indefinite frequency adverbs

This study aims to identify the role of transfer in the L3 acquisition of indefinite frequency adverbs, be it L1, L2 or both; and to find out whether CLI occurs on a feature-by-feature basis or as a wholesale phenomenon. Also, this study intends to investigate the influence of the learners' L2 proficiency on the L3 acquisition of indefinite frequency adverbs; and to examine the effect of different task modalities on the facilitative/detrimental role of background languages in the transfer of indefinite frequency adverbs in the early stages of German learning. To this end, we studied 30 Persian-speaking L3 learners with previous L2 knowledge of English. We collected data from a grammaticality judgement task to account for learners' receptive knowledge and an element rearrangement task to measure learners' production. The data were analyzed using multivariate tests and paired samples t-tests, which allowed us to estimate the effects of background languages, learners' L2 proficiency, and task type on the acquisition of indefinite frequency adverbs in L3. The results contradicted the wholesale CLI and supported the hybrid transfer models of CEM and LPM, which claim that transfer occurs property by property. The results also refuted the role of micro-variables, including learners' L2 proficiency and task type.