Conceptual and Methodological Issues in Bilingualism and Multilingualism Research

There are three different conceptualizations of a language: as a mental faculty; as a system of structures; and as a social practice. This chapter outlines these conceptualizations of bilingualism and multilingualism, the key research themes and methodological perspectives, as well as the connections between the different perspectives emerged from the existing literature. Psychology, linguistics, and sociology have influenced much of the bilingualism and multilingualism research. Sociolinguistic approaches to bilingualism and multilingualism differ from the psycholinguistic and linguistic perspectives, both in terms of research methodologies and fundamental concerns. The usual consequence of language contact is bilingualism, or even multilingualism, which can be found either in an individual language user or in a society as a whole. The increased amount of bilingualism and multilingualism, at both the individual and societal levels, offers the research community new opportunities to evaluate its knowledge base and develop its theories and models of language and communication.