Description

This book explores the notion of Crosslinguistic Influence in Language Learning: how the first language of a learner influences the learning of subsequent languages. It examines not only the phenomena in regards to the process of language learning but also investigates the implications of crosslinguistic influence for classroom teaching practices. Specifically, the book focuses on the acquisition of German by adults whose first language is English and the effect of specific English syntactic patterns on the acquisition of related structures in German. The book provides a comprehensive overview of developments in theoretical understandings of crosslinguistic influence, and shows how these understandings have influenced foreign language teachers' classroom practices over time. One teaching method is empirically tested with the results supporting an approach to foreign/second language pedagogy which accounts for crosslinguistic influence in its design.