Beyond literal: expanding vocabulary for translation skills in the diverse, multilingual undergraduate MFL classroom

In Chapter 6 Rosa Rodriguez-Garrido and Albert Pellicer provide an account of issues affecting students who have already acquired two or more languages and are learning an additional one (De Angelis, 2007). They start discussing whether using a shared non-native language (English) with students learning a third or fourth assists the way they process a new language at the early stages of acquisition. Through qualitative and quantitative research, they evaluate students‘ expectations and perceptions on learning a third or fourth language through the shared language (English) and estimate from the results of a student questionnaire and later interview whether the use of English can be applied as a tool of shared culture to facilitate cultural translation and word acquisition at the early stages of learning a third or fourth language and consider the extent to which language background diversity in the modern languages classroom can support teaching strategies addressing multilingualism and improve standards by taking into account individual differences and further enable every student to succeed as a language learner.