Exploring cross-language transfer of metaphorical skills with bilingual Spanish/Catalan EFL learners: A case study

This case study aims to describe the development and findings of a research project designed to explore whether the phenomenon of cross-language transfer, regularly conceptualized in terms of the Linguistic Interdependence and Linguistic Threshold hypotheses (LIH and LTH), could also be identified vis-a-vis metaphorical language skills in an EFL educational context. An experimental English poetry workshop was developed in a university setting with a group of bilingual Spanish/Catalan EFL learners, and was designed in accordance with Jim Cummins' (2007) pedagogical reading of cross-language transfer and his suggestion that teachers can actually teach for transfer. The research also included semi-structured interviews with the participants to inquire about their multilingual literacy background (Spanish, Catalan and EFL) and their level of engagement with the EFL poetry workshop. Despite the limited sample, data indicated that, provided the pedagogical orientation leads to learner engagement, cross-language transfer to English also applies to metaphorical language skills in an EFL educational context.