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Lecture 3: The Psycholinguistics of Multiple Language Learning and Teaching
... In other words, the concept of CLIN encompasses various synergy as well as interferential effects on the development of the language systems of multilinguals, which are reflected in the development of learner's specific metacognitive abilities (Jessner 2006;Hofer and Jessner 2019). It is thought that the quantitative growth of CLIN in multilinguals improves the process of TLA (De Angelis and Jessner 2012; Hufeisen and Jessner 2018). ...
... In this paper, we will refer to these strategies as learner strategies in the process of MLA that rely on cross-linguistic similarities and transfer between languages (Dimitrenko 2017). Accordingly, these strategies include comparison and transfer between languages as well as the establishment of interlingual connections (Hufeisen 2010; see also Hufeisen and Jessner 2018) in both language reception and language production. The basis for developing and fostering the aforementioned strategies is the reflection and verbalisation of their use in the language learning process (Neuner 2004). ...
... They use previously acquired knowledge in other languages when decoding meaning of a less known or unknown language (Hofer and Jessner 2019;Woll 2018), and they are able of expressing their metalinguistic and cross-linguistic reflections to some extent (Hofer and Jessner 2019;Troha et al. 2020). Metalinguistic and cross-linguistic awareness are also closely related to learner strategies, as multilinguals use different strategic processing than monoor bilinguals when encountering an unknown language (Hufeisen and Jessner 2018). ...
Founded on psycholinguistic insights into the interaction between the language systems of multilinguals and the key role that language learning awareness carries in the development of L3 students’ multilingual systems, the paper deals with the use of learner strategies and the perception of cross-linguistic interaction. The results of the empirical research carried out on an extensive sample of primary school students whose L1 is Croatian, while L2 and L3 are English or German, show that primary school L3 learners apply both examined components of language learning awareness in learning and using languages. However, the findings also suggest that their multilingual potential is neither used nor developed sufficiently in primary school language teaching.
... As language teaching in schools explicitly aims at the formation of individual plurilingual profiles, it is particularly suited to address not only the target language, but all language competences related to previous language learning, plurilingual socialisation and students' identities (Schmelter, Göbel, and Buret 2023;Ushioda 2017). Didactic reflections on foreign language teaching, such as the Whole School Language Curriculum (Hufeisen and Jessner 2018), require a greater recognition of societal multilingualism and individual plurilingualism as they bring together different levels of language learning (Cenoz and Gorter 2021). Systematically integrating all students' linguistic experiences may enhance their openness to linguistic diversity, making it a potential means to address intercultural learning in language teaching (Beacco et al. 2016;Göbel, Lewandowska, and Diehr 2017). ...
... These approaches are based on the assumption that language learning can be supported by inter -and intralingual comparisons of lexical, morphological and syntactic structures. The ability to apply comprehensive strategies from previously learned languages to the learning of a new language needs to be explicitly taught (Hufeisen and Jessner 2018). Intercomprehensive teaching concepts mostly address languages taught in school, while the languages that students speak at home are rarely considered (Martinez 2015), nevertheless, these languages and students learning experiences are a resource in language teaching to accelerate learning and to foster language learning motivation by experiences of self-efficacy (Meißner 2010). ...
Recognizing and appreciating linguistic diversity and different cultural identities is an important educational goal for the development of our societies (Council of Europe, 2007, 2020). This paper presents the results of a quasi-experimental pre-post control-group study on the implementation of multilingual teaching activities in teaching French as a second foreign language at secondary grammar schools in Germany (in total n = 221 students, a convenience sample of 20 7th grade classes). Results of analysis of questionnaires and interviews with students show a positive appreciation of multilingual teaching activities, especially among students with migration background who have been raised plurilingually, and an increase in the appreciation of multilingual teaching activities among students who have been raised monolingually in the lingua franca German. Furthermore, the results indicate that the intervention was relevant to students’ intercultural learning in terms of fostering their appreciation of multilingual teaching activities, even though the teaching materials prepared for the study were not implemented consistently in all participating classes.
