The role of typology and formal similarity in third language acquisition (German and Spanish)

The focus of this study is the role of previously acquired languages in the acquisition of a third language (L3). It is focused on cross-linguistic influences (CLI) in German/Spanish third lan- guage acquisition (TLA) by learners with Croatian first language (L1) and English second language (L2). Participants in this study were third-year undergraduate students at Roch- ester Institute of Technology’s subsidiary in Croatia (RIT Croatia). All the participants had exclusively Croatian as L1, English as L2, and were learning German and Spanish as L3 at the time of the study. The present study investigates the relationship between language typology and formal similarity and transfer/error production, since many studies have demonstrated that typology plays a determining role in cross-linguistic transfer (Cenoz, Hufeisen & Jess- ner 2001; Hammarberg 2001; Rothman 2010). There are various areas of similarity and dis- similarity between Croatian, English, German, and Spanish. A significant portion of English vocabulary comes from Romance and Latinate sources. Due to these facts, we argue that the strongest L2 (English) influence will be found in the area of lexicon. On the other hand, Cro- atian, German, and Spanish are more similar in the area of morphology, due to the fact that these languages have a higher degree of inflection than English. Accordingly, we argue that the strongest L1 (Croatian) influence will be found in the area of morphology. The results of this research confirmed our initial hypothesis that the type of transfer episodes observed may be related to language typology and formal similarity between specific features of languages. Similarities at the level of lexis and grammar between L2 English and L3 German and Spanish can influence the acquisition process of German and Spanish.

Kvantitativna analiza studentske procjene važnosti stranih jezika u sportskome menadžmentu

The aim of the analysis was to find out how future kinesiologists assess the importance of 15 foreign languages in sports management. The sample was comprised of 70 male and female students from the Faculty of Kinesiology, University of Zagreb. The results showed that most of the students had learned English and German, and for the longest period. As many as 62.86% had learned two foreign languages, whereas 20% had learned three, 10% had learned only one, and only 7.14% had learned four foreign languages. The students assessed the command of English and German as the most important asset for work in sports management. The factor analysis yielded three latent dimensions interpreted on the basis of the aspects of tourism, success in sport, and economic power. By means of factor scores of the three obtained factors, a multivariate analysis of variance did not show differences between students’ assessment of the importance of the 15 foreign languages based on the number of foreign languages they had learned.