Multilingualism and L2 Acquisition

New Perspectives on Current Research

Yolanda Ruiz de Zarobe, Leyre Ruiz de Zarobe

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2018
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781315448107
• Subtopic: Linguistics
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

In recent years we have witnessed a growing interest in multilingualism and its relationship with the learning and teaching of second/foreign languages. However, multilingualism is a highly complex phenomenon, which has a direct influence on how we learn languages. For instance, do we learn a second/foreign language in a similar way in a multilingual context as in a monolingual one? What is the role of the other languages spoken in the community? Do contrasting learning contexts, like CLIL or studying abroad, produce different results? Can positive emotions such as foreign language enjoyment have an active role in the foreign language learning process? These and other topics will be discussed in this book, with the aim of understanding multilingualism, how languages are learned and how to teach them better. This book was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Multilingualism.

New perspectives on multilingualism and L2 acquisition: an introduction

Leyre Ruiz de Zarobe and Yolanda Ruiz de Zarobe

Department of French Philology/Department of English Studies, University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU), Vitoria-Gasteiz, Spain

This article focuses on the description of one of the main features of current multilingualism, complexity, through a selection of issues related to its role in L2 acquisition, as the proper notion of multilingualism, multilingualism as a social phenomenon and multilingualism as a multidimensional phenomenon. We also present several aspects of multilingualism in its relationship to L2 acquisition, notably some involved in the notion of multilingualism as a holistic process, and the contexts of multilingual language acquisition, and illustrate new findings of multilingualism in these areas, both from a theoretical and research perspective.

Multilingualism: a complex phenomenon of our times

Multilingualism is one of the most relevant social phenomena of the present age and consequently it is an issue of utmost interest both in study and research, as seen in the proliferation of studies from different areas and disciplines. Their aim is to get to know and better understand this social, linguistic and individual phenomenon, which is fast becoming one of the core issues of current communities. Although multilingualism is a phenomenon that has always existed, current multilingualism differs from that of the past, the fundamental distinction being that multilingualism today affects society as a whole (Aronin, 2015). Multilingualism affects society but it is at the same time a reflection of society. In fact, the profound changes that current multilingualism is experiencing are a reflection of the ever more complex realities of the new world and the constant and rapid transformations that our communities are living through. As a reflection of present-day societies, multilingualism today can be considered a reality, one of whose main characteristics is complexity. We can say that complexity is a key feature of current multilingualism in all its dimensions.

The present Special Issue focuses on the perspective of multilingualism and second language acquisition and it seeks to illustrate some new findings of multilingualism in this area, both from a theoretical and research perspective. These new findings affect multiple and diverse aspects of current multilingualism and reflect its main feature: complexity. We will refer now to this complexity in a selection of aspects, related to its role in second language acquisition.

The first dimension that addresses the notion of complexity can be found in the proper definition of multilingualism, and its relationship to bilingualism, as the boundaries between both notions are not always clear. We find a wide range of definitions for multilingualism and bilingualism in the literature, based on different criteria concerning the number of languages used, the level of proficiency, the ways in which languages are used and learned, and so on. These criteria differ from one author to another, and we can say that there is no unanimity for the definition of multilingualism. Among all criteria, the definitions of multilingualism and bilingualism have predominantly been related to the individual’s level of language competence: a very high level of competence can be seen in early definitions of bilingualism, as in that of Bloomfield (1933): ‘native-like control of two or more languages’ (p. 56). A much more open level of competence can be seen in definitions like the one by Comanaru and Dewaele (2015): ‘proficiency to various degrees in more than one language’. The traditional question which remains unanswered is: Which degree of language competence is necessary to be bi/multilingual? At what stage of competence can we speak of bi/multilingualism? There is no precise definition of the degrees of language competence. Besides, competence has to take into account the different language areas (lexis, phonetics, syntax, etc.) and the four language skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking). But this question is not easily answered because:

Even if we are able to gauge bilingual or multilingual capacities with some accuracy, there would remain problems of adequate labeling, for it is hardly to be expected that measured individuals would neatly fall into a small number of categories of ability. (Edwards, 2013, p. 13)

