Bringing the learner back into the picture: Corpora and elicitation in transfer studies

Gilquin, Gaëtanelle [UCL]

This paper underlines the importance of bringing the learner back into the picture when it comes to the study of transfer. More precisely, it shows that the reliance on corpus data in transfer studies these last few years has resulted in an overemphasis on the actual distance between the learner’s mother tongue and the target language, and the neglect of the learner’s perception of this distance (psychotypology). The introduction of elicitation tests aiming to identify perceived prototypical equivalence is argued for, and a case study on the use of 'indeed' by French-speaking learners illustrates the value of this methodology.