Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-jkksz Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T18:28:10.268Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Teaching for transfer of second language learning

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 June 2018

Mark Andrew James
Mark Andrew James*
Affiliation:
Arizona State University, [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

An important issue in second language (L2) teaching is transfer of learning. Transfer occurs ‘when learning in one context or with one set of materials impacts on performance in another context or with another set of materials’ (Perkins & Salomon 1994: 6452). For example, knowing how to play guitar may help a person who is learning to play the piano, or experience playing team sports may help a person who has a job that involves teamwork, or having learned math in school may help a person who is shopping. Questions about whether and how learning is applied in different contexts are central to an understanding of human behavior, and answers to such questions are of practical value to educators. It is not surprising, then, that for over a century, transfer has been ‘among the most challenging, contentious, and important issues for both psychology and education’ (Day & Goldstone 2012: 153).

Type
Research Timeline
Information
Language Teaching , Volume 51 , Issue 3 , July 2018 , pp. 330 - 348
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Brown, H. D. (2014). Principles of language learning and teaching: A course in second language acquisition (6th edn.). White Plains, NY: Pearson.Google Scholar
Day, S. B. & Goldstone, R. L. (2012). The import of knowledge export: Connecting findings and theories of transfer of learning. Educational Psychologist 47.3, 153–176.Google Scholar
Jarvis, S. & Pavlenko, A. (2008). Crosslinguistic influence in language and cognition. New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Johns, A. M. (1993). Reading and writing tasks in English for academic purposes classes: Products, processes, and resources. In Carson, J. G. & Leki, I. (eds.), Reading in the composition classroom. Boston, MA: Heinle and Heinle, 274–289.Google Scholar
Johnson, K. & Johnson, K. (eds.) (1998). Encyclopedic dictionary of applied linguistics: A handbook for language teaching. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Koda, K. & Reddy, P. (2008). Cross-linguistic transfer in second language reading. Language Teaching 41.4, 497–508.Google Scholar
Kolesnik, W. B. (1957). A note on transfer of training research. Peabody Journal of Education 34.4, 215–219.Google Scholar
Kolesnik, W. B. (1958). Mental discipline in modern education. Madison, WI: The University of Wisconsin Press.Google Scholar
Leki, I. (1995). Coping strategies of ESL students in writing tasks across the curriculum. TESOL Quarterly 29.2, 235–260.Google Scholar
Perkins, D. N. & Salomon, G. (1994). Transfer of learning. In Husen, T. & Postlethwaite, T. N. (eds.), The international encyclopedia of education (2nd edn.) (vol. 11). Oxford: Pergamon, 6452–6457.Google Scholar
Perkins, D. N. & Salomon, G. (2012). Knowledge to go: A motivational and dispositional view of transfer. Educational Psychologist 47.3, 248–258.Google Scholar
Selinker, L. (1972). Interlanguage. International Review of Applied Linguistics 10.3, 209–231.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Tardy, C. M. (2006). Researching first and second language genre learning: A comparative review and a look ahead. Journal of Second Language Writing 15.2, 79–101.Google Scholar