Individual and Subjective Learner Evaluations of Multilingualism. Brief Report of a Study

A study was conducted among multilingual Canadian students (N = 91 females & 22 males, aged 18-54) in order to establish how multilinguals evaluate their multilingualism & whether they view the interaction between their languages as an asset or a hindrance in further language learning. High...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inInternational review of applied linguistics in language teaching, IRAL Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 121 - 135
Main Author Hufeisen, Britta
Format Journal Article
LanguageGerman
Published 01.05.1998
Subjects
Canada
College Students
Discourse Strategies
Linguistic Competence
Multilingualism
Second Language Learning
Self Evaluation
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Summary:A study was conducted among multilingual Canadian students (N = 91 females & 22 males, aged 18-54) in order to establish how multilinguals evaluate their multilingualism & whether they view the interaction between their languages as an asset or a hindrance in further language learning. High degrees of structural similarities between languages or very low proficiency levels were indicated as the main factors inhibiting interference, & it was found that negative interference occurred primarily in lexical but also in phonological domains where one dominant language influenced the others. Three positive interaction mechanisms were distinguished: systematic borrowing from similar languages to increase understanding of a new language, tendency to switch to a nonnative code rather than the native language in repair situations, & development of multilingual learning strategies. Specifics of the subject group are discussed, with a warning against generalization of the results, & potential didactic implications are examined. 26 References. Adapted from the source document
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ISSN:0019-042X