Volume: 4  Number: 1  Page: 1–16  doi:10.2167/ijm042.0

Is L3 Phonological Competence Affected by the Learner's Level of Bilingualism?

Francisco Gallardo del Puerto Department of English and German Philology, University of the Basque Country, Paseo de La Universidad, 5, Vitoria-Gasteiz, 01006, Spain

Research on the effect of bilingualism on third language acquisition was initially set in the framework of the study of potential differences between monolinguals acquiring a second language and bilinguals learning a third language. However, many authors have already started to concentrate on third language acquisition itself, and have investigated if there are any differences with regard to target language competence as a function of certain characteristics of the bilingual learner. The number of specific studies on the acquisition of phonology in a third language is extremely limited, though. The article presented here reports a research study on the phonological acquisition of English as a foreign language in an institutional context and, specifically, examines the effect of different levels of bilingual proficiency on phonological competence in the third language.

Keywords: bilingualism, phonology, speech perception, third language acquisition

© 2007 F. Gallardo del Puerto

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