Multilingual students' acquisition of English as their L3

Research transculturally has demonstrated that bilingualism has a positive effect on both students' general cognitive abilities and their L3 proficiency. However, data suggest that bilinguals in Denmark, on the other hand, perform worse academically than their monolingual peers, particularly with regard to English proficiency. The current study conducted in Denmark investigated multilingual students’ English proficiency compared to their monolingual peers’, and examined which learning strategies proficient L3 learners utilize. The sample was comprised of 9-graders who are monolinguals (N = 82) and multilinguals with Turkish L1 (N = 134). The participants provided basic demographic information, and were tested in their general English proficiency. Out of the 70 multilinguals with Turkish L1, 12 participants were selected for further testing; i.e., the four participants who scored the lowest, four participants with intermediate scores, and the four who scored the highest, on a test of English proficiency. These participants were tested in their L1 (Turkish) and their L2 (Danish) in order to examine whether their proficiency in their L1 and L2 was associated with English proficiency. Furthermore, the 12 participants’ behavior (i.e., which learning strategies they employ) was observed during English classes for approximately 10 weeks. Preliminary analyses show that the monolinguals outperformed the multilinguals on a general English proficiency test; which stands in contrast to existing theories on bilingualism’s effect on cognition. A follow-up study will investigate multilingual students’ ‘behavior’ in French classes (participants’ L3) in the context of Canada, in order to compare their behavior with the multilinguals´ in Denmark.