Java as a second language: Thoughts on a linguistically informed transition to typing languages

As use of blocks-based languages as an introduction to programming has become popular, a need has become increasingly apparent for research in how to facilitate the transition from these environments to industry-standard languages. Mediated transfer strategies have been used that are not subject specific; parallels between learning a second human language and a second programming language may provide a more specific framework from which to facilitate the shift. In particular, the noticing hypothesis suggests merit in deliberately pointing out differences between the two, and an experiment is suggested to test how best to implement this idea.