engleski

Exploring the language development of a young multilingual: A case study of metalinguistic awareness

Multilingualism is receiving increasing interest in contemporary second language acquisition research (e.g. Hoffmann & Ytsma, 2004 ; Singleton, Fishman, Aronin, and Ó Laoire, 2013). The importance of developing multilingualism from an early age has been recognized by national policy stakeholders (e.g. Croatian National Framework Curriculum, 2011) as well as international policy makers (e.g. European Commission, 2004 ; Johnstone, 2002). The existing research studies on child multilingualism have looked into its various aspects and dimensions, and have considered it from different perspectives (e.g. educational, sociolinguistic, third language acquisition, dynamic systems theory). The finding of research carried out to date (e.g. Chevalier, 2011 ; Dewaele, 2012 ; Faingold, 1999 ; Kazzazi, 2007) which is the most relevant to our study refers to the key role of the interaction of individual and social factors in multilingual development. The aim of this paper is to present the findings of a case study carried out with Ute, a 6- year old native Estonian speaker of English and Croatian. Ute’s metalinguistic awareness, motor and language development milestones, attitudes to foreign languages and beliefs about language learning, motivation for learning English and Croatian, her self- perception of competence in her two non-native languages, contexts in which she was acquiring her languages, her family’s socio-economic status, and parents’ knowledge of foreign languages as well as their attitudes towards learning foreign languages were the variables included in the study. Data on these variables were collected by means of a metalinguistic awareness test (Ricardelli, 1993), Ute’s self- reports and interviews with her parents and preschool teachers. The results of this case study provide valuable insights into the complex and dynamic trajectory of child multilingual development.

multilingualism, very young learners, metalinguistic awareness

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