Cross-linguistic influence in tense- aspect Spanish L3 acquisition

A study of Arabic Tunisian learners of L3 Spanish

Abstract

This article is a cross-sectional study that examined 30 Tunisian L1 Arabic- L2 French -L3 Spanish learners’ written narratives at B1 and C1 levels, as well as 15 Spanish native speakers. Its main purpose was to find out whether there is a L1 Arabic or a L2 French transfer in learners Spanish preterite and imperfect distinction, based on Andersen’s 1986, 1991 LAH (Lexical Aspect Hypothesis). The results showed no significant correlation between lexical and morphological aspects in the participants’ productions. Moreover, an independent sampled t-test allowed us to verify no significant difference between the advanced C1 group and the native group regarding preterite and imperfect use with state verbs, activities, accomplishments and achievements. Thus, we concluded that there is a predominant L2 French positive transfer and no L1 Arabic negative transfer in preterite/imperfect distinction in the learners’ written narratives, owing to the typological closeness between French L2 and Spanish L3.