27.2319, Review: Lang Acq; Ling Theories; Pragmatics: Falomir (2015)

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LINGUIST List: Vol-27-2319. Mon May 23 2016. ISSN: 1069 - 4875.

Subject: 27.2319, Review: Lang Acq; Ling Theories; Pragmatics: Falomir (2015)

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Date: Mon, 23 May 2016 14:15:45
From: Anna Krulatz [anna.m.krulatz at hist.no]
Subject: Multilingualism and Very Young Learners

 
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Book announced at http://linguistlist.org/issues/26/26-2674.html

AUTHOR: Laura  Portolés Falomir
TITLE: Multilingualism and Very Young Learners
SUBTITLE: An Analysis of Pragmatic Awareness and Language Attitudes
SERIES TITLE: Trends in Applied Linguistics [TAL] 12
PUBLISHER: De Gruyter Mouton
YEAR: 2015

REVIEWER: Anna M Krulatz, Sør-Trøndelag University College

Reviews Editor: Helen Aristar-Dry

SUMMARY

“Multilingualism and very young learners” is a monograph that examines
pragmatic comprehension of requests produced by young multilingual learners of
Catalan, English and Spanish in instructional contexts. The study approaches
early multilingualism from a holistic, dynamic and multilingual perspective. 
Specifically, the study investigates language attitudes of the participants,
the relationship between language attitudes and pragmatic awareness, and
factors that affect multilingual development in the wider context. 

The book is divided into two parts. Part I presents the theoretical framework
and includes three chapters: Multilingualism, Multilingual pragmatic
development in children, and Language attitudes. Part II outlines the study
and presents the findings. It is divided into the following chapters:
Motivation for the present study, Results and discussion, and Conclusion. 

In Chapter 1, a review of relevant literature related to the study of
multilingualism is presented. Statistical information about multilingualism in
the Valencian educational system, where the study was conducted, is provided,
followed by the theoretical foundations of multilingualism from a
sociolinguistic perspective, an educational perspective, and a Dynamic Systems
Theory perspective (Herdina & Jessner, 2002). The chapter concludes with a
consideration of the notions of Third Language Acquisition (TLA) and language
awareness in multilinguals.  

Chapter 2 gives a close examination of issues pertaining to pragmatic
development in multilingual children. It first provides theoretical
perspectives on the acquisition of pragmatics in first, second and third
language. Next, it presents a theoretical framework for the analysis of
requests, including the head act and internal and external speech act
modifications. It then provides an overview of the studies that examined the
development of requesting behavior in young language learners. 

Chapter 3, which concludes Part I, is devoted to language attitudes and
multilingual development. The chapter opens with a discussion of the
approaches to the study of language attitudes. It provides an overview of
language attitude studies in the Valencian community, as well as a
comprehensive review of literature on multilingual children’s language
attitudes. Finally, it explores the link between pragmatic awareness and
language attitudes, and provides a justification for the examination of the
degree to which language attitudes can facilitate the development of pragmatic
awareness. 

Chapter 4 opens with a motivation for the main aims of the study through a
summary of the key relevant points in current research. In the sections that
follow, research questions, research hypotheses and methodology are presented.
The relatively large (n=402) participant sample is described in detail,
including a thorough justification for the selection of two distinct age
groups (preschoolers and third grade primary school students). A thorough
description of data collection instruments and procedure and data coding and
analysis follows. The design of the instruments was based in current
literature and tested in a pilot study. 

In Chapter 5, the results of the analyses of the empirical data as well as a
discussion of findings are presented. The findings are introduced with respect
to the research questions and the hypotheses stated in Chapter 4 and discussed
within the framework of the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism (Herdina &
Jessner, 2002). The main findings can be summarized as follows: the
participants displayed high levels of pragmatic awareness in Catalan, English,
and Spanish and are able to differentiate between the three languages systems;
older students (third grade) displayed higher levels of pragmatic awareness
than preschoolers; the respondents had positive attitudes towards
multilingualism; yet  all three languages were not equally valued, especially
by the older students. Participant performance on the pragmatic comprehension
test and their language attitudes were correlated with the type of language
program they were enrolled in.

The last, rather brief, chapter consists of concluding remarks, pedagogical
implications, and a discussion of the limitations of the study and suggestions
for further research. The author concludes that in addition to contributing to
research on pragmatic development in early multilinguals, the study provides
firm support for the Dynamic Model of Multilingualism proposed by Herdina and
Jessner (2002). 

