Does What You Already Know Really Matter?: the Role of Prior Language Knowledge in Third Language Acquisition

The purpose of this book is both to explore research and to present findings related to if and how language learners make connections across multiple languages. In contemplating this, two questions arose: How do people learn a third language differently than a second? Is there just reason for not drawing on connections across more than one language or should teachers, in fact, be more intentional in making connections across languages? The analysis of these questions begins with an exploration of current research on second and third language acquisition theory. Findings of the empirical research conducted with multi-language learners to learn about their acquisition experiences are presented. This study includes an experiment to test if the use of intentional teaching methodology that draws on the knowledge of previously acquired English and Spanish languages positively impacts third language acquisition of German. Two different communicative lesson plans were designed for an introductory German language course followed by an evaluation. Finally, recommendations are proposed based on the current research, the empirical research gathered for this study and the experiment results.