ERIC Number: EJ893625
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2010-Jul
Pages: 25
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0019-042X
EISSN: N/A
Multilingualism and Affordances: Variation in Self-Perceived Communicative Competence and Communicative Anxiety in French L1, L2, L3 and L4
Dewaele, Jean-Marc
International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching (IRAL), v48 n2-3 p105-129 Jul 2010
In this contribution, I investigate the effect of the knowledge of other languages on self-perceived communicative competence and communicative anxiety in the French of 953 users. I tested the hypothesis that knowledge of more languages, specifically other Romance languages, create stronger or clearer affordances (Singleton & Aronin, Innovation in Language Learning and Teaching 1: 83-96, 2007), which may have a strengthening effect on self-perceived communicative competence in French and lead to less communicative anxiety using that language. Using the database collected through a web-based questionnaire (Dewaele & Pavlenko, Web questionnaire Bilingualism and emotions, University of London, 2001-2003), I focused on participants who had French as an L1, L2, L3 or L4. The analyses suggest that when a language is either very strong or very weak, the knowledge of other languages does not play a major role. However, at intermediate levels of proficiency, multilingualism and affordances can serve as a crutch in challenging communicative situations.
Descriptors: Multilingualism, Language Proficiency, Measures (Individuals), Communicative Competence (Languages), French, Anxiety, Communication (Thought Transfer), Databases, Questionnaires, Internet, Role, Knowledge Level, Transfer of Training, Self Concept
Walter de Gruyter. P.O. Box 960, Herndon, VA 20172-0960. Tel: 800-208-8144; Tel: 703-661-1589; Fax: 703-661-1501; e-mail: degruytermail@presswarehouse.com; Web site: http://www.degruyter.de/rs/384_392_ENU_h.htm
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A