The Role of Metalinguistic Awareness in Multilingual Acquisition

Abstract

Multilingual acquisition is a nonlinear and complex dynamic process. The past several decades of research have revealed that a number of factors interact and influence the variability of the process, including, for instance, the type of third language (L3) learner, learner proficiency, linguistic domain, grammatical feature, and language (psycho)typology (e.g., Cabrelli Amaro & Rothman, 2010; Llama, Cardoso, & Collins, 2010; Cenoz & Valencia, 1994; Gallardo del Puerto, 2007; Gibson, Hufeisen, & Libben, 2001; Pittman, 2008; Ringbom, 2001). Yet another crucial factor to consider, especially from the recent perspective of the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism (DMM) (Herdina & Jessner, 2002), is the linguistic background of the learner in relation to their literacy in the second language (L2), and more specifically, their metalinguistic knowledge and awareness (De Bot & Jaensch, 2013).