The impact of multilingualism on the acquisition of a subsequent language: a study conducted at “the world’s community college”

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Author(s) : Koban didem
City University of New York
Rothman david
City University of New York
Mavergames chris
City University of New York
Abstract This study compared Emerging Bilingual students with multilingual students, enrolled in an intensive ESL course, by means of a Language background survey and an English proficiency test. Our hypotheses were a)multilinguals would progress more rapidly in their acquisition of a subsequent language than emerging bilinguals, and b)multilinguals who learned their L1 and L2 both formally and orally would progress more rapidly in their acquisition of a subsequent language than those who learned either language only orally. The results of the data analysis did not support our hypothesis.
Keywords Third language acquisition, multilingualism

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