en el banco, la valla y en el bus.

    “the ball is bouncing on the bench, the fence and into the bus”

  2. La pelota salta sobre el banco encima de la valla y en el autobús.

    “the ball jumps over the bench, on the fence and into the bus”

  3. La pelota viaja por el aire, over una valla y un banco.

    “the ball travels by air, over the fence and on a bench”

  4. La pelota va sobre la valla y en el autobús.

    “the ball goes over the fence and into the bus”

  5. La pelota fue cerca de la parque, sobre un banco y una valla y en un autobús.

    “the ball goes near the park, over the bench, a fence and into a bus”

  6. La pelota pasa por una valla, un banco y en el autobús.

    “the ball passes by a fence, a bench and into the bus”

Published Online: 2018-12-14
Published in Print: 2019-02-25

© 2019 Walter de Gruyter GmbH, Berlin/Boston

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Applied cognitive linguistics and foreign language learning. Introduction to the special issue
  4. Articles
  5. Description, acquisition and teaching of polysemous verbs: The case of quedar
  7. Mr Bean exits the garage driving or does he drive out of the garage? Bidirectional transfer in the expression of Path
  8. A cognitive approach to teaching deictic motion verbs to German and Italian students of Spanish
  9. “How to become a woman without turninginto a Barbie”: Change-of-state verbconstructions and their role in Spanish as a Foreign Language
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https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2018-2006
Keywords for this article
bidirectional transfer; cross-linguistic influence; English; motion events; Path; thinking for speaking; second language acquisition; Spanish

Articles in the same Issue

  1. Frontmatter
  2. Editorial
  3. Applied cognitive linguistics and foreign language learning. Introduction to the special issue
  4. Articles
  5. Description, acquisition and teaching of polysemous verbs: The case of quedar
  7. Mr Bean exits the garage driving or does he drive out of the garage? Bidirectional transfer in the expression of Path
  8. A cognitive approach to teaching deictic motion verbs to German and Italian students of Spanish
  9. “How to become a woman without turninginto a Barbie”: Change-of-state verbconstructions and their role in Spanish as a Foreign Language
  10. Exploring the pedagogical potential of vertical and horizontal relations in the constructicon:The case of the family of subjective-transitive constructions with decir in Spanish
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