Dear Karin,
I have not had a chance to read all of the helpful replies to you, but
am sure you have received key information just perusing the names of
respondents.
There is certainly a whole body of literature on the role of L1 in L2
development and their interactions.
I might just put forward one notion, assuming some of the other issues
have been covered by others.
That is that certain situated knowledge often continue to be associated
with the language in which that situated knowledge was
acquired/experienced and can be culturally specific.
For instance, young children with Spanish as their L1 and English as L2
when asked in English to name the foods they know, might say:
hot dogs
hamburgers
Coke
etc.
If you assume this is the universe of their knowledge about foods you
would likely be wrong. In asking the same question in Spanish they are
likely to say:
Tortillas
Frijoles
Tamales
etc.
The idea of "resorting to L1" may not be as accurate as thinking that
someone who has a large pool of language resources in L1 and L2 and will
access concepts and knowledge using whichever language resources are
readily and richly associated with the relevant experiences and concept
formations. Just a thought.
In Peace,
K.
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