The semantic access mechanism of L3 Spanish words

Abstract This study investigates the lexical semantic access mode among students ( n = 70) who speak Chinese as their first language (L1), English as a second language (L2), and are in the process of learning Spanish as their third language (L3). We use a cross-linguistic repetition priming paradigm with lexical decision tasks to assess whether semantic access to L3 Spanish words is achieved with the help of L1 Chinese or L2 English translation equivalents. The results show that the lexical semantic access mode varies depending on L3 proficiency level: Participants with high Spanish proficiency level have direct access to the concepts, while nonproficient Spanish learners have access to the Spanish words’ conceptual representation with the help of translation equivalents from both L1 Chinese and L2 English, which suggests that the Revised Hierarchical Model ( Kroll and Stewart, 1994 ) in second language acquisition (SLA) can be extended to the third language acquisition (TLA) process. Our results also corroborate the Parasitic Model ( Ecke, 2015 ), as trilingual speakers are shown to be dependent on previously acquired languages at the initial stage.