The role played by metalinguistic awareness in second and third language learning

Abstract The study compares bilingual college students learning a third language with monolinguals learning a second language. It also compares bilinguals who have received formal classroom training in a language semantically related to the target language with bilinguals who have informally acquired the related language. The results indicate that English‐speaking students with prior knowledge of Spanish have an advantage over monolinguals when performing those activities usually associated with learning French formally in a classroom. The study further reveals that English‐Spanish bilinguals who have received a minimum of two years’ formal training in Spanish may have developed a conscious awareness of language as a system that provides‐ them with additional advantages over bilinguals who have informally acquired Spanish at home. The results provide evidence that developing students’ metalinguistic awareness may increase the potential advantage of knowing two languages when learning a third.