Sequential versus Concurrent Learning: Cross-Linguistic Influence from L2 English on L3 Arabic

Ghane, Mohsen; Jabbari, Ali Akbar; Fazilat Far, Ali Mohamad; Rezai, Mohammad Javad

doi:10.22080/iselt.2026.31116.1166

Sequential versus Concurrent Learning: Cross-Linguistic Influence from L2 English on L3 Arabic

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

Yazd University, Yazd, Iran

10.22080/iselt.2026.31116.1166

Abstract

This study investigated the influence of prior English (L2) instruction on the learning of Arabic (L3) among Persian-speaking adolescents. Guided by third language acquisition models, it compared sequential (L2 before L3) and concurrent (L2 and L3 simultaneously) learning approaches. Participants included a convenience sample of 64 ninth-grade students (aged 14-15; 32 per group, gender-balanced) from a private school complex in Yazd, Iran. The sequential group had pre-intermediate English proficiency, while the concurrent group was English beginners; all participants were Arabic beginners. This study utilized a quantitative research design. Data were collected using an English placement test and three Arabic tasks: a Grammaticality Judgment Task, a Gap-Filling Task, and a Sentence Unscrambling Task. The analysis involved Mann-Whitney U tests to compare groups, a two-way between-subjects ANOVA to examine the effects of gender and its interaction with group, and descriptive statistics to investigate cross-linguistic transfer. Results showed no statistically significant differences in Arabic learning between the sequential and concurrent learning groups, except for adjective-noun agreement in the Grammaticality Judgment Task, where the sequential group performed better. Furthermore, no significant effects of gender or gender-by-group interaction were observed. These findings suggest that prior L2 exposure offered minimal discernible advantage in L3 learning. This research contributes to multilingualism studies by providing empirical evidence on the role of prior language experience in L3 learning, challenging assumptions about the universal benefits of sequential learning.

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Main Subjects

Copyright © 2026 The Author(s). Published by the Faculty of Persian Literature and Foreign Languages at the University of Mazandaran. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0) license.

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