The multilingual turn in FL education
Investigating L3/Ln learners’ reading-writing
The study reported in this article aimed at exploring the impact of pluralistic pedagogy practices on L3/Ln learners’ reading and writing abilities in a multilingual classroom. Students attended an Intensive Elementary Italian course. The prerequisite to register for this course was knowledge of at least one other Romance Language or previous exposure to the Italian language. Specifically, the investigation examined whether and how the plurilingual system of these learners could affect the development of the language abilities mentioned above. Quantitative and qualitative data were collected using questionnaires and more traditional tests: a writing test and a reading test with a gradual increase in complexity. The results showed that a plurilingual pedagogy facilitated positive interlingual transfers, and consequently the development of both language abilities, particularly writing. It also appeared that connections between reading and writing were established, that is, the improvement of students’ writing skills affected reading comprehension and not vice versa. The development of these language abilities also seemed to be affected by other variables such as the proficiency level of languages present in learners’ plurilingual repertoire. To conclude, possible implications for language teaching/learning are discussed.
Article outline
- 1.The multilingual challenge in North American higher education
- 2.Reading and writing in L2 and L3/Ln acquisition
- 2.1Relations between reading and writing abilities in First, Second and Third Language
- 3.Research questions
- 4.Method
- 4.1Setting and participants
- 4.2Materials and instruction
- 4.3Data collection
- 5.Findings
- 6.Discussion and conclusion
- Notes
-
References
This article is currently available as a sample article.
References (61)
References
Adams, Marylin Jager. 1990. Beginning to Read: Thinking and Learning about Print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Adloff, Susan, Charles Perfetti, and Hugh Catts. 2011. “Developmental Changes in Reading Comprehension: Implication for Assessment and Instruction.” In What Research has to say about Reading Instruction, ed. by S. Jay Samuel, and Alan Frastrup, 186–214. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. 

Alderson, J. Charles. 1984. “Reading in a Foreign Language: A Reading Problem or a Language Problem?” In Reading in a Foreign Language, ed. by Sandy Urquhart, and J. Charles Alderson, 1–27. New York: Longman.
Alderson, J. Charles. 2000. Assessing Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Ashton, Mick. 2003. “The Change at the Paper Level. Paper 1 Reading 1”. In Continuity and Innovation: Revising the Cambridge Proficiency in English Examination 1913–2002, ed. by Cyril Weir, and Michael Milanovic, 121–174. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Baker, Linda, and Ann L. Brown. 1984. “Metacogntive Skills and Reading.” In Handbook for Reading Research, ed. by David Pearson, 353–394. New York: Longman.
Belanger, Jacques. 1987. “Theory and Research into Reading and Writing Connections: A Critical Review.” Reading-Canada Lecture 5 (1): 10–18.
Bhatia, Vijai K. 1993. Analysing Genre. New York: Longman.
Birch, Barbara M. 2007. English L2 Reading: Getting to the Bottom. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Caddéo, Sandrine, and Marie Christine Jamet. 2013. L’intercompréhension: une autre approche pour l’ensegneiment des langues. Paris: Hachette.
Candelier, Michael, Antoinette Camilleri-Grima, Véronique Castellotti, Ildikó Lörinez, Franz Joseph Meissner, and Anna Shröder-Sura. 2010. FREPA/Carap Framework of Reference for Pluralistic Approaches to Languages and Cultures. Graz: ECML publications.
Carlson, Robert F., J. Peter Kincaid, Sara Lance, and Thomas Hodgson. 1976. “Spontaneous Use of Mnemonics and Grade Point Average.” Journal of Psychology 92 (1): 117–122. 

Carson, Joan Eisterhold, Patricia L. Carrell, Sandra Silberstein, Barbara Kroll, and Phyllis A. Kuhen. 1990. “Reading-Writing Relationship in First and Second Language.” TESOL Quartely 241: 245–266. 

