Ulrike Jessner

• Doctor of Philosophy
• Professor (Associate) at University of Innsbruck

The present contribution proposes a low-threshold action plan for research into what we consider critical areas in multilingualism where we see an urgent need for more empirical studies and research-based classroom interventions and a stronger commitment to multilingual standards both in research and teaching. Reaching out to a wide audience of res...

Research on multiple language learning has shown that through the interaction of several language systems, high-level metacognitive features such as metalinguistic awareness (MeLA) are particularly pronounced. MeLA, as the ability to consciously reflect on language, has proven to be a catalyst for further language acquisition and language maintenan...

Multilingual approaches to teaching and learning are linked to significant benefits at the linguistic and metalinguistic levels in the European context. The study is based on the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism. Multilingualism research is considered to be a neglected area in the Hungarian context, however a handful of studies have appeared on thi...

Language portraits have been used by scholars to study the language awareness of multilingual people. In this study, we use the definitions of language awareness coined by (Jessner, 2008) as codes to analyse selected language portraits within a DMM and DLC approach. A total of 55 language portraits created by multilingual South African students wer...

Complex interactions in the multilingual mind: Assessing metalinguistic abilities and their effects on decoding a new language system in trilingual learners Birgit Spechtenhauser, Ulrike Jessner Abstract Originally, scholarly discussions of metalinguistic awareness (MeLA), as a distinct concept, primarily focused on monolinguals. However, increas...

The paper examines the effects of multilingual awareness-raising training on L3 writing performance. A set of writing samples retrieved from October to January 2020/21 from two groups of Hungarian students (N=29, respectively) with L2 English and L3 German was analysed. In the intervention group, special attention was paid to raising multilingual a...

In our increasingly multilingual modern world, understanding how languages beyond the first are acquired and processed at a brain level is essential to design evidence-based teaching, clinical interventions and language policy. Written by a team of world-leading experts in a wide range of disciplines within cognitive science, this Handbook provides...

Metacognition has been increasingly discussed as one of the main features of learning in the 21st century (see Haukås, Bjørke, & Dypedahl, 2018 ). In the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism Theory (DMM) ( Herdina & Jessner 2002 ), which applies Complexity and Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST) to multilingualism, it is argued that multilinguals develop inc...

Childhood multilingualism has become a norm rather than an exception. This is the first handbook to survey state-of-the-art research on the uniqueness of early multilingual development in children growing up with more than two languages in contact. It provides in-depth accounts of the complexity and dynamics of early multilingualism by internationa...

Childhood multilingualism has become a norm rather than an exception. This is the first handbook to survey state-of-the-art research on the uniqueness of early multilingual development in children growing up with more than two languages in contact. It provides in-depth accounts of the complexity and dynamics of early multilingualism by internationa...

Childhood multilingualism has become a norm rather than an exception. This is the first handbook to survey state-of-the-art research on the uniqueness of early multilingual development in children growing up with more than two languages in contact. It provides in-depth accounts of the complexity and dynamics of early multilingualism by internationa...

Childhood multilingualism has become a norm rather than an exception. This is the first handbook to survey state-of-the-art research on the uniqueness of early multilingual development in children growing up with more than two languages in contact. It provides in-depth accounts of the complexity and dynamics of early multilingualism by internationa...

The relationship between early multilingual learning and metalinguistic awareness is a particularly intriguing one. Not surprisingly, research into the effects of multilingualism on children’s linguistic development and awareness of language has attracted a lot of attention over the past years and decades as studies have found both positive effects...

Childhood multilingualism has become a norm rather than an exception. This is the first handbook to survey state-of-the-art research on the uniqueness of early multilingual development in children growing up with more than two languages in contact. It provides in-depth accounts of the complexity and dynamics of early multilingualism by internationa...

The Cambridge Handbook of Childhood Multilingualism provides a state-of-the art view of the intra- and interdisciplinarity in linguistics, psychology, sociology, and education through a kaleidoscope of languages, countries, scholars, and cultures. The volume provides: (1) understanding that for most children multilingualism is the linguistic realit...

Childhood multilingualism has become a norm rather than an exception. This is the first handbook to survey state-of-the-art research on the uniqueness of early multilingual development in children growing up with more than two languages in contact. It provides in-depth accounts of the complexity and dynamics of early multilingualism by internationa...

Childhood multilingualism has become a norm rather than an exception. This is the first handbook to survey state-of-the-art research on the uniqueness of early multilingual development in children growing up with more than two languages in contact. It provides in-depth accounts of the complexity and dynamics of early multilingualism by internationa...

Childhood multilingualism has become a norm rather than an exception. This is the first handbook to survey state-of-the-art research on the uniqueness of early multilingual development in children growing up with more than two languages in contact. It provides in-depth accounts of the complexity and dynamics of early multilingualism by internationa...

Cognitive Advantages of Multilingual Learning

The relation between multilingual learning and cognition through (linguistic) giftedness has not been studied yet in third language acquisition, multilingualism or cognition studies. Even though 'giftedness' appears to be enigmatic and advantageous in a number of areas, in the field of language learning it is not clear whether multilingual learning...

