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RESEARCH PRODUCT

The pedagogical turn in the research on cross-language transfer: Re-thinking the Language Interdependence and the Language Threshold Hypotheses

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description

This article dwells on the opposing alignments that can be found in the literature on the Linguistic Interdependence (LIH) and Linguistic Threshold (LTH) hypotheses, in the field of second language acquisition and foreign language education. First, the prevailing, orthodox rendition of these two concepts is examined briefly, together with its theoretical and practical consequences. After this, the most distinctive characteristic of Jim Cummins¿s alternative framework is described, i.e., its emphasis on the pedagogical dimension and on its impact on cross-language transfer. According to this view, the quality and nature of the exposure to L2 (not time-exposure or student L2 level) would be the most significant factor vis-à-vis the degree of language transfer generated. This pedagogical dimension is explained in terms of three different levels of analysis, and two concrete studies are described, as experimental evidence. In the last section, a Pedagogical Threshold Hypothesis is finally presented as a logical development of the ideas exposed.