It is not our purpose here to select and discuss a number of definitions of multilingualism. We assume that multilingualism refers to the ‘coexistence, contact and interaction of different languages’ at the societal or individual level (Wei, 2013, p. 26). On the one hand, a society may have speakers of different languages and, on the other, within a society individuals may be bilingual or multilingual. Perhaps at a societal or individual level, contact and interactions between languages are necessary. In a more common usage of the term, a multilingual is ‘someone who can function in two or more languages in conversational interaction’ (Wei, 2013, p. 33). Some authors distinguish between individual and societal multilingualism and have proposed to call individual bilingualism ‘bilinguality’ (Hamers & Blanc, 2000). Aronin and Ó Laoire (2004, p. 17) have coined the notion of ‘multilinguality’ which refers to ‘a personal characteristic’. Moore and Gajo (2009) distinguish between multilingualism, the study of social contact, and plurilingualism, the study of individuals’ repertoires and agency in several languages, the term plurilingualism being mostly used in the French literature to refer to individual multilingualism.

That said, what we can state is that the notions of multilingualism and bilingualism are related. Both terms are relevant in the literature about multilingualism and usually go together, although again a general agreement is lacking here. Although this could initially lead to the assumption that bilingualism is related to the use of two languages, and multilingualism to three, four, etc., current research makes use of these notions in different ways: bilingualism is sometimes used as a shorthand for multilingualism (Baetens Beardsmore, 1986); or bilingualism is distinguished from multilingualism, in the sense that two languages or more create two different phenomena with their own specific features (Herdina & Jessner, 2002), or multilingualism is considered the broad term which includes the concept of bilingualism as a particular case of multilingualism (Aronin & Singleton, 2012; Cenoz, 2013). Some scholars call for the need to make a distinction between bilingualism and multilingualism, although these boundaries once again do not seem easy to establish.

In the literature about bilingualism, there have been a number of classifications made in order to clarify and understand this field better. These classifications reflect the complexity and multidimensionality of bilingualism and they take into account different aspects (Goto Butler, 2013): the functional ability (receptive and productive bilinguals), the age of acquisition (simultaneous, sequential and late bilinguals), the relationship between language proficiencies in two languages (balanced and dominant bilinguals), the effect of L2 learning on the retention of L1 (additive and subtractive bilinguals), the organization of linguistic codes and meaning unit environment (elite/elective and folk/circumstantial bilinguals), etc. These classifications show the complexity of the phenomenon but at the same time they cannot give a thorough account of it, as they only partially cover all the possibilities and situations in which language is used by bilinguals and multilinguals. These are closed categories, but reality does not adjust easily to these labels; for instance, balanced bilinguals refer to bilinguals who have the same level of language competence in both languages, although bilinguals are very seldom equally proficient in all fields in both languages; their level of competence is influenced by the way each language is used, and normally their profile, like any bilingual profile, is constantly changing for different reasons. Concerning multilingualism, these categories are much more difficult to use because of its greater complexity.

Another dimension related to the complexity of multilingualism can be found in the consideration of multilingualism as a social phenomenon in itself. Multilingual societies arise in a number of ways: cohabitation of linguistic groups in a community; immigration or emigration, and the like. The expansion of multilingualism is attributed to the social, linguistic and cultural changes derived from globalization, geographical and social mobility, economic and political transformations and the omnipresence of technology in all areas of life. We are witnessing emerging multicultural and multilingual societies as a result of such mobility, and these societies are characterized by what Vertovec (2007) has called ‘super-diversity’. This term shows the amount and difference in nature of the parameters involved in the present population of our societies due to mobility: ethnicity, language, religion, race, age, economic and social class, to mention but a few. This results in new population groups living according to new forms of cohabitation where the concept of language linked to a territory has been overtaken.

