Dominant language transfer in the comprehension of L2 learners and heritage speakers

This study examines the role of the dominant language (English) in the comprehension of second language (L2) learners and heritage speakers of Korean. Dominant language influence is observed in L2 and heritage language acquisition (Montrul 2008; Odlin 1989). Based on the previous findings that transfer effects tend to be more prominent at low proficiency levels (Schwartz and Sprouse 1996), the present study examines beginning-level L2 (n = 26) and heritage learners (n = 38) of Korean whose dominant language was English. The results of a listening task involving Korean relative clauses showed that both groups exhibited transfer effects, but stronger in the L2 group. In addition, the results on error patterns showed that those with low accuracy were more prone to dominant language transfer than those with higher accuracy.