Multilingualism and Third Language Acquisition: Factors and Educational Approaches

Multilingualism

Multilingualism is the ability of individuals to use more than two languages in their everyday life. It exists when multiple languages coexist and are necessary for communication. These languages may have different statuses, such as majority or minority languages, both within the community and internationally. Some languages are primarily used in private domains, while others are used in public domains like work or school.

Factors Influencing Third Language Acquisition (TLA)

Four factors can influence TLA:

• Sociolinguistic Context: Opportunities for language exposure, attitudes towards language learning, the status of different languages in society, and time devoted to different languages at school.
• Psycholinguistic Processes: TLA shares characteristics with second language acquisition but is more complex. L3 learners have advantages over L2 learners but often rely on their L2 as a "default supplier" for L3 production.
• Linguistic Characteristics: Acquiring languages typologically closer to the L1/L2 can facilitate TLA and favor code-mixing and code-switching.
• Pedagogical Aspects: The use of three languages for instruction, content-based instruction, and coordination of different syllabi.

Trilingual/Multilingual Education

Trilingual/multilingual education develops multilingual competence through educational programs that use languages other than the first language as mediums of instruction. It aims for communicative proficiency in more than two languages. Multilingual education takes different forms depending on the sociolinguistic context and the status and use of the languages involved.

Other factors related to trilingual/multilingual education include:

• Psycholinguistic processes involved in TLA
• Linguistic characteristics of the languages involved
• Pedagogical aspects of teaching and learning several languages

In conclusion, individual multilingualism is promoted by multilingual education.

Age and Second/Foreign Language Learning

Second language acquisition can be challenging for adults and children, despite the belief that children learn languages more easily. The "critical period hypothesis" argues that children's brains are more flexible and adaptable for language learning. However, psychological and social factors, such as motivation and exposure, also play a role. The optimal way to learn a second language is to begin at birth and learn two languages simultaneously. Research suggests that older children may be better second language learners than younger ones.

The Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP)

• Some linguistic proficiencies are common to all languages used by a learner.
• Abilities needed to communicate are not language-specific.
• CUP is not innate but develops through language learning.
• Learning more languages enhances the ability to represent the world and communicate.
• Result: the ability to learn languages based on existing language knowledge.