Learning a third language

The study deals with three investigations concerning the acquisition of a third language in bilingual immigrant students. The most extensive investigation, initiated by the National Swedish Board of Education, included the whole grade‐8 population of immigrant students in Sweden (n = 2,736). They were compared with Swedish monolingual students at that level (n = 67,162) in their proficiency in English as measured by standardised tests. The results provide evidence that immigrant students who always use Swedish at home but have passive knowledge of their first or home language clearly perform better in English than Swedish monolingual students. However, those immigrant students who actively use their home language daily have slightly lower test results in English than Swedish students. Another important factor in learning a third language is the similarity between the mother tongue and the language to be learned. In line with these findings are the results of two experimental studies from Germany and Sweden, using different methods and careful control of important background variables, such as intelligence, residence time and age.