THE ROLE OF BILINGUALISM IN ACQUIRING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Abstract

The present study emphasizes the role of bilingualism in foreign language learning by investigating the acquisition of English as a third language of Turkish bilingual university students with Arabian origins. This study is based on a phenomenologic research design which is a qualitative research methodology, within the interpretive research paradigm, that inquires the qualitatively diverse ways in which people experience something. The data of the study were gathered through a semi-structured interview developed by the researcher and content analysis technique was utilized to analyze the collected data. The results of the study suggest that being already proficient in both Turkish and Arabic languages facilitates the acquisition of a third language and the already possessed languages provide an advantage in acquiring a new language.

Keywords

• Acquisition
• foreign language acquisition

References

1. Abu-Rabia, S., & Sanitsky, E. (2010). Advantages of bilinguals over monolinguals in learning a third language. Bilingual Research Journal, 33(2), 173-199.
2. Acharya, A. S., Prakash, A., Saxena, P., & Nigam, A. (2013). Sampling: Why and how of it. Indian Journal of Medical Specialties, 4(2), 330-333.
3. Alonso, J. G., Rothman, J., Berndt, D., Castro, T., & Westergaard, M. (2017). Broad scope and narrow focus: On the contemporary linguistic and psycholinguistic study of third language acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 639-650.
4. Bahrick, H. P., Hall, L. K., Goggin, J. P., Bahrick, L. E., & Berger, S. A. (1994). Fifty years of language maintenance and language dominance in bilingual Hispanic immigrants. Journal of Experimental Psychology: General, 123, 264–283.
5. Bartolotti, J., & Marian, V. (2017). Bilinguals’ existing languages benefit vocabulary learning in a third language. Language learning, 67(1), 110-140.
6. Baumgart, C. Q., & Billick, S. B. (2018). Positive cognitive effects of bilingualism and multilingualism on cerebral function: A review. Psychiatric Quarterly, 89(2), 273-283.
7. Bild, E., & Swain, M. (1989). Minority language students in a French immersion programme: Their French proficiency. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development, 10, 255–274.
8. Branzi, F. M., Calabria, M., Boscarino, M. L. & Costa, A. (2016). On the overlap between bilingual language control and domain-general executive control. Acta psychologica, 166, 21-30.

9. Delgado, P., Guerrero, G., Goggin, J. P., & Ellis, B. B. (1999). Self-assessment of linguistic skills by bilingual Hispanics. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences, 21, 31–46.
10. Edele, A., Kempert, S., & Schotte, K. (2018). Does competent bilingualism entail advantages for the third language learning of immigrant students? Learning and Instruction, 58, 232-244.
11. Er, O. ve Bozkırlı, K. Ç. (2019). Türkçe öğretmeni adaylarının yabancı uyruklu öğrencilerin sorunlarına ilgilerinin çeşitli değişkenler açısından incelenmesi. Uluslararası Türkçe Edebiyat Kültür Eğitim Dergisi, 8(1), 538-548
12. Googoonani, M., & Simin, S. (2018). Relationship between Georgian-Persian biliterate additive bilingualism and learners’ proficiency in English as a foreign language. International Journal of Research, 7(1), 25-37.
13. Grey, S., Williams, J. N., & Rebuschat, P. (2014). Incidental exposure and L3 learning of morphosyntax. Studies in Second Language Acquisition, 36(4), 611-645.
14. Hammarberg, B. (2009). The Role of the Background Languages in Third Language Acquisition. Romance Languages as L1, L2 or L3. Retrieved on the 12th of July, 2019 from https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/40d9/77198ed640c0719aa34937da5e1854e11f39.pdf
15. Harris, R. J., & McGhee-Nelson, E. M. (1992). Bilingualism: Not the exception any more. In R. Harris ( Ed.), Cognitive processing in bilinguals ( pp. 3–14). Amsterdam: Elsevier.
16. Hoffmann, C. (1985). Language acquisition in two trilingual children. Journal of Multilingual & Multicultural Development, 6(6), 479-495.
17. Jia, G., Aaronson, D., & Wu, Y. (2002). Long-term language attainment of bilingual immigrants: Predictive variables and language group differences. Applied Psycholinguistics, 23, 599–621.
18. Klein, E. C. (1995). Second versus third language acquisition. Language Learning, 45, 419–465.
19. Köksal, D., & Ulum, Ö. G. (2016). Language Learning Strategies of Turkish and Arabic Students: A Cross-Cultural Study. European Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 1(1), 122-143.
20. Lambert, W. E. (1979). Language as a factor in intergroup relation. In Giles & St Clair (Eds.), Language and social psychology (pp. 186–192). Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
21. Leivada, E., Kambanaros, M., Taxitari, L., & Grohmann, K. K. (2017). (Meta) linguistic abilities of bilectal educators: the case of Cyprus. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, 1-16.
22. Leung, Y. K. I. (2007). Third language acquisition: why it is interesting to generative linguists. Second Language Research, 23(1), 95-114.
23. Mesaros, B. T. (2009). Learning English as a third language. The case of the Romanian community in Spain . Fòrum de Recerca, (14), 255-277.
24. Molnár, T. (2010). Second language versus third language acquisition: A comparison of the English lexical competence of monolingual and bilingual students. Toronto Working Papers in Linguistics, 33, 1-16.
25. Ross, S. (1998). Self-assessment in second language testing: A meta-analysis and analysis of experiential factors. Language Testing, 5, 1–20.
26. Rothman, J., Alonso, J. G., & Puig-Mayenco, E. (2019). Third language acquisition and linguistic transfer (Vol. 163). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
27. Sanz, C. (2000). Bilingual education enhances third language acquisition: Evidence from Catalonia. Applied psycholinguistics, 21(1), 23-44.
28. Slabakova, R. (2017). The scalpel model of third language acquisition. International Journal of Bilingualism, 21(6), 651-665.
29. Slavkov, N. (2017). Family language policy and school language choice: pathways to bilingualism and multilingualism in a Canadian context. International Journal of Multilingualism, 14(4), 378-400.
30. Swain, M., Lapkin, S., Rowen, N., & Hart, D. (1990). The role of mother tongue literacy in third language learning. Language, Culture and Curriculum, 3(1), 65–81.
31. Ünveren, D. (2019). Türkçeyi yabancı dil olarak öğrenenlerin yanlış örneksemeleri kullanma durumları. Uluslararası Türkçe Edebiyat Kültür Eğitim Dergisi, 8(4), 2178-2197.
32. Thomas, J. (1988). The role played by metalinguistic awareness in second and third language learning. Journal of Multilingual and MulticulturalDevelopment, 9, 235– 246.
33. Üredi, L., & Ulum, Ö. G. (2016). A Study on the Morpho-syntactic Profiles of Syrian Children Learning Turkish as a Second Language. New York: Springer.
34. Woodcock, R.W., & Muñoz-Sandoval, F. (1993). Woodcock–Johnson Language Survey. Itasca, IL: Riverside.