English as an Lx: Multilingualism, transfer and interactions with background profile

Abstract

This thesis investigates multilingualism and effects of background profile in young Norwegian learners of English. A study is reported which takes a large-scale individual differences approach. 580 participants in years 6-8 of primary and lower secondary school took part. 383 participants used Norwegian as their only home language (NO users), and 197 used other additional home languages (OA users). Using a questionnaire designed for the study, participants reported on their knowledge and usage of languages, as well as attitudes to languages and language learning. Participants further completed a novel morphosyntactic test which used error spotting and sentence completion to test five key aspects of English morphosyntax; subject-verb agreement, aspect, word order, use of prepositions and definiteness marking. Results show that OA users know more languages and use them to a greater extent in daily situations than NO users. Their attitudes to their individual languages, particularly to their home languages are more positive than those of NO users. Principal components analyses revealed differences between the two groups. NO users consider language skills as important for academic and professional purposes, whereas OA users emphasise the social and societal purposes of language and show more interest in language learning. Error rates for error spotting and sentence completion were generally high, and similar for both groups. The self-rated English proficiency of NO users significantly predicted performance for both task types but did not for OA users. Significant effects of open-mindedness were observed in both groups such that greater open mindedness predicted better performance in language tasks. Morphosyntactic transfer was investigated in three subgroups of participants, L1 speakers of Norwegian, Arabic and Slavic and Baltic languages, respectively. Divergent patterns of errors traceable to L1 structure were observed in each group in the sentence completion task. Overall, the findings of this thesis show that differences between NO and OA can be observed in degree of multilingualism and OA users’ higher degree of personal experience with the benefits. Differences on a metalinguistic level can be seen in NO users’ more accurate self-ratings of their own ability. Command of English morphosyntax was also influenced by L1 background in the sense that although error rate did not vary considerably between groups, the frequency of error types did. The results have several implications for language teaching. As participants generally expressed high motivation for learning, the study shows the importance of understanding and using learners’ L1 backgrounds in language teaching and learning in order to increase metalinguistic awareness and understanding of linguistic structure.