Word recognition in pre-foreign language learners: The role of form overlap

This study tests how form overlap with the L1 influences young learners’ ability to recognize L2 words from continuous speech before they receive classroom instruction in English as a foreign language (EFL). German 6- to 9-year-olds were tested on their ability to recognize words in English utterances that overlapped in form with their German translation equivalents (e.g., cognate words, milk-Milch /mɪlk/ – /mɪlx/) or did not (e.g., non-cognate words, smoke – Rauch, /smoʊk/ – /raʊ̯x/). German form similarity neither influenced performance at the group level nor when differences in individual German skills were considered. This pattern of results remained even when, in Experiment 2, the German word form was pre-activated visually. Unlike adults’, pre-EFL learners’ recognition of words in continuous speech is not affected by form similarity to German, which we link to differences in metalinguistic awareness and the role of form-meaning mappings, especially in early FL learning.