Investigating Arabic-speaking EFL learners' understanding of French gender markers: a typological primacy model approach to a third language

This study examines how well Arabic-speaking EFL undergraduate students can understand gender-definite articles in French. Forty students studying French language and literature at the University of Jordan's Faculty of Foreign Languages were equally divided into two groups based on their French language proficiency level (sophomores and seniors). Having studied English as a foreign language for 12 years, these native Arabic speakers answered 17 multiple-choice questions during a 45-minute test at the University of Jordan. The test required participants to select the correct French masculine or feminine article for each target noun. An introspective session was held after the test to obtain an understanding of their results. A t-test was administered to analyze the data and determine if the differences in participants' responses within each group were statistically significant. Data analysis revealed that the differences between the two groups' correct answers on the test were statistically significant in favor of the senior group. In addition, the results show a strong correlation between more exposure to French and improved proficiency, drawing on Rothman's Typological Primacy Model (2011). Given the closer typological congruence between Arabic and French than between English and French, positive transfer was observed between the two languages. It is suggested that some structural analogies-complex inflectional morphology and gender marking-that are highly aligned in L1 and L3 are the reason behind the learners' reliance on Arabic. It is argued that, in contrast to the early phases of acquisition, positive transfer becomes more pronounced with increased exposure.