Das multilinguale Lexikon und die Mehrsprachigkeit - Implikationen für den mediengestützten Deutschunterricht in Tunesien

The aim of this work is the investigation of lexical interference phenomena in foreign-language word processing among multilingual Tunisian learners of German. In particular, the role of cognates is considered. In addition, cognitive theories for multilingual language processing are linked to language learning processes. The role of formal or morphological similarity (psychotypology) of the etymologically related languages French, English and German as well as Arabic and Tunisian is examined from a cognitive and psycholinguistic perspective. As a practical consequence of the study, it will be presented how a foreign language can be taught, in our case German, with the help of already known language in the sense of multilingual didactics. This learning process is based on the possibilities offered by the use of new technologies in language teaching. The work is structured as follows: Chapter two defines the concept of bilingualism or multilingualism, and presents various theoretical approaches describing bilingualism. In addition, the linguistic situation in Tunisia is presented and the role of the different languages and language varieties in Tunisia is explained, including the special situation of diglossia in North Africa and in the Arab world in general. The third chapter presents the theoretical foundations of the description of the mental lexicon, outlines the main theories dealing with the structure of the mental lexicon, and presents the main models of language processing. This introduction to the psycholinguistic foundations of the mental lexicon is followed in the fourth chapter by a discussion of the various theories of the bilingual and multilingual mental lexicon, as this study deals with the investigation of the multilingual mental lexicon of Tunisian students studying German. In the fifth chapter, the term cognates is explained in more detail psycholinguistically, distinguishing between cognates from one, the same or different script. In the sixth chapter two experiments are presented, firstly a lexical decision task with masked primes, and secondly a translation with a loud-thinking protocol. The results of the two experiments are described, analyzed, and discussed within the psycholinguistic theories of the mental lexicon. The seventh and final part is about didactical consequences for the German language class from the previously described multilingualism in the human brain. First, models of multilingual learning and the basic assumptions of multilingual didactic are presented. It also addresses the role of new technologies in multilingual foreign language teaching. Finally, there will be practical suggestions for multilingual German lessons with regard to the use of new media.