Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-l7hp2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T21:08:53.272Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

9 - Are Multilinguals the Better Academic ELF Users?

Evidence from a Questionnaire Study Measuring Self-Assessed Proficiencies

from Part II - Zooming in on ELF

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 December 2020

Anna Mauranen
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Svetlana Vetchinnikova
Affiliation:
University of Helsinki
Get access

Summary

The question of putative multilingual advantages is still being hotly debated. Following some initial euphoria, the field is currently characterized by a wave of sobering criticism, as key findings fail to be replicated. Here we offer a summary of the current controversy, followed by a discussion of new evidence drawn from a questionnaire study of 1,454 students and 341 instructors at the University of Hamburg. This study measures self-assessed proficiencies in English among subjects who regularly use English as a lingua franca in the context of tertiary education. We compare self-assessed English proficiencies between monolingually and multilingually raised ELF users in five CEFR domains. The results attest slightly higher scores for multilingually raised ELF users, of statistical significance in some domains, which we interpret in terms of a multilingual advantage. However, we wish to be cautious about generalizing these findings, as they need to be substantiated by tests that objectively measure proficiencies.

Type
Chapter
Information
Language Change
The Impact of English as a Lingua Franca
, pp. 234 - 266
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Agustín-Llach, M. 2017. The impact of bilingualism on the acquisition of an additional language: Evidence from lexical knowledge, lexical fluency, and (lexical) cross-linguistic influence. International Journal of Bilingualism. doi:10.1177/1367006917728818.Google Scholar
Berthele, R. & Vanhove, J. 2017. What would disprove independence? Lessons learned from a study on biliteracy in Portuguese heritage language speakers in Switzerland. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism. doi:10.1080/13670050.2017.1385590.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. 2001. Bilingualism in Development: Language, Literacy, and Cognition. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E. et al. 2004. Bilingualism, aging, and cognitive control: Evidence from the Simon Task. Psychology and Aging 19(2), 290303. doi:10.1037/0882-7974.19.2.290.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E., Craik, F. I. M. & Freedman, M. 2007. Bilingualism as a protection against the onset of symptoms of dementia. Neuropsychologia 45(2), 459464.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E. et al. 2010. Receptive vocabulary differences in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism (Cambridge, England) 13(4), 525531. doi:10.1017/S1366728909990423.Google Scholar
Bialystok, E, Craik, F. I. M. & Luk, G. 2012. Bilingualism: Consequences for mind and brain. Trends in Cognitive Sciences 16(4), 240250. doi:10.1016/j.tics.2012.03.001.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bialystok, E. 2018. Bilingualism and executive function. What’s the connection? In Miller, D. et al. (ed.), Bilingual Cognition and Language: The State of the Science across its Subfields. Amsterdam: John Benjamins, pp. 283305.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bonnet, A. & Siemund, P. (eds.) 2018. Foreign Language Education in Multilingual Classrooms. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Canagarajah, S. 2007. Lingua franca English, multilingual communities and language acquisition. Modern Language Journal 91, 923939.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J. 2003. The additive effect of bilingualism on third language acquisition: A review. The International Journal of Bilingualism 7, 7188.Google Scholar
Cenoz, J. 2013. The influence of bilingualism on third language acquisition: Focus on multilingualismLanguage Teaching 46(1). doi: 10.1017/S0261444811000218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cenoz, J. and Valencia, J. 1994. Additive trilingualism: Evidence from the Basque Country. Applied Psycholinguistics 15, 197209.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, H. 1996. Using Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. doi: 10.1017/CBO9780511620539.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cogo, A. 2012. ELF and super-diversity: A case study of ELF multilingual practices from a business context. Journal of English as a Lingua Franca 1(2), 287313. doi:10.1515/jelf-2012-0020.Google Scholar