Carson, Joan G., and Ilona Leki. 1993. Introduction. In Reading in the Composition Classroom: Second Language Perspectives, ed. by Joan. G. Carson, and Ilona Leki, 1–7. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Castagne, Éric. 2011. Intercompréhension et dynamique des inférences: des languages voisines aux langues non voisines. In Proceedings of Attraverso le lingue. L’Intercomprensione in ricordo di Claire Blanche-Benveniste, ed. by Elisabetta Bonvino, Sandrine Caddéo, and Salvador Pippa, 81–93. Camuscha: Comos.
Cenoz, Jasone. 2013. “Third Language Acquisition.” In The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, ed. by Carol A. Chapelle, 1–5. Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing.
Cohen, Andrew D., and Thomas A. Upton. 2006. Strategies in Responding to the New TOEFL Reading Tasks (Monograph No. 33). Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Services.
Cook, Vivian. 1997. “The Consequences of Bilingualism for Cognitive Processing.” In Tutorials in Bilingualism, ed. by Annete M.B. De Groot, and Judith F. Kroll, 279–299. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Cook, Vivian, and Benedetta Bassetti. 2005. Second Language Writing Systems. Buffalo: Multilingual Matters. 

Cope, Bill, and Mary Kalantzis. 2000. “Introduction: Multiliteracies: The Beginning of an Idea.” In Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, ed. by Bill Cope, and Mary Kalantzis, 3–8. London: Routledge.
Cope, Bill, and Mary Kalantzis. 2009. “Multiliteracy: New Literacies, New Learning.” Pedagogies: An International Journal 41: 164–195. 

Cope, Bill, and Robin Freeman. 2001. Digital Rights Management and Content Development, Technology Drivers Across the Book Production Supply Chain, From the Creator to the Consumer. Melbourne: Common Ground.
Council of Europe. 2001. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Cummins, Jim. 1981. “The Role of Primary Language Development in Promoting Educational Success for Language Minority Students.” In Schooling and Language Minority Students: A Theoretical Framework, ed. by California State Department of Education, 3–49. Los Angeles: California State Department of Education.
Escudé, Pierre, and Pierre Janin. 2010. Le point sur l’intercompréhension, clé du plurilinguisme. Paris: CLE International.
Ferris, Diana, and John Hedgcock. 1998. Teaching ESL Composition: Purpose, Process, and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Flavel, John H. 1979. “Metacognition and Cognitive Monitoring: A New Area of Cognitive-developmental Inquiry.” American Psychologist 3041: 906–911. 

Goodman, Kenneth. S. 1967. “A Psycholinguistic Guessing Game.” Journalist of the Reading Specialists 6 (4): 126–135. 

Gough, Philip B., and William E. Tunmer. 1986. “Decoding, Reading and Reading Disability.” Remedial and Special Education 71: 6–10. 

Grabe, William. 2001. “Reading-Writing Relation: Theorical Perspectives and Instructional Practices.” In Linking Literacies: Perspectives on Reading-Writing Connections, ed. by Diane Belcher, and Alan Hirvela, 15–47. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
Grabe, William. 2009. Reading in a Second Language. 3rd ed. New York: Cambridge University Press.
Grabe, William, and Robert B. Kaplan. 1996. Theory and Practice of Writing. New York: Longman.
Hirvela, Alan. 2004. Connecting Reading and Writing in Second Language Writing Instruction. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press. 

Hunt, Russel A. 1985. “Reading as Writing: Meaning-making and Sentence Combining.” In Sentence Combining: A Rhetorical Perspective, ed. by Donald A. Daiker, Andrew Kerek, and Max Morenberg, 159–174. Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press.
Hyland, Ken. 2003. Second Language Writing. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 

Just, Marcel A, and Patricia A. Carpenter. 1987. The Psychology of Reading and Language Comprehension. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.
Khalifa Hannah, and Cyril Weir. 2009. Examining Reading: Research and Practice in Assessing Second Languages Reading. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Kaplan, Robert B. 1996. “Cultural Thought Patterns in Intercultural Education.” Language Learning 16 (1–2): 1–20.
Koda, Keiko. 2007. “Reading and Language Learning: Crosslinguistic Constraints on Second Language Reading Development.” Language Learning Supplement 571: 1–44. 

Kramsch, Claire. 2012. “Autenticity and Legitimacy in Multilingual SLA.” Critical Multilingualism Studies 1 (1): 107–228.
Kress, Gunther. 2000. “Multimodality.” In Multiliteracies: Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures, ed. by Bill Cope, and Mary Kalantzis, 182–202. London: Routledge.
Kress, Gunther. 2003. Literacy in the New Media Age. London: Routledge. 

