Methods of analysis

This is a field of research that flourished in the fifties and sixties. It emphasized the comparison of two languages = the mother tongue of the learner and the L2 that he wants to learn. Learning a new language will, thus, be learning a new set of habits and will inevitably be influenced by the old set of habits -i.e. the mother tongue. The learner of a L2 will transfer his old habits into the new linguistic context. Where L1 and L2 are similar, this transfer will be positive; where they are different, transfer will be negative.