Are multilinguals better at learning the grammar of an additional language?
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2025-03-05
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en
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In this two-session study, a group of adult participants with varying amounts of language-learning experience learned to use grammar related to the assignment of thematic agent and patient roles in an artificial language. The main aim was to investigate whether bi-/multilinguals had an advantage over language learners with less language-learning experience in the context of additional language grammar learning. The results revealed no evidence in support of a bilingual language learning advantage or main effect of learning conditions. Instead, the two factors interacted with each other in an unexpected way, which may be related to this study’s small sample size and/or the confounding influence of an unmeasured variable (verbal working memory capacity). Individual differences in metalinguistic awareness, on the other hand, were found to positively influence additional language grammar learning success, independent from differences in language-learning experience.
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