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FINNUT-Forskning og innovasjon i utdanningssektoren

Cross-linguistic influence in multilingual acquisition

Alternative title: Tverrspråklig påvirkning i flerspråklig tilegnelse

Awarded: NOK 11.6 mill.

Multilingualism is extremely common, and it is the European Commission's objective that all Europeans should be able to speak two languages in addition to their mother tongue. Having learned English in addition to one's mother tongue is commonplace, but proficiency in additional languages is useful, and often absolutely necessary. CLIMA investigates how a third language is learned after a mother tongue and English as a second language. Using experimental methods, we test both native speakers of Norwegian learning German, French or Spanish as a foreign language, and native speakers of German, French or Spanish learning Norwegian. All our participants speak English as a second language. We focus on word order, more specifically on placement of the verb in the sentence, which varies systematically in the languages included in the study. Three issues are central to CLIMA. First, we examine how grammatical similarities and / or differences between languages affect learning. Furthermore, CLIMA examines how different test methods reflect different nuances of the learners' underlying grammatical competence, such as differences in production and comprehension of the language. Finally, we have a specific focus on how individual background factors affect the third language learning process. Such factors may be proficiency in and experience with English as a second language, and metalinguistic knowledge in the first and second language. Thus, our results have implications for the role of grammar teaching in mother tongue and English classes in schools as a means to support the learning of foreign languages.

Acquiring multiple languages is extremely common. CLIMA addresses resesarch gaps in multilingualism concerning the role of cross-linguistic influence (CLI) and learner-internal factors in third language acquisition (L3A). An ongoing debate concerns the question of how previously learned languages affect acquisition of the grammar of an L3, and of the source and nature of CLI on morphosyntactic structures in L3A. We investigate L3A of word order, specifically placement of finite verbs, which is central to language competence. Verb placement has been studied previously in L3A research, but different studies have found contradictory evidence with respect to CLI over the course of acquisition. Our participants have different combinations of three out of five languages (Norwegian, English, German, French, and Spanish) which differ systematically with regard to verb placement. We investigate the influence of these linguistic differences, as well as of learner-internal factors. We furthermore ask whether the previous inconclusive results may in part be due to methodological differences. Thus, CLIMA is unique in three ways: 1) It is a large-scale study of participants for whom the combinations of first, second, and third language differ systematically, and whose languages are combined in one project for the first time. 2) It has a stronger focus on the properties of prior language knowledge than previous studies, both in terms of second-language proficiency and use, and of metalinguistic knowledge. 3) It has a particular focus on methodology and triangulates experimental methods to avoid an unwanted association between methods and outcomes. CLIMA has implications for our understanding of the human language learning capacity in general and of multilingualism in particular, as well as for additional language learning and teaching.

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FINNUT-Forskning og innovasjon i utdanningssektoren