Council of Europe. 2001. Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment. Cambridge: Press Syndicate of the University of Cambridge.Google Scholar
Craik, F. I. M., Bialystok, E. & Freedman, M. 2010 Delaying the onset of Alzheimer disease: Bilingualism as a form of cognitive reserve. Neurology 75(19), 17261729. doi:10.1212/WNL.0b013e3181fc2a1c.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cummins, J. 1976. The influence of bilingualism on cognitive growth: A synthesis of research findings and explanatory hypotheses. Working Papers on Bilingualism 9, 144.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 1979. Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. Review of Educational Research 49(2), 222251.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 2000. Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Buffalo, NY: Multilingual Matters Ltd.Google Scholar
Cummins, J. 2001. Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
de Swaan, A. 2001. Words of the World: The Global Language System. London: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Dewaele, J.-M. 2018. Why the dichotomy ‘L1 Versus LX User’ is better than ‘Native Versus Non-native Speaker’. Applied Linguistics 39(2), 236240.Google Scholar
Duñabeitia, J. A. & Carreiras, M. 2015. The bilingual advantage: Acta est fabula? Cortex 73, 371372. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.06.009.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fleckenstein, J., Möller, J. & Baumert, J. 2018. Mehrsprachigkeit als Ressource: Kompetenzen dual-immersiv unterrichteter Schülerinnen und Schüler in der Drittsprache Englisch. Zeitschrift für Erziehungswissenschaft 1(3). doi: 10.1007/s11618-017-0792-9.Google Scholar
Flynn, S., Foley, C. & Vinnitskaya, I. 2004. The cumulative-enhancement model for language acquisition: Comparing adults’ and children’s patterns of development in first, second and third language acquisition of relative clauses. International Journal of Multilingualism 1(1), 3−16.Google Scholar
Herdina, P. & Jessner, U. 2002. A Dynamic Model of Multilingualism. Perspectives of Changes Psycholinguistics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.Google Scholar
IBM Corp. 2015. IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows, Version 23.0. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.Google Scholar
Ivanova, I. & Costa, A. 2008. Does bilingualism hamper lexical access in speech production? Acta Psychologica 127, 277288. doi: 10.1016/j.actpsy.2007.06.003.Google Scholar
Jessner, U. 2006. Linguistic Awareness in Multilinguals: English as a Third Language. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.Google Scholar
Jessner, U. 2008. Teaching third languages: Findings, trends and challenges. Language Teaching 41, 1556.Google Scholar
Kachru, B. B. 1986. The Alchemy of English: The Spread, Functions, and Models of Non-Native Englishes. Champaign, IL: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Kuteeva, M. 2019. Revisiting the ‘E’ in EMI: students’ perceptions of standard English, lingua franca and translingual practices. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, doi: 10.1080/13670050.2019.1637395.Google Scholar
Lasagabaster, D. 1998. The threshold hypothesis applied to three languages in contact at school. International Journal of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism 1(2), 119133.Google Scholar
Lasagabaster, D. 2001. Bilingualism, immersion programmes and language learning in the Basque Country. Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development 22(5), 401425.Google Scholar
Lehtonen, M. et al. 2018. Is bilingualism associated with enhanced executive functioning in adults? A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin 144(4), 394425.Google Scholar
Leimgruber, J. R. E., Siemund, P. & Terassa, L. 2018. Singaporean students´ language repertoires and attitudes revisited. World Englishes 37(1), 1−25. doi:10.1111/weng.12292.Google Scholar
Lorenz, E. & Siemund, P. 2019a. Differences in the acquisition and production of English as a foreign language. A study of bilingual and monolingual students in Germany. In Vetter, E & Jessner, U (eds.), International Research on Multilingualism: Breaking with the Monolingual Perspective. Berlin: Springer.Google Scholar
