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33 - Third Language Acquisition

from Part V - The Acquisition of Spanish

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 August 2018

By
Jennifer Cabrelli Amaro  and
Michael Iverson
Edited by
Kimberly L. Geeslin
Kimberly L. Geeslin
Affiliation:
Indiana University
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Summary

Language acquisition research has long made distinctions between first and second language acquirers, recognizing the potentially different paths and outcomes and carrying out systematic investigation. However, only recently—within the past 20 years—has the distinction between second and third language acquirers been treated with the same fervor. Acknowledging that acquiring a second and third language are different processes is a crucial step for both L2 and L3 research. For L2 research, it means abandoning the tacit assumption that all acquisition beyond the native language is comparable and identifying the possible confound of including multilinguals in an L2 study. For L3 research, it has meant the birth of a new subfield. In this chapter, we give a brief history of L3 research, detail the current state of the field with a focus on the impact of Spanish on the study of L3 acquisition, and provide possible directions for future lines of inquiry.
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The Cambridge Handbook of Spanish Linguistics , pp. 737 - 757
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2018

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