High-Level Language Proficiency in Second Language and Multilingual Contexts

The issue of high-level language proficiency in other than monolingual contexts can be approached from a variety of perspectives, including linguistic/structural; psycholinguistic/cognitive and sociolinguistic/societal. Bringing together a team of experts, this volume takes a novel empirical approach to the subject combined with an up-to-date understanding of these research areas, to answer two important research questions in the field of second language acquisition: what conditions allow learners to attain an outstanding level of proficiency in a second language, and what factors still prevent them from becoming entirely like first language speakers. Looking at a range of European languages including English, French, Italian, Spanish and Swedish, it provides important insights into second language use at the highest levels as well as in high-proficient mixed language use in multicultural settings. A useful tool for both language teaching and language teacher training, it provides a solid grounding for further study in this important area of research.

Introduction: high-level proficiency and the concept of nativelikeness in second language and multilingual research practice Kenneth Hyltenstam, Inge Bartning and Lars Fant; 1. Age effects on language acquisition, retention and loss – key hypotheses and findings Niclas Abrahamsson, Emanuel Bylund and Kenneth Hyltenstam; 2. The last barriers in high-level L2 speech: morphosyntax in focus Inge Bartning and Fanny Forsberg Lundell; 3. Discourse and interaction in highly proficient L2 users Lars Fant; 4. Formulaic language in advanced long-residency L2 speakers Britt Erman, Fanny Forsberg Lundell and Margareta Lewis; 5. Developing lexical complexity in oral production: limitations and possibilities of the advanced L2 learner Camilla Bardel and Anna Gudmundson; 6. Reading comprehension in advanced L2 readers Philip Shaw and Alan McMillion; 7. Polyglotism – a synergy of abilities and predispositions Kenneth Hyltenstam; 8. What's the target? A folk linguistic study of young stockholmers' constructions of linguistic norm and variation Ellen Bijvoet and Kari Fraurud.

Kenneth Hyltenstam is Professor of Bilingualism at Stockholms Universitet. He has published extensively in the area of second language acquisition, but his research also covers other topics within the area of bilingualism, including dementia, language policy, language maintenance and shift with respect to minority languages, and language and education issues.
Inge Bartning is Professor of French at Stockholms Universitet. Her main interest is French L2 acquisition including the developmental stages, advanced learners, near-native use in morphosyntax, cultural migrants and sociolinguistic variation.
Lars Fant is Professor of Romance Languages at Stockholms Universitet. His research fields are interaction and discourse linguistics, semantics, pragmatics, intercultural communication and high-level second language use, each field with particular focus on the Spanish language.