The Impact of Multilingualism on Productive Language Skills: Modelling Some Saudi Multilingual Learners

Abstract

The issue of whether a learner in multilingual education can achieve the same level of proficiency in two or more languages other than the native language is a problematic one. This study aims at investigating the impact of learning two languages other than the native language on the learners’ speaking and writing skills. To attain this aim, the researchers collected the scores of twenty-six multilingual Saudi learners on writing and speaking tests in the academic year 2020-2021. A qualitative and quantitative mixed research design is adopted to measure the performance of multilingual learners in the two languages: English and French. The results showed that there are statistically significant differences between the scores of the Writing Test (WT) in English and French in favor of the English Writing Test because the p-value (0.012) is less than (0.05). It is attributed to the fact that the learners’ mental faculty cannot be loaded with more than two writing systems. The results also showed that there are statistically significant differences between the scores of the Speaking Test (ST) in English and French because the level of significance (0.009) is less than (α = 0.05). It is attributed to the fact that the English sound system, because of rapid historical changes, becomes much easier for Saudi students than other phonological systems. The balanced students represent 26.9% of the total group of students. The study concludes that balancing between more than two languages is a little bit difficult as one language should dominate over the others.