ABSTRACT
It has always been assumed that, in an L2 learning situation, learners rely exten - sively on their native language. Lado, in his early and influential book Linguistics Across Cultures (1957), stated this clearly:
individuals tend to transfer the forms and meanings, and the distribution of forms and meanings of their native language and culture to the foreign language and culture-both productively when attempting to speak the language and to act in the culture, and receptively when attempting to grasp and understand the language and the culture as practiced by natives.
