Language Matters: The Influence of Instruction Language on L3 Acquisition
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2023-08-29
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en
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Third language acquisition has been extensively researched in terms of the languages that influence the L3 most during the learning process and how similarity between languages, language status or order of previously learnt languages might be the reasons for a particular language being the main source of influence. However, there is very little insight in how the language that is used as instruction language during the learning process might influence the outcomes of learning. This study aimed to shine some light on the difference between L3 acquisition via the L1 and L3 acquisition via the L2. 30 L1 Dutch L2 English learners participated in a L3 learning task in which they learnt 20 Finnish vocabulary items either via their L1 or via their L2. Half of the vocabulary items were cognates in Dutch and English, the other half were not cognates. The findings very tentatively show that the instruction language might influence vocabulary learning, in that participants in the English group performed better on the test when they had to recognise L3 items and type a translation in the instruction language than the participants of the Dutch group did when performing the same task. Participants’ performance on producing the new L3 items or non-cognate items in the instruction language was almost the same across the L1 and L2 group. These results indicate that it might be more beneficial to learn vocabulary of an L3 via a learner’s L2 rather than L1.
Keywords: third language acquisition; instruction language; L3; vocabulary learning; bilinguals
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