... Languages do not live separated, hermetically sealed, and enumerated, lives. 4. Expanding language learning strategies (see also Hufeisen & Jessner, 2019 for further discussion of the above key aspects). ...
... Examples of diary entries are given here, then, divided into the following themes: cross-linguistic awareness, building on prior knowledge, perceiving languages in use and language learning strategies (Hufeisen & Jessner, 2019). Numbers were assigned to particular respondents simply as an aid to organisation and do not carry additional information about respondents. ...
This paper presents the results of an ethnographic, longitudinal research project
with P6 and P7 pupils in a Scottish primary school. The research aimed to explore
manifestations of Language Awareness in primary school pupils who were learning
French: 53 pupil participants took part. They were engaged in writing a diary after
each of their French lessons during an academic year. In these diaries, they were
asked to verbalise their thoughts on language, and their learning experiences after
each language input. The research showed that pupils consciously demonstrated
Language Awareness, expressing detailed reflections on language analysis, and that
they compared French with English, demonstrating multilingual behaviour. This recorded coexistence of first and second languages in the diaries, allowed students to
use their own available resources ‘cross linguistically’ in their efforts to be more efficient in language learning (Cenoz & Gorter, 2015). Implementation of diaries simply
as a tactic for retrospection in the process of foreign language learning has shown
that the reinforcement of language learning (Gabrys-Barker, 2019), in a diary narrative, offers a more individualised understanding of language teaching and learning
procedures. This paper concludes with some recommendations promoting the improvement of both teaching materials, and teaching methods, in the primary school
language classroom.
... Although the multilingual paradigm has gained recognition in academic publications (e.g. Aronin & Singleton, 2008Auer & Li, 2008;Bhatia & Ritchie, 2014;Edwards, 2012;Singleton et al., 2013), the actual dealings with multilingual situations and genuinely multilingual research remain a challenge (Derivry-Plard, 2018;Hufeisen & Jessner, 2019;Jessner, 2008a). One of the recurrent grievances is that studies of multilingual learners and users are in some cases carried out as if the participants are bilingual. ...
... [m]ultilingual proficiency (MP) is defined as the dynamic interaction between the various psycholinguistic systems (LS1, LS2, LS3, LSn), cross-linguistic interaction (CLIN) and the M(ultilingualism)-factor or M-effect, as shown in the following formula: LS1, LS2, LS3, LSn + CLIN + M-factor = MP (Jessner, 2008b, p. 26) We will not describe the models in detail here since they have been discussed extensively in multilingualism literature (see, e.g. Hufeisen, 2010Hufeisen, , 2018aHufeisen & Jessner, 2019), but what is important for our argument here is their representational form. Notably, the existing models of multilingualism are mental explanatory models that represent the complex processes of multiple language acquisition and use in a mostly verbal form. ...
In today’s globalised world, a single named language such as English, Norwegian or Spanish, no matter how ‘big’ it is, rarely satisfies all the needs of communication, cooperation, education or any other area of human life. Neither is the entire language repertoire plausible for everyday use, simply because it is impossible to use too many languages daily. Instead, people normally use a certain group of their vehicle languages, which is known as their Dominant Language Constellation (DLC). The DLC approach enables holistic and simultaneously true-to-life factual research of today's language practices. Multilinguals' individual and group DLCs are progressively studied qualitatively and quantitatively. In addition, visualisation methods, including DLC-maps and playdough models, are employed. However, no computer-assisted tool for the visualisation and analysis of DLCs has been suggested. In this article, we briefly refer to models of multilingualism, present the advantages and methods of DLC modelling and describe a pilot study with computer-assisted DLC modelling that enables design and analysis of individual and group DLCs for researchers and practitioners. Our aim is to define a generic computer-produced model that represents language practices and may include the state of an individual's multilingual knowledge and skills.
... Ullman 2016), it is highly plausible that it is fostered by the learning of foreign languages. As Hufeisen and Jessner (2019) pointed out, this particularly holds for strategy building. ...
