International Research on Multilingualism: Breaking with the Monolingual Perspective [Paperback]

This volume contributes to a better understanding of both psycho- and sociolinguistic levels of multilingualism and their interplay in development and use. The chapters stem from an international group of specialists in multilingualism with chapters from Austria, Canada, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain and the United States. The chapters provide an update on research on third language acquisition and multilingualism, and pay particular attention to new research concepts and the exploration of contact phenomena such as transfer and language learning strategies in diverse language contact scenarios. Concepts covered include dominant language constellations, mother tongue, germination factors and communicative competence in national contexts. Multilingual use as described and applied in the volume aims at demonstrating and identifying current and future challenges for research on third language acquisition and multilingualism. The third languages in focusinclude widely and less widely used official, minority and migrant languages in instructed and/or natural contexts, including Albanian, Arabic, Basque, English, French, German, Hungarian, Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Punjabi, Russian, Turkish, and Vietnamese, thereby mapping a high variety of language constellations.

Introduction: Advances in the Study of Third Language Acquisition and Multilingualism; Eva Vetter, Ulrike Jessner.- PART I: CONCEPTS.- Dominant Language Constellation as a Method of Research; Larissa Aronin.- Business as Usual? (Re)conceptualizations and the Multilingual Turn in Education. The Case of Mother Tongue; S?lvia Melo-Pfeifer.- Germination Factors of Destination Language Learning; Aloysius N. Conduah.- Communicative Competence in the Context of Increasing Diversity in South Tyrolean SclƒJ