EVALUATION

By examining pragmatic awareness of young multilingual learners, the study
presented in the book addresses a gap in the field of multilingual pragmatic
development. Very few studies have examined the development of pragmatic
competence and language attitudes from the multilingual perspective to date
(Safont, 2011). As the author herself points out, most of the existing
research focuses on adults. Thus, undertaking a study of pragmatic awareness
in early trilinguals is definitely one of the volume’s strengths. The study is
novel in that it was conducted from the perspective of the Dynamic Model of
Multilingualism (Herdina & Jessner, 2002), thus foregrounding multilingualism
as the norm and avoiding monolingual bias. Another asset of the study is that
it used a multi-method approach, which allowed for triangulation of the data.
The results are presented clearly and supported visually through a selective
use of figures and tables. Finally, because the book contains a comprehensive,
up-to-date overview of the theoretical foundations of multilingualism,
existing research on pragmatic development in children and on the role of
language attitudes in multilingual development, it can be accessible and
useful to a wider audience, including graduate students majoring in
multilingual studies and/or interlanguage pragmatics. 

While the book constitutes an important contribution to studies in
multilingualism, it is not without weaknesses. Most importantly, the first
research question explores the participants’ “reasonable degree of pragmatic
awareness” (p. 112). This seems to suggest that there is a norm the
participants should have reached, which denies the author’s original
assumptions about the complexity, variability, and dynamic nature of
multilingualism. This statement also presumes the existence of a benchmark,
but since there have been no previous studies of pragmatic awareness in early
trilinguals, any comparisons would have to be made to bilinguals or
monolinguals, a practice the author herself advises against. 

Another major concern is that the study attempts to measure the perceived
level of appropriateness of requests in young children and, based on the
information provided in Chapter 4, it seems that the term ‘appropriate’ was
actually used with the participants. Considering the very young age of the
children who participated in the study, in particular the preschooler group,
more information regarding how the term ‘appropriate’ was presented and
explained to the children would be welcome. 

In addition, the references to politeness of requests are dated and
oversimplified. Degrees of politeness, which are illustrated in an elaborate
table on p. 53 do not really seem relevant to the study itself. However, since
the author chose to discuss politeness, more up-to-date literature, such as
Eelen (2001), should have been mentioned. 

I also found issues with cohesion and coherence to be distracting. Some
paragraphs contain sentences that seem unrelated to the main idea, or
sequencing of ideas that is confusing. A vague statement that ‘English alone
is not enough’ reappears in a few places without being sufficiently explained,
and some relationships between sentences are unclear due to misuse of cohesive
devices. For instance, the way the author uses ‘accordingly’ on p. 14 suggests
a temporal-causal relationship that is contrary to what can be inferred from
the provided dates of publication. Also, in a few instances, lack of specific
details forced me to seek clarification in external sources so that I could
follow the author’s reasoning. 

The volume also contains a number of aesthetic issues that could have been
avoided through a more careful editing process. There are several instances of
missing verbs, misuse of relative pronouns and verb tenses, misplaced
modifiers and non-parallel structure. An awkward avoidance of third person
singular pronouns to refer to the cited authors and a rather clumsy,
repetitive use of ‘this author’ or ‘this scholar’ as anaphora is also
distracting. 
These issues aside, however, the volume is a very welcome addition to the
field of multilingual studies with a focus on pragmatic awareness in young
language learners, and the first volume that explored pragmatics in early
trilinguals in a classrooms setting. As such, it will be an indispensable
reference to other researchers working in this area.

REFERENCES

Eelen, G. (2001). A critique of politeness theory. London, New York:
Routledge. 

Herdina, P. & Jessner, U. (2002). A Dynamic model of Multilingualism.
Perspectives of change in psycholinguistics. Clevedon: Multilingual Matters. 

Safont, M. P. (2011). Early requestive development in a consecutive third
language learner. International Journal of Multilingualism, 8(3), 256-276.


ABOUT THE REVIEWER

Anna Krulatz is an Associate Professor of English in the Department of Teacher
and Interpreter Education at Sør-Trøndelag University College where she works
with pre- and in-service English teachers. Her main interests include second
language teaching methodology with focus on interlanguage pragmatics,
multilingualism, content-based instruction, and teacher education.





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