ABSTRACT
Today, most of the word’s population speaks more than one language (Grosjean, 1982). For example, in many parts of the world, people speak English as a second language, so although there are only 322 million native English speakers worldwide, there are an estimated 1.3 billion people who speak English as a second language. In Western Europe alone, 77% of college students speak English well enough to carry on a conversation (Fox, 2000). People speak a second language in addition to their native language for a number of reasons: They may have moved to a different country, they may need to communicate with individuals from other cultures within their own country, or they may conduct business or travel for pleasure in countries where their native language is not spoken (Milroy & Muysken, 1995). The need to speak more than one language is intensifying as cross-national communications media and international migration and travel become more common.