New social models go together with new patterns of language use, and societal movements imply linguistic movement. Hence, multilingualism has become the backbone of these new societies, to the extent that Aronin and Singleton (2012) claim:

In fact, virtually every facet of life in the present era depends on multilingual social arrangements and multilingual individuals. (p. 51)

Indeed, multilingualism is considered a new social phenomenon in itself, not just the result of adding numbers of languages to individuals and societies. These authors call this new ‘status quo’ ‘new linguistic dispensation’, a term which applies to

language ideologies and policies, language education in all its dimensions, and the patterns of language use of communities and individuals. It also encompasses the systemic development and evolving status of the full spectrum of extant and emergent language varieties. (p. 43)

Multilingualism is a bidirectional process in its relation to this new ‘status quo’. The new world ‘status quo’ has created the phenomenon of multilingualism, but multilingualism contributes to the creation of the new ‘status quo’, giving rise to and making possible all kinds of relationships and interchanges through languages. Both processes continuously feed back into themselves. Our world comprises multilingual societies, and this multilingualism is leaving a deep mark on their present and orienting their future.

Multilingualism is spreading all over the world and it affects almost every society and country, though in very different ways. We speak of multilingualism for realities which vary widely from one community to the next, and each multilingual community is multilingual in its own particular way (Aronin, 2015). This adds complexity to the phenomenon of multilingualism. Different social realities of language use are present in very different environments, and are put into practice by different language users. The combination of these elements, all related to the super-diversity mentioned above, create the particularity of each multilingual community. To illustrate this, we can select the case of South Tyrol (De Angelis, 2015). Most of the population in South Tyrol is of Austro-Bavarian heritage and speaks German or native Austro-Bavarian dialects of German; around a quarter of the population speaks Italian as their first language, and a small minority speaks Ladin as their first language; German, Italian and Ladin are official languages; every citizen has the right to use their own mother tongue and schools are often distributed according to each language (see De Angelis, this issue).

One of the fields most affected by the multilingualism of our societies is the field of education. The current educational panorama of our societies, besides having second or foreign languages in the school curriculum, includes bilingual or multilingual programmes in different parts of the world, under a diversity of models depending on the countries, in which instruction is realized in two or more languages. There exist many types of multilingual education, according to the characteristics of the languages involved, their use in society and educational factors (Cenoz, 2009). We can state that multilingual education is becoming the norm almost everywhere in the world. This multilingual education, together with technological development and deep social transformations, has changed teaching and learning methods, which in turn must respond to societal needs and prepare citizens to face present and future challenges. New and important pedagogical transformations are then required, more in compliance with today’s society. Some of the premises that underlie these new transformations are, notably, the integrated approaches of content and linguistic development which seem to be favourable for education; or that, in the learning process, the individuals have to be active subjects and leaders of their own learning, critical and independent (Ruiz de Zarobe and Coyle, 2015), from the first stages of education to the last, even in multilingual education, so that they become subjects capable of constructing their learning during their whole lives.

In higher education one of the most outstanding factors that has contributed to developing multilingualism in Europe is the emergence of academic mobility programmes, such as Erasmus. One of the programme’s major concerns from the outset has been the acquisition of a multilingual competence by students and the fostering of multilingualism as part of the strategy adopted in the construction of the European Union. This multilingual competence has not only allowed mobility and education in students, but it has also become a decisive factor in youth employability in Europe while contributing to the integration of European individuals into other member states. Multilingualism has then been a landmark in European policies, although this trend seems to be changing recently (Pérez Vidal, 2015).

A third domain of complexity in relation to multilingualism can be found when it is viewed as a multidimensional phenomenon. Multilingualism is a phenomenon which touches upon different dimensions in societies: language education, language use, language teaching and learning, language acquisition, language practices, language policies, etc. In each of these dimensions, there are a number of different factors involved, such as the number of languages or varieties of languages, the levels of mastery and the different types of use, among others. If we take only one dimension, for instance, language acquisition, there are many different parameters involved: the number of languages of instruction, the level of proficiency, the age factor, the in...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title
• Copyright
• Contents
• Citation Information
• Notes on Contributors
• 1. New perspectives on multilingualism and L2 acquisition: an introduction
• 2. A bright future for interdisciplinary multilingualism research
• 3. How does pragmatic competence develop in bilinguals?
• 4. English L3 learning in a multilingual context: the role of parental education and L2 exposure within the living community
• 5. Practice makes best: contrasting learning contexts, comparing learner progress
• 6. Towards new learning partnerships in bilingual educational contexts – raising learner awareness and creating conditions for reciprocity and pedagogic attention
• Index