Transfer

**Transfer**
Transfer in the context of learning means the transmission of skills/knowledge acquired in one environment (often within formal schooling) to another environment (different contexts/topics/school subjects, workplace). The transfer theory of learning was developed by Perkins and Salomon (1992), and differentiates between near transfer (where learned skills/knowledge need to be transferred to very similar situations/contexts) and far transfer (where the context of learning is very different from the context of application). Because contexts are highly dissimilar between most educational settings and the workplace, the far transfer between these two situations is much less likely to occur (Brent, 2011). However, according to Perkins and Salomon (1992), there are two ways in which transfer happens. Low-road transfer is a way in which automatized skills and routines are triggered (such as driving); while high road transfer is cognitive process that involves a deliberate effort of looking for connections through making abstractions. Making the steps of high road transfer conscious while understanding the role of internalized dispositions in the process(Perkins et al., 1993) will transform these steps so that they become part of a habitus (Bordieu, 1977). This way both the conscious and the less conscious elements of transfer enable it in the form of high road transfer, which is also used in producing theories.

The concept of transfer can also be related to language learning: a speaker transfers features from one language into another language. Discussions of transfer in this way are typically negative in that transfer is done inappropriately and results in errors or mistakes. For example, if I say //je suis faim// instead of //j'ai faim//, I am inappropriately transferring the English structure into the French. In addition to [|transfer of word choices and grammatical structures], transfer can also apply to other composing choices, for example in terms of arrangement, and thus relates to cross-cultural or intercultural rhetoric (Kaplan, 1966; Connor 1996). However, Canagarajah (2010) cautions teachers to not attribute transfer as the cause of all perceived differences in multilingual writers' texts, noting that what may appear to be something inappropriately transfered from another language may actually involve writers' agency in terms of working with different genres for a particular audience.

**Connected concepts:**

 * Translate:** The adjustment and appropriation of knowledge and skills for new contexts. While certain skills (such as writing skills) learned in school may not directly be transferred to the workplace, some scholars claim that they will eventually be translated (appropriated) to that context (Artemeva et al., 1999).


 * Transport:** The mechanical moving of knowledge and skills from one domain to the other; this does not imply any change of the knowledge in the process (Smart & Brown, 2002).


 * Transform:** The conscious reappropriation of strategies to a new domain. These strategies are arrived at by generalizing previous knowledge. Knowledge and skills have to be relearned in the new context, but this relearning is done without much difficulty since it is done within the framework of an internalized heuristic (Smart & Brown, 2002).


 * References**:

Artemeva, N., Logie, S., & St-Martin, J. (1999). From page to stage: How theories of genre and situated learning help introduce engineering students to discipline-specific communication. //Technical Communication Quarterly, 8,// 301-316.

Bourdieu, P. (1977). //Outline of a theory of practice// (R. Nice, Trans.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Brent, D. (2011). Transfer, transformation, and rhetorical knowledge: Insights from transfer theory. Forthcoming in the //Journal of Business and Technical Writing.//

Canagarajah, A. S. (2010). A rhetoric of shuttling between languages." . In B. Horner, M-Z. Lu, and P. K. Matsuda (eds.) //Cross-Language Relations in Composition// (pp. 158-179). Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.

Connor, U. (1996). //Contrastive rhetoric: Cross-cultural aspects of second-language writing//. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.

Kaplan, R. (1966). Cultural thought patterns in intercultural education. //Language Learning// 16(1): 1-20.

Perkins, D., Jay, E., Tishman, S. (1993). Beyond abilities: A dispositional theory of thinking. //Merrill-Palmer Quarterly////, 39(1),//1-21.

Perkins, D., Salomon, G. (1992). Contribution to the //International Encyclopedia of Education, Second Edition.// Oxford, England: Pergamon Press. Retrieved July 15, 2011 from []

Smart, G., & Brown, N. (2002). Learning transfer or transforming learning? Student interns reinventing expert writing practices in the workplace. //Technostyle, 18,// 117-141.