The dynamics and complexity of the multilingual system have attracted many linguists to study and explore this phenomenon. Some researchers concentrate on the linguistic system itself. Others believe that social and educational bonds are the driving forces in this process. The overall aim of this study is to contribute to our understanding of the r...

As a result of the multilingual turn in international (Second) Language Acquisition research, multi- and plurilingual approaches in language teaching have been widely discussed in applied linguistics. The present chapter first explores the theoretical background embedded in the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism (DMM) and defines some relevant concep...

In the vast body of research on language learning, there is still surprisingly little work on the attrition or retention of second/foreign languages, particularly in multilinguals, once learning and/or use of these languages ceases. The present study focuses on foreign language attrition and examines lexical diversity and (dis)fluency in the oral p...

Das Dynamische Modell der Mehrsprachigkeit (DMM) baut auf der dynamischen Systemtheorie bzw. Komplexitätstheorie auf, die ursprünglich von Naturwissenschafter/innen entwickelt wurde. Erst relativ spät wurde diese Bezeichnung von der Linguistik als Metapher für Sprachen und sprachliche Entwicklung übernommen (z. B. Larsen-Freeman 1997). Der Fokus de...

Research interest in multilingual development and multilingual awareness (MLA) has been growing over the last years, and MLA has been defined as a key component of multilingual learning and multiple language use. The first part of the article focuses on the development of MLA in learners as a subcomponent of metacognition and a key factor of emerge...

Over the past decades, the concept of multi-(lingual) competence¹ has been the focus of significant academic interest. Ever since Cook introduced the notion of multi-competence in the 1990s, the concept has attracted a lot of attention and has been discussed extensively at the theoretical level. At the practical level, however, multi-competence has...

Research on third language acquisition (TLA) has come a long way since the first International Conference on Third Language Acquisition and Multilingualism was held in 1999 at the University of Innsbruck (Austria). Not only has it contributed significantly to the field of second language acquisition, but it has established itself as a field on its...

This volume contributes to a better understanding of both psycho- and sociolinguistic levels of multilingualism and their interplay in development and use. The chapters stem from an international group of specialists in multilingualism with chapters from Austria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain and the United...

Over the last few years, multilingualism as a field of study has gained a great deal of interest and many linguists try to explore its effects and issues on human society and the individual. Not only do linguists discuss properties between language systems and language learning phenomena, they also examine languages out of social contexts and pract...

Research on third language acquisition and multilingualism found consistent evidence that metacognitive and metalinguistic awareness are crucial for the enhancement of different kinds of language learning strategies in multilinguals. In this article attention is directed to the difference in strategy deployment between participants with and without...

This article draws attention to language choice and language use of Austrian bi- and multilingual school children. We explore some implications of their linguistic practices with regard to social inclusion in an Austrian educational school setting. Pursuing a Dynamic Systems and Complexity Theory approach, we hypothesise that before language users...

Due to a significant increase in interest in the phenomenon of multilingualism, research on multilingualism and multilingual education has grown over the last two decades. Some influential developments in research on second language acquisition and bilingualism have begun to exert an impact on second language teaching and bi‐ and multilingual educa...

Interest in language awareness or knowledge about language has grown over the last 20 years, mainly stimulated by the language awareness movement in the UK. A literature survey reveals considerable discrepancies in definition and terminology (language awareness, metalinguistic awareness, linguistic awareness, etc.), and the reasons seem to be linke...

The present study looks into the effects of early multilingual education by investigating linguistic knowledge and metalinguistic awareness in young learners at the primary level. The study aims to establish whether children in multilingual education programmes perform higher on a measure of metalinguistic awareness and with regards to their L1 Ita...

Multilingual speakers, bilingual and more often multilingual, are diverse in many ways. They undergo different kinds of experiences in a variety of social spaces, in particular when undergoing changes in their linguistic environments. This article suggests a conceptual tool to examine the various contexts in which multilingual speakers emerge and r...

The aim of this article is to stress the importance of a dynamic systems or complexity theory approach as a necessary prerequisite to understanding the development of multi-competence in multilingual learners. Selected results from a study on emergent multilingual awareness in children, carried out in South Tyrol, are outlined and discussed. The cl...

Due to a significant increase in interest in the phenomenon of multilingualism, research on multilingualism and multilingual education has grown over the last two decades. Some influential developments in research on second language acquisition and bilingualism have begun to exert an impact on second language teaching and bi- and multilingual educa...

Interest in the phenomenon of multilingualism has considerably grown over the last few decades. Since the discovery of cognitive advantages of bilingual children over their monolingual peers in the 1960s positive attitudes have been developed toward the phenomenon, mainly in Applied Linguistics. The field of multilingualism has been studied from bo...

Abstract Understanding multilingualism has always been a challenge. The reasons are several. Firstly, manifestations of multilingualism at first sight are similar to those of bilingualism, so that often the impression is that it is “just learning an additional language.” Secondly, researchers admit it is much too complicated to study compared to bi...

Interest in language awareness or knowledge about language has grown over the last 20 years, mainly stimulated by the language awareness movement in the UK. A literature survey reveals considerable discrepancies in definition and terminology (language awareness, metalinguistic awareness, linguistic awareness, etc.), and the reasons seem to be linke...

