The cross-linguistic ability to classify content words in L1 Spanish and FL English of undergraduates at Universidad Católica Argentina

Abstract

This case study investigated the cross-linguistic ability to classify content words or nouns,
verbs, adjectives and adverbs of undergraduates whose L1 is Spanish and are attending an A1
English course at university level. It was a transversal, descriptive and correlational research
study. The descriptive objectives were to determine the level of effectiveness in the classification of content words in L1 and in FL. The correlational objective determined the relationship between the participants’ performance level in the classification between their L1 Spanish and their FL English. Data were collected through two A1 level texts, one in Spanish and the other in English. Each component of the instrument asked students to classify 40 underlined content words into their category. Results confirmed that there is a transfer between the ability to group content words in the L1 and in the FL, the higher the effectiveness in Spanish, the higher in English.