Third Language Acquisition in Multilingual Contexts

Abstract

The acquisition of a third language in bilingual communities is now the norm rather than the exception. Yet, different perspectives have been adopted in its implementation. This chapter will deal with early developments in the study of third language acquisition in multilingual communities from an educational perspective. We shall thus point to results from research that lead to the peculiarities of third language learners. After that, major contributions within this area of research will be dealt with. More specifically, we shall refer to early multilingualism , multilingual education, and multilingual paradigms adopted in the analysis of TLA in multilingual contexts. Work in progress as well as those problems and difficulties raised by scholars interested in the acquisition of additional languages in multilingual settings will be described. Finally, we will point to future directions by referring to the potential solutions to the previously indicated problems and difficulties as raised by TLA scholars in an attempt to better analyze and identify the processes of TLA in multilingual contexts.