5. The Role of the First Language in Second Language Acquisition

The topic of "first language interference" has had an unusual history in second language acquisition research and practice. For many years, it had been presumed that the only major source of syntactic errors in adult second language performance was the performer's first language (Lado, 1957), and a great deal of materials preparation was done with this assumption in mind (Banathy, Trager, and Waddle, 1966). Subsequent empirical studies of errors made by second language students led to the discovery, however, that many errors are not traceable to the structure of the first language, but are common to second language performers of different linguistic backgrounds (e.g. Richards, 1971; Buteau, 1970). These findings have led several scholars to question the value of contrastive analysis and to argue instead for error analysis. The first language, it is maintained, is but one of several sources of error, and other sources need to be considered.

The issue now, as I see it, is not whether first-language-influenced errors exist in second language performance (they clearly do), or even what percentage of errors can be traced to the first language in the adult, but, rather, where first language influence fits in the theoretical model for second language performance.

In this chapter, I will attempt to show that findings on first language influence on second language performance are quite consistent with findings and hypotheses from other apparently nonrelated areas, and that they contribute to a clear theoretical picture of second language acquisition and performance. First, the relevant findings on first language influence are summarized. Following this, the role of the first language as a substitute utterance initiator is discussed.

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