The Advanced-Level Second Language Learner as a Multicompetent Language User

Tatiana V. Ustinova, Natalia I. Zamerchenko, Andrei V. Kuznetsov

Abstract
The paper aims to clarify the cognitive and communicative status of the advanced-level second/foreign language learner and contribute to describing the multicompetent complexity emergent in him/her in the process of language learning. The linguistic multicompetence approach and the cognitive approach to the second language acquisition research are used as the framework to describe the specifics of the advanced-level second language learner’s cognition, metalinguistic awareness, and communicative competence with the emphasis on its pragmatic and sociolinguistic aspects. A focused review of the second language acquisition research and an in-depth account of the relevant theories framing the field of advanced-level language learning investigation allowed to highlight the synergic nature of bilingual cognition and show that the dynamic construal of meaning in advanced second language use is mediated by the emergent dual-language functional system and the synergic effect of two languages inter-functioning. Metalinguistic awareness in advanced-level language learning is analyzed from the knowledge-reflection-control-nexus perspective. Sharpened metalinguistic awareness of advanced-level language learners is presented as performance-driven and reflecting the underlying changes in cognitive abilities of the emergent bilingual. Advanced learners’ pragmatic and sociolinguistic development is viewed as dependent on cross-linguistic transfer and requiring a deliberate continual effort for maintenance. Gaining the advanced-level second language proficiency is concluded to be a driving force for the complex cognitive-communicative changes in language learners and acquiring a unique status of language users at their own right.

Key words: Second Language Acquisition, Emergent Bilingualism, Bilingual Cognition, Plurilingualism, Metalinguistic Awareness, Pragmatic Competence, Sociolinguistic Competence

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