Language Transfer in English Article Use by Korean and Finnish L2 English Speakers: Article Errors in Street Interviews

Abstract

Language transfer has been considered an important factor affecting second language learning. This effect might be either more positive or negative depending on differences between the learner’s first language and second language. Positive transfer can facilitate learning, whereas negative transfer can interfere with learning and cause a larger number of errors and a more difficult learning process.

This study investigates the effects of language transfer in English article use by Korean and Finnish L2 English speakers. The material for this study was collected from public street interview YouTube videos by transcribing the videos into text. All the article errors found in the material were collected and their possible causes analyzed. These errors were classified into three different categories: article omissions, additions, and substitutions.

The most common article errors found were evidently omissions. The second most common ones were additions, and the least common category were substitutions, although there were also a few of these errors found. The findings of this study indicate language transfer as a possible reason for some of the article errors found in both the native Korean and native Finnish speakers’ material. Furthermore, the results suggest that there were clear similarities in the article errors of native speakers of Korean and Finnish and the ratios between the error categories were similar.