Fatiha Sadouki

Research in third language acquisition (TLA) has primarily focused on identifying the sources of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) between learners’ first language (L1) and second language (L2), and how these influences impact the learning process of a third language (L3). One important aspect of this learning process is the understanding of how complex grammatical structures, particularly morphosyntactic elements, are transferred from languages that have been previously acquired. This research explored the acquisition of two morphosyntactic properties: object pronoun placement and verb with that-clause structure, as well as the effects of cross- linguistic influence on morphosyntax, in the context of three languages: Arabic first language (L1), French second language (L2), and English as third language (L3). This study employed a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative data to examine how learners’ linguistic backgrounds influence the learning of L3. A total of 54 participants were involved, divided into two main groups: university students and university teachers. The student cohort (N=46) consisted of learners with L1 Arabic, L2 French, and L3 English. These students were further classified into a lower-intermediate group (N=21) and an advanced group (N=20) based on their French proficiency. A control group of 5 native English speakers was also included. The teacher group (N=8) participated in interviews to provide expert insights on cross-linguistic influence. The study employed a range of research instruments to investigate how Algerian learners' knowledge of Arabic (L1) and French (L2) influences their use of specific English (L3) morphosyntactic structures, namely object pronoun placement and verb with that-clause. Data were collected through a grammaticality judgment test (GJT), a writing task, a language perception questionnaire, and semi structured interviews with both students and teachers. The findings support the idea that structural similarities play an important role in cross-linguistic influence (CLI), as suggested by Flynn et al. (2004), Slabakova (2016), and Westergaard et al. (2017). Results indicate that both Arabic (L1) and French (L2) serve as sources of transfer in the acquisition of English (L3), regardless of the learners’ level of proficiency in French. Moreover, the patterns of transfer confirm Ben Abbes’ (2016) claim that influence occurs on a property-by-property basis, depending on structural similarities and differences between the languages, even when they are not closely related. The findings contribute to the understanding of third language learning by showing how learners draw on their first and second languages when learning a third one. They demonstrate that structural similarities and differences shape the transfer of grammatical features, particularly in the initial phases of learning a new language.

The present study sheds light on cross-linguistic influence in third language learning and intends to find out how the previously acquired languages influence the learning of L3. This study focuses on the nature of cross-linguistic influence when more than two languages are involved. It aims to explore how language transfer manifests itself in participants’ written production. Twenty-six secondary school students, who have two languages as their background languages (Arabic and French) and English as a third language, took part in this study. The instruments included a written task that is designed to find out how the previously acquired languages affect the learning process of the third language and to explore the factors that affect cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition. The findings showed that due to the typological proximity between L2 French and L3 English, participants transfer from the second language, which works as a facilitation in L3 learning due to the typological similarity between French and English.

The present study aims to investigate the challenges that non-native English-speaking students face when writing a thesis. In order to explore this issue, a quantitative research method was used, by means of a survey questionnaire, which addresses MA students of English in three universities in Algeria. Consequently, in order to find out the challenges they face when writing a thesis, a questionnaire was designed and administered as the main instrument of the study. The total number of participants was 120 second-year MA students. The data was analyzed statistically using the SPSS program. The findings show that second-year MA students face challenges in writing a thesis, such as citing references and following the academic guidelines while the discussion section of a thesis is considered the most difficult part to write during this process.

The present study sheds light on cross-linguistic influence in third language learning, and it aims to explore the role of the previously acquired languages in third language acquisition and test the Cumulative Enhancement Model (Flynn et al, 2004) and Typological Similarity Model (Rothman, 2011). The CE Model supports the facilitation role of the previously acquired languages (L1 and L2) during the learning process of a third language (L3). The participants of this study are 35 middle school students who have Arabic as a first language, French as a second language, and they are learning English as a third language. A multiple-choice translation task that aims to test the participants’ knowledge of the non-native language they learn, in addition to a text in L3 in which they have to translate into their L1 and L2. The findings showed that participants transfer from the more typologically similar language (i.e. French) due to the typological similarity, which gives evidence for the Typological Similarity Model in which learners use the languages that is typologically similar to L3 at early stages of L3 acquisition.

The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many professions with short-, medium-, and long-term consequences. Hence, this study examined the mediating role of sense of coherence (SOC) and resilience in the relation to COVID-19 stress and teachers’ well-being (TWB). It recruited 836 teachers from Ethiopia’s higher-education institutions, of which 630 (75.4%) were men and 206 (24.6%) were women, with a mean age of 32.81 years and a standard deviation of 6.42. Findings showed that COVID-19 stress negatively predicted SOC, resilience, and TWB and that SOC and resilience positively predicted TWB. It was concluded that SOC and resilience, both together and separately, mediated the relation between COVID-19 stress and TWB. These results were discussed alongside relevant literature, and the study is found to be valuable for practitioners and researchers who seek to improve well-being using SOC and resilience as resources across teaching professions.

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The present study sheds light on cross-linguistic influence and language transfer in third or additional language learning and explores the factors affecting the learning of third or additional language in a multilingual context. It aims at investigating the extent to which the typologically more similar language influences the language being learned. This study was carried out with the participation of 30 third-year students in the foreign languages stream at Al-Kawakibi Secondary School-Touggourt in Algeria. The participants had Arabic as L1, French as L2, English as L3 and they were learning L4 German. The instruments included two translation tasks and a paragraph writing in German, in addition to a questionnaire about learners' self-rated language proficiency of their non-native languages. The findings show that students tend to translate into the language which is typologically more similar to German, in this case English, that influences learning L4 German the most.