L2/L3 acquisition of the English indefinite article.

Abstract

This study aimed to explore the L2/L3 acquisition of the English indefinite article by L1 speakers of Palestinian/Jordanian-Arabic (PJ/A) and Cypriot-Greek (CG) in Jordan and Cyprus. Four groups were recruited: an English control group, two L2 groups,
whose L1s are PJ/A or CG, and an L3 group, whose L1 is PJ/A with L2 CG. A forcedchoice-elicitation task was used for data collection. Data analysis revealed that the L2 PJ and L2 CG participants had both negative and positive/negative transfer from their L1 into L2, respectively. The results of the L3 participants revealed that their performance was similar to the L2 CG group. Overall, the results of the L2/L3 groups lend partial support to the Fluctuation Hypothesis (FH).