L3 French Conceptual Transfer in the Acquisition of L2 English Motion Events among Native Chinese Speakers

The theory of conceptual transfer investigates the extent to which the perception of a previously learned language influences the conceptualization of a language learned subsequently.To provide further evidence supporting such hypotheses,the present study invites three groups of native Chinese-speaking college students to finish selected language tasks with an aim to explore whether the perception of L3 French motion verbs presents itself in the acquisition of L2 English path particles.All three participating groups have learned English as L2 and reached intermediate level,with one group being Chinese majors and the other two specializing in French with different proficiency levels.The findings suggest L3 would exhibit negative transfer in the acquisition of motion events in L2 English.Based on the analysis of participants’retrospective data and the comparison between Chinese group and French groups,the nature of such transfer is claimed to be conceptual.Results also reveal L3 proficiency exerts no influence on conceptual transfer.