Chapter 12: Second and Third Language Acquisition and the Multilingual Classroom: New Insights for Higher Education

In the introduction to this volume, we set out to explore and provide answers to several research questions related to multilingualism in higher education classrooms, which are summarized here for ease of reference:

In Part I of this volume, several chapters focus on a crucial factor in the successful acquisition of a foreign language, namely metalinguistic awareness, especially among adult learners.

In Chapter 2, D’Angelo provides compelling evidence that L2 and L3 ­acquisition are complementary, yet distinct fields of research, and that bilingualism confers several cognitive advantages to learners of an L3 or additional language, in particular enhanced metalinguistic awareness, especially if students have received both informal and formal instruction in their L1 and L2. D’Angelo also points out that metalinguistic awareness