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Article published In: Linguistics in the Netherlands 2024
Edited by Marco Bril and Kristel Doreleijers
[Nota Bene 1:2] 2024
► pp. 208–224

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Bilingual effects in foreign language learning

 | Utrecht University
 | Utrecht University | University of Leiden
ORCiD logo with link | University of Zagreb
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Available under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) 4.0 license.

For any use beyond this license, please contact the publisher at rights@benjamins.nl.

Open Access publication of this article was funded through a Transformative Agreement with Utrecht University.

Published online: 24 January 2025
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https://doi.org/10.1075/nb.00012.tri
Abstract
This study tests the hypothesis that bilingualism is associated with advantages in learning foreign languages. We compare oral (narrative) English skills of 15 Dutch monolinguals (aged 10–12) and 15 age-matched bilinguals acquiring Dutch and Serbian/Croatian. We also test the hypothesis that bilinguals speaking an aspectual home language have an advantage over Dutch monolinguals in learning the English progressive aspect. Narratives produced by adult L1 English speakers were used to establish a baseline of aspectual choices. The results demonstrate that bilinguals outperformed monolinguals on narrative length, lexical diversity and grammatical accuracy, but not on syntactic complexity. Regarding grammatical aspect, monolinguals overused simple forms and underused progressive verb forms, whereas bilinguals used progressives at native-like rates. However, bilinguals slightly overused simple (non-progressive) forms. Bilingual children with higher proficiency in English and Serbian/Croatian and those producing more imperfectives in Serbian/Croatian narratives were less likely to use non-progressive verb forms in English.
Article outline
  • 1.Foreign language learning advantages
  • 2.Transfer effects in the acquisition of grammatical aspect
  • 3.The present study
  • 4.Methodology
    • 4.1Participants
    • 4.2Test instruments and coding
      • 4.2.1Multilingual assessment instrument for narratives (MAIN)
        • 4.2.1.1Oral proficiency measures
        • 4.2.1.2Use of grammatical aspect
      • 4.2.2Sentence Repetition Task
      • 4.2.3Parental questionnaire
    • 4.3Procedure
    • 4.4Data analysis
  • 5.Results
    • 5.1Oral proficiency
    • 5.2Use of aspectual forms
    • 5.3Individual differences in the bilingual group
  • 6.Discussion
  • 7.Conclusion
  • Acknowledgements
  • Note
  • References
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