The Impact of L1 Transfer on the Acquisition of Wh-Movement Constraints in English Syntactic Islands: Evidence from Behdini-Kurdish Learners
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.21271/zjhs.30.1.12Keywords:
Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Wh-Movement Constraints, L1 Transfer, Syntactic Islands, TEFL PedagogyAbstract
Abstract
This study explores how Behdini-Kurdish learners of English navigate the complex terrain of wh-movement restrictions within syntactic islands—structures that typically resist such movement in English. Behdini-Kurdish, a dialect spoken in northern Iraq, differs typologically from English, particularly in its wh-in-situ nature and lack of syntactic island constraints. These differences pose notable challenges in second language acquisition (SLA). Employing a mixed-methods design centered around a Grammaticality Judgment Task (GJT), the study examined 40 university-level learners' recognition of various island violations. Results revealed significant L1 transfer effects, especially in more syntactically opaque structures such as coordinate structure islands and wh-islands. The findings underscore the necessity for explicit instruction on movement constraints in English syntax. Pedagogically, this study offers targeted implications for curriculum development in EFL contexts involving learners whose L1 diverges structurally from English. Theoretically, it contributes to our understanding of how native syntactic structures influence the acquisition of cross-linguistic constraints in complex sentence formation.
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