User:Litstudent/Language transfer

Language Transfer- Literacy

Language transfer is often referred to as cross-language transfer. Cross-language transfer is the ability to use skills acquired in one language and use those skills to facilitate learning of a new language . While cross-language transfer has been researched and analyzed by many scholars over the years, the focus on cross-language transfer in literacy research expanded in the 1990’s . It is a topic that has been gaining lots of interest from scholars due to the increasing amount of bilingual and multi-lingual people, especially students, around the world. In the USA alone, English Language Learners (ELL) account for over 10% of the students enrolled in public schools.

The Linguistic Interdependence Hypothesis claims that while language transfer can occur from L1 (First language) to L2 (Second language), there first has to  be a level of proficiency in L1 literacy skills in order for the skills to transfer over into L2 .In other words, there must be some prior knowledge of literacy skills in L1 to assist with acquiring literacy skills in  L2. The acquisition of L2 literacy skills can be facilitated and gained with greater ease by having  more time, access, and experience  with L1 literary skills. Over time, through formal exposure and practice with literacy skills, L2 learners have been able to catch up with their monolingual peers . However, literacy skills acquired in L2 can also be used to assist with literacy skills in L1 because cross-language transfer is bidirectional .

Though most studies have indicated that literacy cross-language transfer can occur regardless of the L1 and L2 languages, Chung, Joshi, & Dixon (2012) state that cross-language transfer is less likely to occur when the languages do not share similar orthography systems. For example, using literacy skills acquired in English may be accessed and used with more ease in Spanish because English and Spanish follow similar orthography (they use letters).Whereas, using literacy skills acquired in English to  facilitate ease of learning Korean would be more difficult because these languages do not follow a similar orthography system (English uses letters, and Korean uses symbols).

Cross-language transfer can also occur with deaf bilinguals who use sign language and read written words. While people may think that American Sign Language (ASL) and English are both the same language, they are not. According to the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communications Disorders  “ASL is a language completely separate and distinct from English. It contains all the fundamental features of language, with its own rules for pronunciation, word formation, and word order".Because sign languages are considered to be their own language, most deaf people are considered to be bilingual because they speak in one language (sign language) and they read in other (examples: English, Spanish, Arabic, etc.). It should also be noted that not all sign languages are the same. Some examples of different sign languages are American sign Language (ASL), Mexican Sign Language (LSM), British Sign Language (BSL), Spanish Sign Language (LSE), and many more.