... We assume that bilingual and multilingual speakers have a dynamic multilingual system that enables them to acquire and develop skills, abilities, and proficiencies in ways in which a monolingual learner cannot(Herdina and Jessner 2002;Hufeisen and Jessner 2019). These skills encompass abilities related to language and its typology as well as sociocognitive skills used in language learning, management, and maintenance. ...
This paper investigates how language awareness influences the writing abilities of bilingual heritage language speakers. The study includes 175 bilingual 9th and 10th graders with Italian, Greek, or Turkish as their L1 and German as an early L2. The analysis is based on a corpus of narrative and argumentative texts in L1 and L2 and a language awareness test to explore semantic, pragmatic, and textual knowledge that was administered in both languages. We found that the students’ writing abilities in both languages were highly interdependent and there was a significant correlation between achieving high scores in the heritage language test and achieving equally high (or even higher) scores in the L2 test. The results further point to a significant correlation between metalinguistic awareness and writing abilities. However, there was a higher correlation between metalinguistic awareness and text level scores in the heritage language, which shows that writing abilities in this language are more dependent on metalinguistic awareness than in the language of schooling. Moreover, differences were found between the respective language groups and different school types. Based on these results, it is argued that the fostering of language awareness ought to be implemented more intensively in the language classroom.
... The Dynamic Model of Multilingualism or DMM (Herdina & Jessner, 2002) applies the dynamic systems complexity theory (hereafter DSCT) to provide a holistic and dynamic view of multilingualism and to identify synergistic developments across the languages of multilinguals (Clyne, 2003). According to DSCT, the multilingual system is a dynamic, adaptive, nonlinear, and complex system that fluctuates over time due to the perceived communicative needs of a multilingual speaker (Hufeisen & Jessner, 2019). It has the ability to adapt to temporary changes in the systems' environment and the ability to develop new system properties in response to altered conditions (Herdina & Jessner, 2002). ...
The present study investigates whether greater metalinguistic awareness in multilingual Hungarian L1 speakers enrolled in a French bilingual programme is related to an increased ability to decode an unfamiliar language. Language proficiency is also examined as a factor contributing to the comprehension of the text passages in the new language. 134 Hungarian high school students having learnt English as L2 and French as L3 were administered a Language Experience and Proficiency Questionnaire, French and English proficiency tests, a reading comprehension test in Italian, which is an unknown language to them, and a retrospective questionnaire investigating the process of decoding the novel language. The results showed a significant relationship between metalinguistic skills and the ability to decode an unknown language. The role of language proficiency and contextual cues in the comprehension of written Italian was also demonstrated. In addition, the findings revealed that awareness of the linguistic distance between languages has influenced the participants' choice of the source language for crosslinguistic consultations.
... Research studies have also related multilingualism to metalinguistic awareness, that is, the ability to reflect on language and look at it objectively, focusing on its structure and functions. Metalinguistic awareness has been associated with the specific advantages in the acquisition of a third language by bilingual speakers who have developed a higher level of explicit and implicit knowledge about the way languages work (Cenoz, 2013;Hufeisen & Jessner, 2019). The development of metalinguistic awareness may need to be activated through instruction so that students use their multilingual resources to a greater extent (Cenoz & Gorter, 2021). ...
Multilingualism has a long tradition but has gained visibility in the past years. Its scope is very broad and related to several disciplines and research approaches including linguistics, sociolinguistics, neurolinguistics, anthropology, or education, among others. Some studies focus on the individual ability to use several languages, and others look at the languages used in society. Nowadays, the focus is on multilingual speakers because of their specific characteristic which make them different from the sum of several monolingual speakers. The study of multilingualism is increasingly looking at the way multilingual speakers communicate and use their resources to learn additional languages. Multilingual speakers use resources from their whole repertoire when they translanguage. This entry looks at the definition and scope of multilingualism and offers an overview of the recent trends in the study of multilingualism.
