The influence of bilingualism on third language acquisition: Focus on multilingualism

This paper focuses on the advantages that bilinguals have over monolinguals when acquiring an additional language. Bilinguals are more experienced language learners and have potentially developed learning strategies to a larger extent than monolinguals. They also have a larger linguistic and intercultural repertoire at their disposal. In this paper the methodology and results of studies on the influence of bilingualism on third language acquisition (TLA) will be reviewed and their contribution to the study of multilingualism discussed. A new perspective, focus on multilingualism , is presented as a more appropriate way to analyse the effect of bilingualism on TLA. This perspective is holistic and focuses on multilingual speakers and their linguistic repertoires, including the interaction between their languages.