De rol van de moedertaal bij het leren van een tweede of vreemde taal

The role of the mother tongue (L1) that has been assigned to the acquisition of a second (L2) or foreign language (FL) has continuously changed over time. Based on Lado’s contrastive analysis hypothesis and Skinner’s behavorism the role of L1 was considered to be very important during the fifties and sixties of the last century, whereas this role decreased gradually in the next two decades. However, based on further studies a revival could be noticed regarding the influence of L1 on L2 and FL acquisition around the turn of the century. Recent research has shown that language distance, in particular, seems to determine to a large extent how large this influence is. These findings entail implications for both L2 and FL teachers and learners, as for theorists and policy makers.