MLA Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages. 2007. “Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World”, 1–12. [URL].
Nagy, William, Georgia E. Garcia, Barbara Hancing-Bhatt, and Aydin Durgunoglu. 1993. “Spanish-English Bilingual Students’ Use of Cognates in English Reading.” Journal of Reading Behaviour 251: 241–259. 

New London Group. 1996. “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies: Designing Social Futures.” Harvard Educational Review 66 (1): 60–92. 

New London Group. 2000. “A Pedagogy of Multiliteracies. Designing Social Futures.” In Multiliteracies.Literacy Learning and the Design of Social Futures., ed. by Bill Cope, and Mary Kalantzis, 9–39. London: Routledge.
Perfetti, Charles A. 1999. “Comprehending Written Language a Blueprint for Readers.” In The Neurocognition of Language, ed. by Colin M. Brown, and Peter Hagoort, 167–208. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Perfetti, Charles A. 2007. “Reading Ability: Lexical Quality to Comprehension.” Scientific Studies of Reading 111: 357–383. 

Peritz, Janice H. 1993. “Making a Place for Academic Writing.” College Composition and Communication 441: 380–385. 

Rasinski, Timothy. 2004. “Creating Fluent Readers.” Educational Leadership 611: 46–51.
Schoonen, Rob, Bart Bosser, and Jan Hulstijn. 1998. “Language Dependent and Language Independent in Native and Foreign Language Reading Comprehension. An Empirical Study among Dutch Students in Grades 6, 8, and 10.” Language Learning 481: 71–106. 

Singer, Murray, and José Leon. 2007. “Psycological Studies of Higher Language Processes: Behavioral and Empirical Approaches.” In Higher Level Language Processes in the Brain, ed. by Franz Schmalhofer, and Charles Perfetti, 9–25. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Spinelli, Barbara. 2015. “Integrating Plurilingualism into Curriculum Design: Toward a Plurilingual Shift.” In Intercomprehension and Plurilingualism, ed. by Anthony Tamburri, and Roberto Dolci, 101–143. New York: John Calandra Italian American Institute Queens College CUNY.
Spinelli, Barbara, and Francesca Parizzi. 2010. Profilo della lingua italiana. Firenze: La Nuova Italia.
Stotsky, Sandra. 1983. “Research on Reading/Writing Relationships: A Synthesis and Suggested Directions.” Language Arts 601: 627–642.
Swales, John. 1990. Genre Analysis: English in Academic and Research Settings. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Tierney, Robert J. 1992. Ongoing Research and New Directions. In Reading/Writing Connections Learning from Research, ed. by Judith W. Irwin, and Mary Anne Doyle, 246–259. Newark: International Reading Association.
Tierney, Robert J., and P. David Pearson. 1983. “Toward a Composing Model of Reading.” Language Arts 601: 568–580.
Tierney, Robert J., and Thomas Shanahan. 1991. “Research on the Reading-Writing Relationship: Interactions, Transactions and Outcomes.” In Handbook of Reading Research, ed. by Rebecca Barr, Michael L. Kamil, Peter B. Monsenthal, and David P. Pearson, 246–280. New York: Longman.
van Geldern, Amos, Rob Schoonen, Kees de Glopper, Jan Hulstijn, Patrick Snellings, Annegien Simis, and Marie Stevenson. 2003. “Role of Linguistic Knowledge, Metacognitive Knowledge and Processing Speed in L3, L2, L1 Reading Comprehension. A Structural Equation Modeling Approach.” International Journal of Bilingualism 7 (1): 7–25. 

Weir, Cyril, and Hannah Khalifa. 2008. “A Cognitive Approach Defining Reading Comprehension.” Cambridge ESOL: 2–9.
Cited by (1)
Cited by one other publication
Motlhaka, Hlavsio
2022.
From ‘Black’ to ‘Kaleidoscope’: Institutional Curriculum and Linguistic Reforms at a Historically Black University. In
Language and Institutional Identity in the Post-Apartheid South African Higher Education [
Language Policy, 27],
► pp. 53 ff.

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 20 july 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.