Correct Response: C. Language learners typically draw upon, or transfer, linguistic features from the first language when learning to communicate in a second language. Positive language transfer occurs when features of the two languages correspond and thus facilitate successful communication and language learning in the second language. However, if the second language includes features that do not exist at all in the first language, as is the case in C, the language learner is faced with the challenge of learning an element of the second language entirely from scratch. This is particularly difficult when the new elements are sounds or sound combinations. Research suggests that babies learn the sounds of the language(s) to which they are exposed at a very young age and stop paying attention to the sounds of other languages that do not exist in the home language(s) as early as ten months old. This poses a significant challenge to a person learning a new language beyond early childhood. If the new language contains new sounds, the person's brain literally cannot perceive them until the new sounds are "mapped" through conscious effort and multiple exposures, a process that can take years. Only after a new sound is mapped in the brain can the language learner begin to learn to pronounce it. Thus, learning completely new sounds or sound combinations poses a more significant challenge to a language learner than the need to adjust preexisting knowledge when applying it to a new context. A, B, and D all describe situations in which some level of positive language transfer can take place with some adjustments.
