DISSERTATION Titel der Dissertation English as a Third Language in Macedonia Cross-linguistic influence in English language production An empirical investigation Verfasserin Florentina Halimi angestrebter akademischer Grad Doktorin der Philosophie (Dr.phil.) Wien, 2011 Studienkennzahl: A 092 343 Dissertationsgebiet: Anglistik und Amerikanistik Betreuerin: Ao. Univ. Prof. Dr. Christiane Dalton-Puffer ii We cannot do great things. We can only do little things with great love Mother Teresa to Afrim Halimi iii Acknowledgements First, I would like to express my sincere thanks to the University of Vienna for the scholarship program that enabled me to conduct my doctoral studies. I offer my sincerest gratitude to my helpful supervisor, Prof. Dr. Christiane Dalton- Puffer, who has supported me throughout my doctoral studies with her patience and knowledge whilst allowing me the room to work in my own way. I attribute my doctoral degree to her encouragement; without her this thesis would not have been completed or written. Her guidance and advice, from the preliminary to the last stages, always encouraged me to seek a better understanding of my studies. One simply could not wish for a better or friendlier supervisor. I would like to extend my gratitude to Prof. Dr. Ulrike Jessner for guiding my study and accompanying me to the International Conference of Multilingualism at Jaume I University in Spain. I am very grateful to Prof. Dr. Carolyn Brown from the George Washington University in Washington D.C-USA, who has generously given me letters of support and recommendation, and who has written numerous heartening and supportive emails. Further I would like to give special thanks to my colleague Dr. Helga Linhart from Linz, for her support during the completion of the dissertation. Many thanks go to all the students and colleagues from the English Department at the State University in Tetovo who participated in this study. I offer my regards and blessings to my parents, who have raised me and have given me their love and support all the time. I would also like to thank my brother (Afrim Goxha) who has been an invaluable help in taking over the computer systems from me, and my sister (Arijeta Selimi) for supporting me throughout all my studies. I would like to thank the many friends, relatives, and supporters who supported me in any way during the completion of my doctoral studies. iv I dedicate this dissertation to my husband Afrim and my three wonderful children, Rajmonda, Rina and Donat. I would like to thank Afrim for sharing his life with me and filling my life with his endless love and friendship. My lovely children, I thank you for your warm love and understanding, and I am sorry if I have not been there for you at key times of your life. Thank you my all for your share of love and great support during my studies. Words seem so limited to me to express my deep feelings. Finally, thanks to God for guiding me all the way to this stage in my life. v ABSTRACT As in most parts of the world, English is the main foreign language learned in Macedonia. The situation differs from other, maybe better known contexts, however, in that Albanian learners of English in Macedonia are normally bilingual to start with. The goal of this study is to investigate language use among bilingual Albanian learners of English with a view to finding out what role English plays in their lives, how they learn the English language, and what their language behavior is when learning the third language. This kind of study draws on both socio- and psycholinguistic theory and my attention was particularly concentrated on transfer phenomena at the lexical level. It can be said that the focus on lexical influence of the first and the second language upon English characterizes this study, among similar studies in the field of third language acquisition. The data were collected in classroom environments in the form of conversation and written texts from students, language background questionnaires and proficiency tests, classroom recordings, and interviews conducted with the English teachers. The results of the language background questionnaires and proficiency tests indicated that the students could be divided into two experimental groups, one constituted by 48 students with Low Bilingual proficiency and one comprising 67 students with High Bilingual proficiency, all at A2 on the Common European Frame of Reference, describing a pre-intermediate level of English. The most notable relationship observed in this study was the effect of bilingualism on third language production. This finding answered the main research questions, demonstrating that proficiency and language typology affect L3 acquisition and production. Although not quantitatively significant, the trend found in this analysis does suggest the possibility of a beneficial effect that proficiency, the similarity between language typologies, attitude as well as motivation might have on L3 learning. These conclusions support the majority of current research in the field of L3 acquisition. