Sunday, April 20, 2008

negative tranfer

hi friends, this week I witnessed a clear example of negative transfer regarding young learners. I think you all are familiar with their common" I can see a ..."type of overgeneralization. as ı had stated they were always starting thieir sentences with this expression. for example, they say "I can see a blue eyes" while their teachers expect them to say "ı have got blue eyes "by showing the picture. so as you all agree the item learnt beforehand was a hinderence to learn a second structure. fortunately, after too much effort the teacher managed to teach them this new structure. however the following week this time they were expected to say "ı can see a lion"( in the picture) but they said "ı have got a lion". forgetting the previously learnt favourite structure "ı can see a ...":) I'm really curious how they will be able to distinguish between the structures.