... We take the view that pupils' multilingual and cross-cultural expertise need to be acknowledged and commended in all formal educational contexts so that their rich multilingual and multicultural knowledge base can be capitalized on for further learning (whether that be language or subject learning). It is to be hoped that the wider application of the new test procedure will draw increased attention and stimulate a long-overdue fundamental debate on the importance and on the benefits of fostering multilingual skills at all levels of schooling (see also Hufeisen and Jessner, 2018). ...
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 not been investigated much, if at all. In fact, there is a very distinct lack of empirical research, especially into what constitutes multi-(lingual) competence in young learners and into assessment of multi-(lingual) competencies in these learners. With this paper we hope to contribute to reducing the gap between the wealth of scholarly debates and theorizations on the one hand and the concomitant dearth of practical applications on the other. The paper discusses multi-(lingual) competences in young learners at the primary level and proposes a special assessment tool, which allows for components of young learners’ multi-(lingual) competence to be measured in a systematic way. Potential advantages of instantiating multilingual pedagogies and multilingual benchmarks for assessment are examined and suggestions for holistic testing paradigms are provided. In developing our arguments in favour of a multi-competence approach to learning and performance evaluation, we adopt a holistic DMM (Dynamic Model of Multilingualism)-informed perspective.
Mounting evidence suggests that prior knowledge of multiple languages can enhance learning additional languages. Nevertheless, the effects of multilingualism on grammar learning among adults are yet to be unveiled. The present study investigates the effect of prior foreign language knowledge on the acquisition of pronominal gender agreement in a new language. Forty-three native speakers of Polish learning Swedish with and without prior knowledge of German completed a speeded acceptability judgment task that involved items with grammatical and ungrammatical pronominal gender agreement in Swedish. According to the results, learners who had learnt German achieved higher accuracy scores than learners who had not. The difference between them decreased with increasing Swedish proficiency. In addition, only learners who had learnt German judged ungrammatical items faster than grammatical items. Thus, the present study demonstrates that prior foreign language knowledge accelerates learning grammatical gender agreement and facilitates access to grammatical gender knowledge in a new language, thereby providing evidence for a multilingual advantage in learning grammar. Implications for language teaching in multilingual contexts are discussed.
The multilingual turn in applied linguistics has produced a number of models that approach multilingualism from a variety of disciplinary and theoretical perspectives. However, fully developed models of multilingualism that focus on the language practices of individuals and groups are still lacking. This paper contributes to address this gap by introducing visual models that represent the contexts of practice and attitudes to the languages in the repertoire of lower secondary pupils in Norway. The paper starts by introducing the rich linguistic scenario in Norway and the role of language learning in developing students’ multilingual abilities. After a brief discussion on the role of practice in language learning, we provide an outline of current models of multilingualism, situating our visual models, the Ungspråk Practice-Based Models of Multilingualism (UPMM), in the field. The paper then focuses on the properties of the UPMM, which represent data collected from an online questionnaire answered by 593 students in lower secondary school and allow for the exploration of data both from the perspective of the whole group of participants and from an individual perspective. Particular attention is paid to the interactive features of the models, which can be used by teachers and educators as pedagogical tools for exploring multilingualism and language learning. The paper concludes with a discussion of the contexts of practice for the languages in the participants’ repertoires based on the visual models.
Third language acquisition in educational contexts is nowadays expanding in monolingual and multilingual contexts. One reason is the mobility of the population that results in an increasing number of home languages that are different from the school languages. Another reason is the spread of the teaching of English as a third language in multilingual school contexts where two other languages are also taught. Third language acquisition is a complex phenomenon that shares many characteristics with second language acquisition but also has some specific differences related to the effect of bilingualism on third language acquisition, multilingual learners’ repertoires and the specific role of metalinguistic awareness in language learning. The aim of this paper is threefold: 1) to look at the potential advantages of bilingualism on L3 considering the great diversity of situations in which an L3 is learned in school contexts; 2) to look at the similarities and differences between second and third language acquisition and 3) to discuss how pedagogical translanguaging can enhance bilingual resources so that L3 learners can develop an optimal use of their resources.