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Acknowledgements iv Abstract vi Table of Contents ____________________________________________________________ vii List of Tables & Figures xi Abbreviations xiii GENERAL INTRODUCTION AND STRUCTURE ________________________________ 1 0.1 Introduction ______________________________________________________________ 1 0.2 Objectives of the present research ____________________________________________ 3 0.3 Overview _________________________________________________________________ 4 0.4 Motivation ________________________________________________________________ 4 CHAPTER ONE: SOCIOLINGUISTIC PROFILE OF THE STUDY _________________ 6 1.1 Historical and political background ___________________________________________ 6 1.2 Albanian linguistic identity and language policy ________________________________ 8 1.2.1 Geographical location __________________________________________________ 8 1.2.2 The Albanian nationality in Macedonia ____________________________________ 9 1.2.3 Use of the Albanian language in Macedonia _______________________________ 11 1.3 Aqcuisition of English as a third language: a sociolinguistic profile ________________ 13 1.3.1 The English language teaching in primary schools __________________________ 15 1.3.2 The English language teaching in secondary schools _________________________ 18 1.3.3 Acquiring English in tertiary education ___________________________________ 22 1.4 Description of the two languages ____________________________________________ 24 1.4.1 Descriptive sketch of Albanian language __________________________________ 24 1.4.1.1 Phonetics and phonology _________________________________________ 27 1.4.1.2 Grammar _____________________________________________________ 30 1.4.2 Descriptive sketch of Macedonian _______________________________________ 34 1.4.2.1 Phonetics and phonology _________________________________________ 36 1.4.2.2 Grammar _____________________________________________________ 38 1.4.3 Balkan ‘sprachbund’ __________________________________________________ 44 1.4.3.1 Phonology ____________________________________________________ 47 vii 1.4.3.2 Morpho-syntactic features ________________________________________ 48 1.4.3.3 Lexicon _______________________________________________________ 54 1.4.4 Common linguistic features of Albanian, Macedonian and English ______________ 57 CHAPTER TWO: KEY CONCEPTS OF TRILINGUAL DEVELOPMENT ___________ 63 2.1 Second language acquisition ________________________________________________ 63 2.2 Bilingualism ______________________________________________________________ 69 2.2.1 Types of bilingualism _________________________________________________ 70 2.2.2 Cognitive effects of bilingualism ________________________________________ 73 2.3 Key concepts in third language acquisition 78 2.3.1 The development of research in L3 acquisition ______________________________ 79 2.3.2 Modeling multilingual aqcuisition _______________________________________ 81 CHAPTER THREE: SKETCH OF THIRD LANGUAGE ACQUISITION STUDIES ___ 90 3.1 Overview of the recent studies of TLA ________________________________________ 90 3.2 Cross-linguistic influence in third language acquisition _________________________ 97 3.2.1 Learner-Based variables ______________________________________________ 104 3.2.1.1 Sociolinguistic variables_________________________________________ 104 3.2.1.1.1 Sociolinguistic status _________________________________ 104 3.2.1.1.2 Language use in education _____________________________ 105 3.2.1.2 Psycholinguistic variables _______________________________________ 105 3.2.1.2.1 Degree of proficiency _________________________________ 106 3.2.1.2.2 Metalinguistic awareness ______________________________ 107 3.2.1.2.3 Recency of language use ______________________________ 109 3.2.1.2.4 Psychological status __________________________________ 110 3.2.1.2.5 Motivation and attitude _______________________________ 111 3.2.2 Language-Based variables ____________________________________________ 112 3.2.2.1 Typological similarity __________________________________________ 112 CHAPTER FOUR: THE MULTILINGUAL LEXICON ___________________________ 114 4.1. Aspects of the multilingual lexicon __________________________________________ 114 4.1.1 Multilingual processing _______________________________________________ 114 4.1.2 Transfer in multilinguals ______________________________________________ 115 4.1.3 Specific aspects of multilingual learning__________________________________