What Is Interlingual Transfer?
Interlingual transferoften called negative transferrefers to the influence of a speakers first language (L1) on the production of a second language (L2). When Vietnamese learners of English apply Vietnamese grammatical, lexical, or phonological patterns to English, the result can be an error that would not appear in nativespeaker English. Unlike intralingual errors, which stem from internal developmental stages, interlingual errors arise because the two language systems differ in crucial ways.
Common Error Types
1. Word Order
Vietnamese is a subjectverbobject (SVO) language, but it also uses a topiccomment structure that can interfere with English clause ordering, especially with adverbials and complements.
Correct English: She is very beautiful.
2. Articles
Vietnamese has no equivalent of the English definite (the) and indefinite (a / an) articles. Learners often omit them or use them randomly.
Correct: I bought a book yesterday.
3. Tense and Aspect
Vietnamese indicates time mainly through context or temporal adverbs, not by verb inflection. This leads to overgeneralisation of the simple present or misuse of progressive forms.
Correct: He is working now.
4. Prepositions
Prepositional usage varies widely between the languages. Vietnamese often uses spatial particles that do not match English prepositions.
Correct: She is good at math.
5. Pronouns and Gender
Vietnamese pronouns encode social hierarchy rather than grammatical gender. Learners may misuse he/she or his/her when the referents gender is ambiguous.
Correct: The teacher said that she will be late.
6. Singular/Plural Marking
Plural nouns in Vietnamese are often expressed by quantifiers rather than morphological changes. Learners may drop the s ending.
Correct: There are three cats in the garden.
7. Countable vs. Uncountable Nouns
The distinction is not grammaticalised in Vietnamese, leading to errors such as much informations or a piece of advices.
Correct: I need some information.
8. Collocations and Fixed Expressions
Direct translation creates awkward combinations, e.g., make a photo instead of take a photo.
Correct: Can you take a photo of me?
9. Phonological Transfer
Vietnamese lacks certain consonant clusters and distinguishes fewer vowel sounds than English, causing mispronunciation that can affect intelligibility.
- Final consonant devoicing bag may sound like bak.
- Difficulty with th and v sounds thank vs. sank.
Why These Errors Occur
Understanding the root causes helps teachers design targeted interventions.
| Source of Transfer | Typical Example | Underlying Linguistic Reason |
|---|---|---|
| Lexical Gap | Im boring for Im bored | Vietnamese uses the same adjective for both states; English distinguishes by aspect. |
| Structural Divergence | Omission of articles | Vietnamese lacks articles, so learners have no mental category to map. |
| Phonetic Inventory | think pronounced /sk/ | Absence of the // sound in Vietnamese; closest approximation is /s/. |
| Pragmatic Differences | Overuse of politeness particles (please) in statements | Vietnamese employs multiple particles to signal respect; learners overapply them in English. |
Other factors include limited exposure to native input, reliance on translations, and classroom focus on accuracy over fluency.
Teaching Implications
Effective instruction should address the specific interlingual patterns that Vietnamese learners bring to English.
1. Explicit Contrastive Analysis
Show sidebyside sentences highlighting where Vietnamese and English differ. For example, present the Vietnamese articlefree noun phrase next to the English version with the correct article.
2. Focused Input
Provide plenty of authentic texts and recordings where the target structures appear naturally. Highlight articles, verb tenses, and prepositions in context.
3. Communicative Drills
Use roleplays that force learners to choose the correct article or tense. Immediate feedback helps them internalise the rule.
4. Pronunciation Workshops
Isolate problematic phonemes (e.g., //, /v/, final consonant clusters) and use visualphonetic cues. Minimalpair drills and tongueplacement videos are useful.
5. ErrorCorrection Log
Encourage students to keep a personal log of recurring interlingual errors. Review the log weekly and design microlessons targeting the most frequent items.
6. CorpusBased Activities
Introduce learners to simple corpora (e.g., COCA) so they can see real frequency data for collocations like take a photo vs. make a photo.
7. Metalinguistic Awareness
Teach learners about the concept of transfer itself. When students recognise that an error stems from their L1, they become more proactive in monitoring their output.
By integrating these strategies, teachers can reduce the incidence of interlingual errors while promoting confidence and communicative competence.
