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The present study was developed to assess teachers' beliefs on (1) the role of prior language knowledge in language learning; (2) the perceived usefulness of language knowledge in modern society; and (3) the teaching practices to be used with multilingual students. Subjects were 176 secondary schoolteachers working in Italy (N0103), Austria (N 042), and Great Britain (N 031) who taught subjects ranging from languages to science, literature, or physical education. Teachers were asked to rate a series of statements on a 1 (strongly disagree) to 4 (strongly agree) Likert scale. The data were analyzed using the KruskalÁWallis distribution-free test to identify differences in responses in the three countries. Overall results suggest that teachers in Italy, Austria, and Great Britain tend to share similar views on the three topics examined. The article discusses the need to introduce modules on multilingualism and language learning as a regular feature of teacher training programs as many teachers show beliefs that suggest little awareness of the cognitive benefits of multilingualism and of the usefulness of home language maintenance for students and their families.

This series brings together titles dealing with a variety of aspects of language acquisition and processing in situations where a language or languages other than the native language is involved. Second language is thus interpreted in its broadest possible sense. The volumes included in the series all offer in their different ways, on the one hand, exposition and discussion of empirical findings and, on the other, some degree of theoretical reflection. In this latter connection, no particular theoretical stance is privileged in the series; nor is any relevant perspective-sociolinguistic, psycholinguistic, neurolinguistic, etc.-deemed out of place. The intended readership of the series includes final-year undergraduates working on second language acquisition projects, postgraduate students involved in second language acquisition research, and researchers and teachers in general whose interests include a second language acquisition component.

This study investigated the use of nonnative function words in the written production of learners of Italian as a third or fourth language with English, Spanish, or French as native or nonnative languages. Results show the frequent use of the French subject pronoun il (he) in learners' texts. The rate of subject insertion and omission was thus analyzed. English and Spanish first language (L1) speakers with knowledge of French were found to use significantly more subject insertion than speakers without knowledge of French. This suggests that (a) prior exposure to a nonnative language informs learners' choices of surface structures to a significant extent and (b) learners with the same L1 but different prior nonnative languages develop some significant differences in their target language knowledge.One of the principal goals of research on crosslinguistic influence (CLI) is to account for the role of prior knowledge in interlanguage (IL) production and development. Hypotheses I would like to thank the University of London Central Research Fund for having provided financial assistance with a travel grant and the University of Toronto Connaught Fund for further assistance. I would also like to thank JeanMarc Dewaele and Scott Jarvis for their excellent comments on an earlier draft of

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