Transfer of verb placement in L3 French: Evidence from self-paced reading

The role of metalinguistic knowledge in transfer patterns in L3 is unclear. Although several recent studies have provided data on learners’ transfer patterns from L1 versus L2 in L3 French, these largely come from off-line tasks which may rely on metalinguistic knowledge. Thus, learners may not show the same patterns in on-line/real-time measures, where metalinguistic access is more restricted. The present study investigated sensitivity to finite verb placement in three different structures in L3 French using self-paced reading. Participants were L1 Norwegian L2 English learners of L3 French at university level. Our results indicate predominant transfer from L2 English, consistent with previous research on similar structures in similar populations using off-line tasks and also with the same participants, indicating that L2 English acts as the main source of transfer in L3 French. This implies that patterns found previously in off-line measures do not simply reflect participants consulting explicit knowledge but are more likely to reflect learners’ underlying grammatical systems.