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Article published In:
Dutch Journal of Applied Linguistics
Vol. 6:1 (2017) ► pp.77–99

The multilingual experience

Can individual factors related to multilingual usage predict metalinguistic awareness?

| Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières
Of the numerous factors affecting language development, a particular role has been assigned to Metalinguistic Awareness (MLA) as a major constituent of the cognitive development of experienced language learners, while being itself a key to accelerated language learning (e.g., Jessner, 2008). The present study explores the relationship between multilingual usage and MLA in French-speaking Quebeckers (n = 66) with different language backgrounds who start to learn German after English in a formal setting. ‘Multilingual experience’ was operationalized by the frequency and the diversity of foreign language use across 10 different contexts of use. A reflexive dimension of MLA was assessed by means of the THAM-3 (Pinto & El Euch, 2015), and complemented by think-aloud protocols produced during a multilingual translation task, which reflected an applied dimension of MLA. Multiple regression analyses suggest that both frequency and diversity of non-native language use in specifically literacy-based activities predicted the applied dimension of MLA.
Keywords: multilingualism, multilingual experience, metalinguistic awareness, third language acquisition, literacy development
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
  • 2.Methodology
    • 2.1Participants
    • 2.2Instruments
      • 2.2.1Multilingual experience
      • 2.2.2Metalinguistic awareness
    • 2.3Data processing
      • 2.3.1Computation of variables
      • 2.3.2Statistical analyses
  • 3.Results
    • 3.1Descriptive results reflecting multilingual experience
    • 3.2Principal component analysis revealing three dimensions of use
    • 3.3Results of the regression analyses: The relationship between multilingual experience and MLA
  • 4.Discussion
  • 5.Conclusion
  • Notes
  • References


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Published online: 26 October 2017
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/dujal.6.1.05wol
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