In a Cosmopolitan City Facilitative Factors of Bilingualism and Multilingualism in Foreign Language Learning Process

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to find out the advantages of the bilingualism and multilingualism on foreign language learning in a cosmopolitan city. As a cosmopolitan city Mardin, has a multicultural characteristic, in Mardin Turkish, Kurdish, Arabic, Syriac and Armenian people live all together, as a result of this different languages are spoken and most of the population is bilingual or multilingual. For this study 250 students aged from 16 to 20 that study in language classes at different high schools of Mardin were asked a questionnaire in order to investigate which languages they daily speak in their social life or at home, which languages they know, which languages they can understand when they hear, how many languages they know, whether the languages they know facilitate their foreign language learning or not. The results of this study demonstrated that bilingual and multilingual students that live in Mardin tend to learn foreign language more efficiently, especially the languages they already know facilitate the process of language learning. Additionally, the results show that knowing more than one language help them have a better social relationship in their daily life.

Keywords

• Bilingualism,Multilingualism,Multiculturalism

Kozmopolit Bir Şehirde Yabancı Dil Öğrenme Sürecindeki İki Dillilik ve Çok Dilliliğin Kolaylaştırıcı Faktörleri

Abstract

Araştırmanın amacı, iki dilliliğin ve çok dilliliğin kozmopolit bir şehirde dil öğrenimi üzerindeki avantajlarını ortaya çıkarmaktır. Kozmopolit bir şehir olan Mardin çok kültürlü bir özelliğe sahiptir, Mardin’de Türk, Kürt, Arap, Süryani ve Ermeni halkı hep birlikte yaşamaktadır, bunun bir sonucu olarak farklı diller konuşulmaktadır ve nüfusun çoğunluğu iki dilli veya çok dillidir. Bu çalışma için Mardin’in farklı okullarındaki dil sınıflarında okuyan 16-20 yaş arası 250 öğrenciye sosyal hayatlarında ve evde hangi dili konuştukları, hangi dilleri bildikleri, duyunca hangi dilleri anlayabildikleri, kaç dil bildikleri ve bildikleri dillerin yabancı dil öğrenimine yardımcı olup olmadığını bulmak amacıyla bir anket soruldu. Bu çalışmanın sonuçları, Mardin’de yaşayan iki dilli ve çok dilli öğrencilerin yabancı dili daha verimli öğrenme eğiliminde olduğunu, özellikle de zaten bildikleri dillerin dil öğrenme sürecini kolaylaştırdığını göstermiştir. Ek olarak, sonuçlar birden fazla dil bilmenin günlük yaşamlarında daha iyi bir sosyal ilişkiye sahip olmalarına yardımcı olduğunu göstermektedir.

Keywords

• İki Dillilik,Çok Dillilik,Çok Kültürlülük

References

1. Adesope, O. O., Lavin, T., Thompson, T., Ungerleider, C. (2010). Asystematic review and meta-analysis of the cognitive correlates ofbilingualism. Review of Educational Research, 80(2), 207–249.Barac, R., Bialystok, E., Castro, D. C., Sanchez, M. (2014). The cognitivedevelopment of young dual language learners: A critical review. EarlyChildhood Research Quarterly, 29(4), 699–714.Bialystok, E.; Luk, G.; Peets, K. F.; Yang, S. (2010). Receptive vocabularydifferences in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism: Languageand Cognition, 13(4),525-531.Bialystok, E. (2017). The bilingual adaptation: How minds accommodateexperience. Psychological Bulletin, 143(3), 233–262.Dylman, A. S.; Larsson, M. F. C. (2020). It’s (not) all Greek to me:Boundaries of the foreign language effect. Cognition 196:104148Eisenstein, M. (1977). Childhood Bilingualism and Adult LanguageLearning Aptitude, CUNY Forum 3,p. 47-61.Flynn, S; Foley, C.; Vinnitskaya, I. (2004). The cumulative-enhancementmodel for language acquisition: Comparing adults’ and children’s patternsof development in first, second and third language acquisition of relativeclauses. International Journal of Multilingualism, 1(1), 3–16.Garcia-Mayo, M. D. P. (2012). Cognitive approaches to L3 acquisition.International Journal of English Studies, vol. 12 (1), pp. 129-146Hopp, H., Vogelbacher, M., Kieseier, T.; Thoma, D. (2019). Bilingualadvantages in early foreign language learning: Effects of the minority andthe majority language. Learning and Instruction, Volume 61, June 2019,Pages 99-110Hunt, C. R.; Isaakidis, T.; Clyne, M. (2004). Learning a CommunityLanguage as a Third Language. International Journal of Multilingualism,1(1), 33-52.Otwinowska-Kasztelanic, A. (2011). Awareness and affordances:Multilinguals versus bilinguals and their perceptions of cognates. In G. DeAngelis & J.-M. Dewaele (eds.), New trends in crosslinguistic influence andmultilingualism research, 1–18. Bristol/Buffalo/Toronto: MultilingualMatters.Peal, E.; Lambert, W. (1962). The Relation of bilingualism to Intelligence.Psychological Monographs, 76, 546- 558.Pearson, B. Z., Fernandez, S. C., Lewedeg, V., Oller, D. (1997). Therelation of input factors to lexical learning by bilingual infants. AppliedPsychoLinguistics, 18(01),41-58. Rusiecki, J. (2002). Friends true and false. A contrastive approach to the lexicon. In J. Arabski (eds.), Time for words, 71–81. Frankfurt a M.: Peter Lang Schmitt, N. (1997). Vocabulary learning strategies. In N. Schmitt & M. Mc-Carthy (eds.), Vocabulary: Description, acquisition and pedagogy, 199–227 Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Thomas, J. (1988). The role played by metalinguistic awareness in second and third language learning. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 9, 235-246. Trask, R. L. (1999). The key concept in language and linguistics. New York: Routledgendon. Valencia, J.; Cenoz, J. (1993). Bilingualism and third language acquisition. [A]ERIC Document Reproduction Service (ED 364 118.