MEG-Skore

This longitudinal study investigated how multilingualism can be used as a resource in English lessons in primary school. Of particular interest was whether multilingual learners with German as a second language show different patterns and trajectories of foreign-language acquisition to their monolingual peers. Previous research shows mixed results concerning the role of multilingualism in early foreign language learning. Studies that compare the English skills of monolingual Germans with those of multilingual primary school students have either found no group differences in those skills or weaker skills for multilingual students in reading and listening comprehension. Possible reasons for these heterogeneous findings may be individual differences in the social backgrounds of students as well as varying skills in the languages previously acquired by multilingual learners. Differences in linguistic (e.g. language combinations, language awareness), cognitive (e.g. working memory) and social (e.g. socioeconomic or familial) factors can impact the acquisition of English. This project considered these factors systematically in order to identify critical success factors in early foreign language learning.

A total of 200 pupils from six public primary schools in south-west Germany took part in the longitudinal study. They were assessed at two intervals: at the end of 3rd grade and again at the end of 4th grade.

The project consisted of two parts. Part 1 focused on linguistic transfer and to which extent the L1 and/or L2 affect the acquisition of English. Part 2 explored whether metalinguistic awareness has a positive impact on English language skills. For the first part, general vocabulary and grammar skills as well as specific grammatical phenomena, i.e. article realisation, subject realisation and word order, were assessed. It could thereby be determined, for instance, whether the use of articles in English is different for those learners whose L1 uses articles (e.g. Italian) or does not use them (e.g. Turkish, Russian). In the second part of the project, different aspects of language awareness were examined. First, students were asked to segment English words into phonemes and manipulate them. Their levels of phonological awareness could thereby be assessed. Second, students explicitly reflected on and talked about language(s) in a structured metalinguistic interview. Students answered questions about their language learning experiences and discussed linguistic contrasts between English, German and their respective heritage languages.

The results from 3rd grade show that, compared with their monolingual peers, multilingual pupils had statistically significantly lower skills in English vocabulary, phonological awareness and working memory. In sentence repetition, multilingual pupils also showed lower performance than the monolingual German students. At first glance, these results seem to confirm findings from previous studies that did not find a multilingual advantage in foreign language learning. However, when cognitive, social and educational variables are factored into the analysis, a more nuanced picture emerges. A multilevel regression analysis shows that both social variation at the school level, as well as individual differences between students, impact English skills. Importantly, multilingualism also has a positive impact on English vocabulary knowledge. Similarly, multilingualism contributes positively to English grammar skills in 4th grade for a subgroup of multilingual students, although many other factors show greater significance.

When looking at the development of English vocabulary skills from 3rd grade to 4th grade, multilingualism loses its positive impact; in fact, its impact becomes negative as skills in German become increasingly important. These results suggest that multilingual resources do not remain stable over time, possibly due to the lack of support in the foreign language classroom.

Further analyses show that (phonological) awareness positively affects English grammar. Moreover, a higher degree of phonological awareness implicates higher English vocabulary skills for both monolingual and multilingual students. Finally, the degree to which students can reflect on language(s), as measured in their responses to questions in the metalinguistic interview, also positively affects their English skills.

This study shows that multilingualism per se constitutes neither a general resource nor a global disadvantage in the early foreign language classroom. Rather, multilingualism may become a resource in early foreign language learning when additional individual factors are considered – such as a high degree of language awareness, a large vocabulary in the L1 as well as superior cognitive skills. The follow-up project (MEG­SKoRe II) focused on how those resources may be addressed and promoted in English lessons.

Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Vogelbacher, M., & Thoma, D. (in press). Cognitive and linguistic profiles in early foreign language vocabulary and grammar. In A. Steinlen & T. Piske (Eds.). Cognition and Second Language Acquisition. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto.

Hopp, H., Vogelbacher, M., Kieseier, T., & Thoma, D. (2019). Bilingual advantages in early foreign language learning: Effects of proficiency in the minority and the majority language. In Learning and Instruction, 61, S. 99 - 110.  https://doi.org/10.1016/j.learninstruc.2019.02.001

Hopp, H. (2018). Cross-linguistic influence in the child L3 acquisition of grammar: Sentence comprehension and production among Turkish-German and German learners of English. International Journal of Bilingualism. doi: 10.1177/1367006917752523 

Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Vogelbacher, M., & Thoma, D. (2018). Einflüsse und Potenziale der Mehrsprachigkeit im Englischerwerb in der Primarstufe. In G. Mehlhorn & B. Brehmer (Hrsg.) Potenziale von Herkunftssprachen: Sprachliche und außersprachliche Einflussfaktoren. Tübingen: Stauffenburg.

Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Vogelbacher, M., & Thoma, D. (2018). L1 effects in the early L3 acquisition of vocabulary and grammar. In A Bonnet & P. Siemund (Eds.) Foreign language education in multilingual classrooms. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.

Hopp, H., Kieseier, T., Vogelbacher, M., Köser, S., & Thoma, D. (2017). Mehrsprachigkeit und metalinguistische Bewusstheit im Englischerwerb in der Grundschule. In I. Fuchs, S. Jeuk, & W. Knapp (Hrsg.) Mehrsprachigkeit: Spracherwerb, Unterrichtsprozesse, Schulentwicklung (pp. 55-76). Stuttgart: Fillibach bei Klett.