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 internationally renowned scholars who have researched typologically different languages in different continents. Chapters are divided into six thematic areas, following the trajectory, environment and conditions underlying the incipient and early stages of multilingual children's language development. The many facets of childhood multilingualism are approached from a range of perspectives, showcasing not only the challenges of multilingual education and child-rearing but also the richness in linguistic and cognitive development of these children from infancy to early schooling. It is essential reading for anyone interested in deepening their understanding of the multiple aspects of multilingualism, seen through the unique prism of children.
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 of multilingualism on the development of metalinguistic awareness, and also facilitative effects of metalinguistic awareness on language learning. In the recent literature, metalinguistic awareness has been linked to important qualitative changes in the language and learning processes of multilinguals.
This article looks at how bilingual students harness previous language experience when learning a new language. Research generally affirms that higher second language proficiency is linked to higher levels of proficiency in subsequent language learning and greater use of previously acquired language skills. In the Irish context, however, the varied nature of acquiring/learning languages and perceptions of linguistic distance potentially hinder students in mobilizing their experience with English and Irish when learning foreign languages at school. The study presented here examines how bilingual language experience can be harnessed through analysis of quantitative and qualitative data from English-medium and Irish-medium secondary school students in Ireland, focusing on how they identify and deploy elements of this experience when learning French via the elaboration of strategies and use of metalinguistic awareness. Beyond measures of proficiency, findings show the need for pedagogical tools that allow students to fully exploit their previous language experience.
In a globalized world, teaching English to speakers of other languages is indivisible from multilingualism. Due to the transformation of language practices, the linguistic “unit of circulation” is neither a single language, nor the entire linguistic repertoire. Instead, sets of languages perform the essential functions of communication, cognition and identity for individuals, institutions and communities. This chapter describes the concept of Dominant Language Constellation (DLC), a group of vehicle languages, enabling individuals and institutions to meet all their needs in a multilingual environment. DLC includes only the most expedient languages for a person or a group. It is an active fraction of one's linguistic repertoire and normally (but not always) consists of three languages, e.g., Spanish/Catalan/English. The DLC perspective reflects current multilingual practices and deals with multiple language acquisition and the administrative and language policy-related issues in multilingual education. The absence of an arbitrarily inbuilt hierarchy from “big” to “small” or “better” or “worse” in a DLC makes the approach useful for multilingual countries with an especially challenging choice of languages for education. The non-hierarchical structure of a DLC, where languages are unordered from social and cultural points of view, does not mean that each language has an equal role, time of use or proficiency; rather, different languages play different roles and have various “weights.” The DLC concept allows teachers and researchers to take into account the impact of multilingualism on education and organize the target language teaching accordingly. This chapter describes how to accomplish a multilingual paradigm in teaching English.
The concept of Dominant Language Constellations (DLC) is complementary to the notion of language repertoire. It denotes the set of a person’s most expedient languages, functioning as an entire unit and enabling an individual to meet all their needs in a multilingual environment. While a language repertoire refers to the totality of linguistic skills in all the languages possessed by an individual or by a community and may include several languages, a Dominant Language Constellation captures only a subset of them (typically but not always three languages) that are deemed to be of prime importance. Contemporary education necessarily involves constellations of languages organised in context-dependent patterns. This chapter discusses how investigating patterns of Dominant Language Constellations can help alleviate the well-known difficulty of the vast amounts of factors to be reckoned with in multilingual education. The patterns of Dominant Language Constellations easily lend themselves to various kinds of visualiations that enhance scholarly analysis and facilitate multilingual educational practices. The aims of this chapter are (1) to draw attention to and call for the study of various DLC patterns involved in education in multilingual settings and (2) to describe visualisations of Dominant Language Constellations and their potential for research on language learning and teaching, multilingual education, and identity.
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 des systemtheoretischen Ansatzes liegt auf der Dynamik von Veränderungen.
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