Abstract:
Type of transfer has been extensively debated in SLA literature; however, L3A literature has mainly focused on source of transfer. This study looks into L3 type of transfer and provides evidence of transfer of lexical features into an L3. Participants were 28 Dutch native speakers with L2 English and L3 Spanish split in two proficiency levels. They had to choose between a Prepositional Dative and a Double Object Dative in a GJT. Each sentence contained a verb that allowed the DOD either in English and Dutch, only in English, only in Dutch, or in neither language. In contrast, Spanish completely disallowed the DOD. Interactions showing transfer from Dutch were found. A second analysis on participants who had acquired the English DOD showed a similar pattern but modulated by English, in line with Slabakova’s Scalpel Model and Modular Transfer Hypothesis.
