Cross-Linguistic Influences in Third Language Acquisition (Spanish) and the Relationship between Language Proficiency and Types of Lexical Errorsaka

Abstract

This study is focused on lexical cross-linguistic influences in Spanish third language (L3) acquisition. Participants are second and third year students of the American College of Management and Technology with Croatian as their first language (L1) and English as their second language (L2). The study investigates the relationship between proficiency level and error production. The results show that the absolute number of lexical errors decreases as experience with the language increases, but in qualitative terms, some types of lexical transfer such as calques (literal translations) increase with proficiency. The results also show that the type of language transfer can be related to formal similarity of certain features or language components, and therefore English L2 is found to be the main source of lexical tansfer.