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Numerous conflicting claims exist concerning the nature of L1 influence. This article argues that much of the confusion could be eliminated if a unified framework were established for this area of inquiry. Such a framework would minimally require transfer studies to consider at least 3 potential effects of L1 influence: (a) intra‐L1‐group similarities, (b) inter‐L1‐group differences, and (c) L1‐IL performance similarities. This study examines all three types ofevidence in the English lexical reference of Finnish‐speaking and Swedish‐speaking Finns at multiple levels of age and L2 exposure in three different but related elicitation tasks. The results suggest a subtle yet demonstrable presence for L1 influence in this area of interlanguage performance.
Scott Jarvis (Thu,) studied this question.