Research methodology is determined by theoretical approaches. This article discusses methods of multilingualism research in connection with theoretical developments in linguistics, psycholinguistics, sociolinguistics, and education. Taking a brief glance at the past, the article starts with a discussion of an issue underlying the choice of research...

Since interest in research on multilingualism has steadily increased over the last 15 years metalinguistic awareness has been identified as one of the key factors of language learning, in particular in third language learning. Metalinguistic awareness has been studied in disciplines such as language pedagogy, developmental psychology and linguistic...

Although multilingualism is not a new phenomenon in human society, it seems that in the age of globalization there is a growing interest in research into the phenomenon of multilingualism. Research curiosity in multilingualism both as an individual (in the European academic discourse often referred to as “plurilingualism”) and as a social phenomeno...

Although multilingualism (or plurilingualism, to use a more Eurocentric term to describe the individual level) is by no means a new phenomenon, this field has only recently begun attracting a growing number of researchers. In a number of publications authors have referred to multilingual development as both a dynamic and a complex process. Today sc...

In 1962 Elizabeth Peal and Wallace Lambert published an article on the cognitive advantages of bilingual children in the Montreal area (Peal & Lambert, 1962). Keywords: bilingualism; language teaching; multilingualism; third language learning

This chapter focuses on a writing assessment project carried out in South Tyrol, Italy. The final exams (written compositions) of 8th grade students written in Italian L1 (n=41), German L2 (n=41) and English L3 (n=50) were analyzed to examine the interaction between all the languages known by participants and how such interactions may influence wri...

This book discusses cognitive and psycholinguistic aspects of third language acquisition and trilingualism, and explores the key role of linguistic awareness in multilingual proficiency and language learning. in view of the widespread acquisition of English by those who are already bilingual or are also acquiring a regional lingua franca this study...

The last decade has witnessed a rapid increase in interest in multilingualism. Whereas a number of scholars in language acquisition research still base their work on the monolingual native speaker norm, others have developed more realistic viewpoints. This article provides an overview of international research on third language learning and teachin...

This paper suggests that a dynamic systems theory (DST) provides an adequate conceptual metaphor for discussing multilingual development. Multilingual acquisition is a nonlinear and complex dynamic process depending on a number of interacting factors. Variability plays a crucial role in the multilingual system as it changes over time (Herdina & Jes...

This chapter is intended to offer new perspectives on the characteristic features of transfer phenomena occurring when three languages are in contact. Cross-linguistic influence in multilinguals — in contrast to second language learners — has turned out to be characterised by certain features as recent research on speech production in third languag...

Multilingualism both as an individual and social phenomenon is very common in the world considering that there are approximately 5,000 languages and speakers of different languages which have contact with each other in everyday life. Some specific historical, social, economic and political factors have contributed to the development of multilingual...

In many countries in the world, English is identified as a foreign language with no official status but is increasingly used as the language of wider communication. In a number of these countries it is common that English is learned as a third language. Recent psycholinguistic research on third language acquisition and trilingualism has made clear...

A study of linguistic awareness in multilinguals.

This chapter discusses the sociolinguistic aspects of multilingualism, which are seen to develop in parallel with the changing status of English. The focus on ‘multilingualism with English’ moves from a global to a European-centred perspective, where the status and characteristics of English as a third language, which in many cases is linked to its...

This chapter discusses the psycholinguistic aspects of the acquisition and use of a third language. It focuses on the development of research on multilingualism, in particular on current approaches taken in studies that have concentrated on the detection of differences between second and third language acquisition (SLA and TLA). The main areas of r...

This chapter provides a state-of-the-art description of research on metalinguistic awareness including the presentation of the functions and roles that metalinguistic awareness in multilingual speech and learning can fulfil. It starts with a look at the sometimes confusing variety of related terms used in the study of metalinguistic awareness and l...

This chapter provides evidence of linguistic awareness as an essential component of multilingual proficiency. It begins with a review of some international studies on the multilingual lexicon, which is presented as an introduction to the Tyrol study on the use of English as a third language. After providing the theoretical and methodological backgr...

This chapter presents various applications of linguistic awareness research to multilingual education. It suggests that one of the main goals in future language teaching should be to foster linguistic awareness, one of the key factors of multilingual proficiency, in the classroom. How synergies and new qualities in language learning can be created...

This chapter presents some suggestions for future research perspectives. The interplay between declarative and procedural knowledge, the boundaries between implicit and explicit knowledge, and also the fundamental discussions of such classifications, will, among other issues, be of interest to multilingualism research. The application of research r...

This book discusses cognitive and psycholinguistic aspects of third language acquisition and trilingualism, and explores the key role of linguistic awareness in multilingual proficiency and language learning. In view of the widespread acquisition of English by those who are already bilingual or are also acquiring a regional lingua franca, this stud...

The increase of multilingualism in both natural and formal contexts has provoked a number of studies which have concentrated on providing evidence of multilingual processing and finding out about the differences and similarities between second and third language learning. This paper deals with the use of metalanguage in multilingual students in an...