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How Multilinguals Perceive Linguistic Interference Minnesota State University, Mankato Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects Capstone Projects 2016 How Multilinguals Perceive Linguistic Interference Amanda Ruskin Minnesota State University Mankato Follow this and additional works at: https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds Part of the Bilingual, Multilingual, and Multicultural Education Commons Recommended Citation Ruskin, A. (2016). How Multilinguals Perceive Linguistic Interference [Master’s thesis, Minnesota State University, Mankato]. Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/etds/609/ This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects at Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. It has been accepted for inclusion in All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects by an authorized administrator of Cornerstone: A Collection of Scholarly and Creative Works for Minnesota State University, Mankato. 1 How Multilinguals Perceive Linguistic Interference By Amanda Ruskin A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of M.S. In French Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato, Minnesota March 2016 2 March 31, 2016 How Multilinguals Perceive Linguistic Interference Amanda Ruskin This thesis has been examined and approved by the following members of the student’s committee. ________________________________ Dr. Evan Bibbee, Co-Chair ________________________________ Dr. Karen Lybeck, Co-Chair ________________________________ Dr. Gregory Taylor, Committee Member 3 ABSTRACT When someone begins a third (or nth) language they often struggle to inhibit previously learned languages, something that established multilinguals do without much difficulty. In this qualitative survey encompassing 298 multilinguals representing different languages, proficiency levels, and learning histories, an attempt was made to identify what strategies, if any, multilinguals are aware of using which help them to successfully inhibit competing lexemes from non-target languages, with the goal of identifying strategies or commonalities that may assist budding multilinguals. Multilinguals reported noticing their interference most in conversing and mostly as applied to vocabulary; however, for most it did not occur very frequently nor was it found very frustrating. While any language has the potential to be the source language, the source language tends to be a non-native language that is dominant, was started earlier, and/or was similar to the target language. On the whole, participants had positive or neutral attitudes towards their interference. Most had not asked for advice in coping with it, and most were not aware of any strategies they may use. The strategies reported can be divided into strategies for students (cognitive, preparatory, and communication), and implications for teachers at the classroom and individual levels. Further research is necessary to test these strategies and to more deeply explore the relationship between source and target language. 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my committee for their support and encouragement over the course of this project, and to Dr. Lybeck in particular for not accepting anything less than my best and pushing me to see that I could do better than I thought. Thank you to my survey and interview participants for their time and thoughtful responses. Thank you to Concordia Language Villages for helping to distribute the survey, and to Dr. Heidi Hamilton for facilitating that process. I would also like to thank my husband, Ben, for his unwavering support over the last two years while I pursued this degree, and for double-checking my math. Thanks to Rishani for doing it all first and proving it can be done. 5 CONTENTS Table of Contents CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................ 1 1.1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................................................................. 1 1.2 BACKGROUND OF THE PROBLEM .................................................................................................... 1 1.3 PURPOSE ............................................................................................................................................. 2 1.4 DEFINITIONS ...................................................................................................................................... 3 1.5 APPLICATION OF RESULTS ............................................................................................................... 6 1.6 SUMMARY ........................................................................................................................................... 6 CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ..................................................................................... 7 2.1 LANGUAGE PRODUCTION MODELS ................................................................................................. 7 2.2 THE MULTILINGUAL LEXICON ..................................................................................................... 15 2.3 LANGUAGE ACTIVATION ................................................................................................................ 23 2.4 FACTORS IN SELECTING A SOURCE LANGUAGE .......................................................................... 26 2.5 STRATEGIES ..................................................................................................................................... 30 2.6 RESEARCH QUESTIONS .................................................................................................................. 32 CHAPTER 3: METHODS ......................................................................................................... 34 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 34 3. 2 DATA COLLECTION METHOD ...................................................................................................... 34 3.3 PARTICIPANTS ................................................................................................................................ 38 3.4 DATA ANALYSIS METHOD ............................................................................................................ 44 PURPOSE.................................................................................................................................... 48 PARTICIPANT EXPERIENCES WITH INTERFERENCE ......................................................................... 48 6 RESEARCH QUESTION 1: HOW DO MULTILINGUALS PERCEIVE INTERFERENCE? ....................... 50 Communication Mode ........................................................................................................................ 50 Linguistic Level ..................................................................................................................................... 51 Frequency of Interference ................................................................................................................ 53 Frustration Level & Comments ...................................................................................................... 54 RESEARCH QUESTION 2: WHAT DETERMINES THE SOURCE LANGUAGE OF INTERFERENCE ? .. 63 RESEARCH QUESTION 3: ARE MULTILINGUALS AWARE OF ANY STRATEGIES THAT THEY MAY USE TO DIMINISH INTERFERENCE ? ..................................................................................................................... 67 IMPLICATIONS ........................................................................................................................................ 74 Implications for the student ........................................................................................................... 74 Implications for the Teacher .......................................................................................................... 76 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 78 CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION ................................................................................................... 80 SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................................... 80 LIMITATIONS .......................................................................................................................................... 81 RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER RESEARCH .............................................................................. 82 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................................................... 82 REFERENCES............................................................................................................................. 84 APPENDIX.................................................................................................................................. 95 APPENDIX A .......................................................................................................................................
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