Lorenz, E. & Siemund, P. 2019b. The acquisition of English as an additional language by multilingual heritage speakers. In Meyer, M & Hoinkes, U. (eds.), Der Einfluss der Migration auf Sprach - und Kulturräume - The Impact of Migration on Linguistic and Cultural Areas. Bern: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
MacSwan, J. 2000. The Threshold Hypothesis, semilingualism, and other contributions to a deficit view of linguistic minorities. Hispanic Journal of Behavioral Sciences 22(1), 3−45.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Maluch, J. T., Kempert, S., Neumann, M. & Stanat, P. 2015. The effect of speaking a minority language at home on foreign language learning. Learning and Instruction 36, 7685.Google Scholar
Maluch, J. T., Neumann, M. & Kempert, S. 2016. Bilingualism as a resource for foreign language learning of language minority students? Empirical evidence from a longitudinal study during primary and secondary school in Germany. Learning and Individual Differences 51, 111118.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Martin-Rhee, M. & Bialystok, E. 2008. The development of two types of inhibitory control in monolingual and bilingual children. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 11(1), 81−93. doi: 10.1017/S1366728907003227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mauranen, A. 2012. Exploring ELF. Academic English Shaped by Non-Native Speakers. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Mueller, J. T. 2018. English as a lingua franca at the multilingual university: A comparison of monolingually and multilingually raised students and instructors. In Bonnet, A. & Siemund, P. (eds.), Foreign Language Education in Multilingual Classrooms, 359380. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Mueller, J. T. & Siemund, P. 2017. Die Sprachen der Lehre: English in the Multilingual University. In Gogolin, I. et al. (eds.), Mehrsprachigkeit in der nachhaltigen Universität. Projektbericht, 48−72. Hamburg: Universität Hamburg. URN: urn:nbn:de:0111-pedocs-140469: 46–72.Google Scholar
Paap, K. R., Johnson, H. A. & Sawi, O. 2016. Should the search for bilingual advantages in executive functioning continue? Cortex 74, 305314. doi: 10.1016/j.cortex.2015.09.010.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Peal, E. & Lambert, W. E. 1962. The relation of bilingualism to intelligence. Psychological Monographs 76(27), 1−23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Safont Jordà, M. P. 2003. Metapragmatic awareness and pragmatic production of third language learners of English: A focus on request acts realizations. International Journal of Bilingualism 7(1), 4368. doi:10.1177/13670069030070010401.Google Scholar
Sanders, M. & Meijers, G. 1995. English as L3 in the elementary school. ITL: Review of Applied Linguistics 107−108, 5978.Google Scholar
Sanz, C. 2000. Bilingual education enhances third language acquisition: Evidence from Catalonia. Applied Psycholinguistics 21, 2344.Google Scholar
Sanz, C. 2012. Multilingualism and metalinguistic awareness. In Chapelle, C. (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Applied Linguistics, 39333942. Oxford: John Wiley and Sons, Inc.Google Scholar
Schegloff, E. 2007. Sequence Organization in Interaction: A Primer in Conversation Analysis, Vol. 1. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Siemund, P. 2018. Speech Acts and Clause Types. English in a Cross-Linguistic Context. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Siemund, P., Schröter, S. & Rahbari, S. 2018. Learning English demonstrative pronouns on bilingual substrate: Evidence from German heritage speakers of Russian, Turkish, and Vietnamese. In Bonnet, A. & Siemund, P. (eds.), Foreign Language Education in Multilingual Classrooms, 381405. Amsterdam: Benjamins.Google Scholar
Siemund, P., Al-Issa, A. and Leimgruber, J. 2020. Multilingualism and the role of English in the United Arab Emirates. World Englishes 2020;1–14. doi: 10.1111/weng.12507CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Siemund, P., Schulz, M. E. & Schweinberger, M. 2014. Studying the linguistic ecology of Singapore: A comparison of college and university students. World Englishes 33(3), 340362.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Spellerberg, S. 2016. Metalinguistic awareness and academic achievement in a linguistically diverse school setting: A study of lower secondary pupils in Denmark. International Journal of Multilingualism 13(1), 19−39, doi: 10.1080/14790718.2015.1053891.Google Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure [email protected] is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×