The Future of Education

This study investigates cross-linguistic influence in the early acquisition of German as a third language (L3) among Chinese learners with English as their second language (L2). Moving beyond a deficit-oriented view of "interference", the research examines transfer as a dynamic element of multilingual development. Through a classroom intervention, an experimental group receiving explicit L3 strategy instruction was compared to a control group following traditional L2-oriented methods. Quantitative data were collected through various production and comprehension tasks, complemented by qualitative error analysis to track changes in learning behavior. Results reveal that while the experimental group initially exhibited higher frequencies of cross-linguistic interference, these errors functioned as strategic transitional phenomena linked to hypothesis testing and lexical expansion. Over time, these learners demonstrated more selective and effective use of their linguistic resources. These findings challenge strictly norm-oriented error treatment in L3 pedagogy and advocate for instructional practices that encourage learners to actively manage their multilingual repertoires, supporting more sustainable learning in German instruction after English.