The Acquisition of Chinese as a third language by Japanese L1/English L2 speakers

Abstract

The role of language transfer in second language acquisition has long been the focus in the study of cross-linguistic influence. Much has been written about how the learner’s existing linguistic knowledge influences the course of second language development. In the last decade, however, there have been a considerable number of books and journal articles dealing with a relatively under-explored field: the role of language transfer during third language acquisition. The question arises as to how the learner’s three languages interact with each other during the language learning process.