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

Teaching modern foreign languages in multilingual classrooms: an examination of Key Stage 2 teachers’ experiences

“…All teachers were able to give examples of children being better equipped for the MFL classroom and attributed this to their multilingual background. As experienced language learners, EAL children may be equipped with linguistic knowledge that gives them an advantage in MFL (Maluch, Neumann and Kempert 2016). If this translates to an increased confidence in the foreign language classroom and encourages a positive emotional attitude to the subject, this may boost their language learning ability (MacIntyre and Gregerson 2016).…”

“…For some, there may be little literacy instruction in their home language which could hinder their written skills in the MFL (Maluch, Neumann and Kempert 2016). Furthermore, the advantages found in some studies with bilingual participants may be constrained in English EAL cohorts due to the socio-economic background of many pupils (Cenoz 2013), as well as by their absence from formal education during periods of migration (Strand 1999).…”

Does bilingualism correlate with or predict higher proficiency in L3 English? A contrastive study of monolingual and bilingual learners

“…We here probe into the widely held assumption that previous language experience qua bilingual or multilingual upbringing fosters the acquisition of additional languages. Such a 'multilingual boost' (Berthele and Udry, 2019) 1 could be evidenced for balanced bilinguals acquiring English, especially in the Basque Country and Catalunya (Agustín-Llach, 2019;Cenoz, 2003Cenoz, , 2013Cenoz and Valencia, 1994;Lasagabaster, 1998Lasagabaster, , 2001Safont Jordà, 2003;Sagasta Errasti, 2003;Sanz, 2000), and more recently also for bilingual heritage speakers in their acquisition of English, most prominently in the context of Germany but partially also other countries (Edele, Kempert and Schotte, 2018;Fleckenstein, Möller and Baumert, 2018;Göbel, Rauch and Vieluf, 2011;Hirosh and Degani, 2018;Hopp et al, 2019;Klieme et al, 2006;Maluch et al, 2015;Maluch, Neumann and Kempert, 2016;Sanders and Meijers, 1995;Schwartz et al, 2007;Siemund and Mueller, 2020;van Gelderen et al, 2003). 2 It is especially this latter context of bilingual heritage speakers that we are interested in here.…”

“…Bilingual group differences are also discussed in Fleckenstein et al (2018). Fifth, multilingual advantages (operationalised with measures assessing lexical development, general language achievement and grammatical performance) appear to be more easily detectable in younger cohorts, though they fade as students grow older (Hopp, Vogelbacher et al, 2019;Maluch et al, 2016;Siemund and Lechner, 2015). 5 Sixth, the influence of the majority language generally seems to be stronger.…”

“…The language background of the students (n = 939 bilinguals versus n = 1,896 monolinguals) was identified by parents' and students' reports. Maluch et al (2016), in contrast, is based on a sample of 1,032 students, discriminating between German monolingual students (n = 820), mixed dominant German students (n = 119), mixed dominant non-German students (n = 63) and non-German only students (n = 30), as determined by parental reports (heritage languages include Turkish, Arabic, Chinese, Polish, French, Italian, Russian, Vietnamese and others). Language achievement in English was assessed with a Cloze test in grades 6 and 8.…”