Transfer, Interference and Overgeneralization by Ida Mariani Idris

A.    Introduction

The issue right now is about first language (L1) acquisition can influence on the second language (L2) performance. The existence of some errors from L1 to the L2 may appear if we are trying to analyze it carefully. The errors are coming from the utterance itself when it is transferred in the negative way. The possible problem here is that we sometimes find errors in the second language learning process because the influences from the mother tongue.

Therefore, it is interesting to discuss how L1 influence on the L2 performance since it deals with the errors to transfer the language itself. 

B.     Discussion

According to Brown (1990: 90, Paragraph 2), transfer isto carry overthe previous performance or knowledge to the subsequent learning. It is said that we make two things in transferring the language. They are positive transfer and negative transfer. Positive transfer is about carrying over everything when it is going to be right. Otherwise, if we make negative transfer, we are going to find something called interference and overgeneralization. Krashen (2002: 7, Paragraph 4) explained that interference isas a caused of performer that is “falling back” on old knowledge because he or she didn’t acquire enough the L2. It is clear that this kind of errors can occur to the learners because there is an influence on their L1.In addition, Brown (1990: 91, Paragraph 2) explained that in the L2performance, the generalizing of language can occur to the particular rule or item as the target language that is called overgeneralization.The example byLeaver, Ehrman and Shekhtman(2005: 148, Paragraph 2) explained that we can say one sheep, five sheep, few deer, many deer instead of sayingfive sheepsor many deers. It is a common mistake toover generalizethe common rule of adding -s to make plural to all categories of nouns.

Based on my experience in teaching English, the students often face problems in transferring the language itself. For example,the students were asked to tell their activity in the past.One student said, “Yesterday, I go to the market with my mother.” Another student also said, “I do my homework last night.” In this case, the influence of their L1 in Bahasa Indonesia, there is no different verb to explain whether it is past activity or present activity. However, in English, the using of past activity have to be past form for “go” and “do” instead of “went” and “did”. Other cases are the students use overgeneralization in using verb such as “I sleeped yesterday.” This is a kind of overgeneralization that the students make incorrect application of verb in “sleeped” instead of “slept”.

The explanation above tells us that negative transfer merely occurs as a process of interference and overgeneralization. It is the aspect of learning on L2 and cannot be separated. However, the positive transfer can also occur when the L1 has similarity with the L2 and it will give advantage to the learner. As we know, Bahasa Indonesia and English have the same pattern that is subject-predicate-object-complement. For example, “Sayapergikesekolah” (I go to school) and “Sayamemasaknasisetiaphari” (I cook rice everyday). The additional example is by Leaver, Ehrman and Shekhtman(2005: 152, Paragraph 3)in some languages like German and English have same modals. Examples of modalsare must and should. In German, one says, “Ichmuss gehen” and in English “Imust go.”

In short, it has been clearly explained that the using of transfer, interference, and overgeneralization between L1 and L2 can influence each other. They are related each other where the errors may come up with L2 learners.

C.    Conclusion

In conclusion, the process of transfer, interference, and overgeneralization between L1 and L2 performance are merely “falling back” to the existence of errors. Interference from L1 to L2 is simply because of the generalizing the L1 experience and then apply them in an incorrect way. Otherwise, overgeneralization occurs because of ignoring some exceptions of L2 rules. The existence of the errors can be considered as the indication of mother tongue influences and the lack of vocabulary in L2.

References

Brown, D. 1994. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching (Third Edition). New Jersey, page 90, paragraph 2.

Krashen, S.2002. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Learning. University of Southern California, page 7, paragraph 2.

Leaver, B. L., M. E. Ehrman, and B. Shekhtman.2005. Achieving Success in Second Language Acquisition. Cambridge University Press, page 148, paragraph 2, and page 152, paragraph 3.

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