Does L2 English Transfer Work on L3 Chinese Writing? An Analysis on Korean CFL Learners' Referential Errors

The present study is an extension of Kang's (2004) studies of L1 Korean referential strategies to L2 English writing into a new context of L3 Chinese writing. It looks at to what extent L1 Korean and L2 English have influence on L3 Chinese writing. The results show that there is not only L1 Korean transfer (a higher use of full nouns), but also L2 English transfer (a higher use of pronouns) in their L3 Chinese writing, and Korean students with high L2 English proficiency use more pronouns than Korean students with low L2 English proficiency in their Chinese writing, as compared to Chinese students.