Language & Education Network Research Seminar - The MULTIWRITE project – interaction between first, second and third languages

The MULTIWRITE project – interaction between first, second and third languages

Hildegunn Dirdal, Stine Johansen (University of Oslo)

Studies on cross-linguistic influence usually investigate only one language at a time to find out how the development is influenced by another language, often the first language. However, learners frequently develop their skills in several languages simultaneously. There is a need for studies that investigate how these languages interact and that follow the process over time.

In Norway, a majority of students learn three languages in school – Norwegian, English and a language of choice, usually French, German or Spanish. MULTIWRITE will investigate the way in which these languages interact through analysis of the texts that students write over the first year of upper secondary school. We will also investigate the feedback given by the language teachers to find out how it influences the development and whether feedback practices differ between language subjects. In a final stage, we will present our results to language teachers and, together with them, develop and test a model for collaboration across language subjects.

In this talk, we will present the background for and the aims of the MULTIWRITE project, as well as some of our experiences from the initial stages of data collection.