Stockholm university
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Camilla BardelProfessor

About me

I am a full professor of modern languages and language education and my academic background is within Romance languages. I hold a PhD in Italian from Lund University (2000). In 2010 I was appointed full professor at the department of language education at Stockholm university. Between 2013 and 2014 I served as professor of Italian at the Department of French, Italian and Classics at the same University. 

 

Teaching

I have a long experience from teaching and supervision at BA, MA and PhD levels, mainly at Stockholm University, but also at other universities, in Sweden and abroad. 

In the autumn semester 2024 (November - January), Ylva Falk and I will give the course Third language research and language education, at postgraduate and advanced level. The course is given in English and deals with influential and current research on third language learning and teaching. We have a long history of doing research in the field and publishing on both third language learning and teaching, see for example:

Bardel, C., & Falk, Y. (2007). The role of the second language in third language acquisition: The case of Germanic syntax. Second language research, 23(4), 459-484.

Falk, Y., & Bardel, C. (2010). The study of the role of the background languages in third language acquisition. The state of the art, IRAL, 48(2-3), 185-219.

Falk, Y., Lindqvist, C., & Bardel, C. (2015). The role of L1 explicit metalinguistic knowledge in L3 oral production at the initial state. Bilingualism: Language and cognition, 18(2), 227-235. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1366728913000552

Bardel, C., & Falk, Y. (2021). L1, L2 and L3: Same or different? Second Language Research, 37(3), 459-464. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658320941

Falk, Y., & Bardel, C. (2024). The L2/L3 initial state, initial stages and judgement tasks: The role of intercomprehension when judging unknown languages. Second Language Research, DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/0267658323122

See also the PhD course pages:

https://www.su.se/institutionen-for-amnesdidaktik/utbildning/v%C3%A5ra-utbildningar/kurser-p%C3%A5-forskarniv%C3%A5-1.589773?notforcedreason=0&q=&xpanded=

Research

My research interests lie within the broad field of language education. More specifically, my previous research projects concerned cross-linguistic influence in third language learning and multilingualism, advanced levels of foreign/second language learning, corpus linguistics and lexicography. I am or have been responsible for the following funded research projects: The role of the background languages in third language acquisition. Vocabulary and syntax (The Swedish research council, 2012-2016), Aspects of the advanced French and Italian L2 learner’s lexicon (Riksbankens Jubileumsfond, 2006-2012), The role of the background languages in second language development. Target language Italian (The Swedish research council, 2001-2006). From 2016 I collaborate in the project Learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages - an alignment study on oral language proficiency in the Swedish school context (the TAL project) funded by The Swedish research council, 2016-2018, and directed by prof. Jonas Granfeldt at Lund University.

Research projects

FRAM – foreign language education

The research school FRAM was conducted during the period of 2012-2015. The purpose was to allow already active teachers to immerse themselves in various issues related to language learning, language teaching and linguistic assessment.

Research

Publications

A selection from Stockholm University publication database

  • Always trust your gut? A case study on the differential impact of French as L1/L2 on Italian L3 tense-aspect judgments

    2023. Francesco Vallerossa, Camilla Bardel. Language, Interaction and Acquisition 14 (1), 41-74

    Article

    The study examines how three undergraduate beginner students of Italian as L3 make sense of Italian tense-aspect morphology based on other languages. All students had knowledge of Swedish, English and French, in each case acquired in a particular chronological order. The participants completed two C-tests, and three interpretation tests of aspectual contrasts in English, French and Italian. The latter was complemented by written comments. The results of the Italian interpretation test varied depending on tense-aspect configurations. A qualitative analysis of the comments revealed four categories: (i) explicit rules, (ii) intuition, (iii) other languages, and (iv) uncertainty/unknown, differently distributed among the students. The results suggest that the students relied on their L1(s) as well as their L2(s) depending on type of transfer, whether linguistic or conceptual, which is discussed in light of some recent L3 models.

    Read more about Always trust your gut? A case study on the differential impact of French as L1/L2 on Italian L3 tense-aspect judgments

  • Ett svenskt akademiskt vokabulärtest – revidering, validering och förslag på vidareutveckling

    2022. Marcus Warnby, Hans Malmström, Camilla Bardel. Nordic Journal of Literacy Research 8 (1), 106-127

    Article

    Academic vocabulary is generally regarded as indispensable for academic literacy, e.g., for reading and understanding academic texts. Assessment of academic vocabulary knowledge can be relevant in a range of educational contexts. The aim of this study was to validate a multiple choice test of receptive Swedish academic vocabulary. A Swedish academic vocabulary test (SAVT) was extracted from an existing frequency-based word levels test. SAVT measures knowledge of words from a Swedish academic word list. Pilot studies were followed by minor revisions to the extracted test. Subsequently, the test, a sociolinguistic survey and a linguistic self-estimation instrument were administered to 551 students in university preparatory upper secondary education. Statistical and lexical analyses were conducted based on the results. Reliability and variance were sufficient and discriminated different proficiency levels among test-takers at group level. Positive covariance between test scores and self-reported reading ability and test score differences between groups of different gender and first languages added to the validity argument. The lexical analyses showed that word frequency, polysemy and meaning nuances between certain words could pose difficulties for some students, which is typical for a test group in the process of developing their academic literacy. Suggestions for further development of the test (and the underlying list of academic words), including the addition of more items, are discussed.

    Read more about Ett svenskt akademiskt vokabulärtest – revidering, validering och förslag på vidareutveckling

  • Learning aspect in Italian as additional language. The role of second languages

    2021. Francesco Vallerossa (et al.). International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching

    Article

    The study examines the role played by English and Romance languages (L2s) when learning grammatical aspect in Italian as additional language (Ln). Swedish university students of Italian (n = 34), divided according to knowledge of a Romance L2 and English aspectual knowledge, completed an interpretation task of aspectual contrast in Italian. Eight native speakers served as a control group. The findings showed that knowledge of a Romance language as L2 and high English aspectual knowledge exerted a differential influence on learning aspect in Italian. This outcome is discussed in the light of a consistent form-meaning relationship between the L2s and Italian. Yet, with a mismatch between grammatical and lexical aspect, the learners' judgments differed from the native speakers' judgments. Thus, our findings also support the idea of the existence of differential learning paths sustained by the L2s when learning complex aspectual configurations.

    Read more about Learning aspect in Italian as additional language. The role of second languages

  • L1, L2 and L3

    2020. Camilla Bardel, Ylva Falk. Second language research

    Article

    This text comments on the Keynote article 'Microvariation in multilingual situations: The importance of property-by-property acquisition' by Marit Westergaard, who argues for Full Transfer Potential within the Linguistic Proximity Model in third language (L3) acquisition. The commentary points at some theoretical and methodological issues related to the Linguistic Proximity Model, e.g. the age factor in language learning, the role of metalinguistic knowledge and proficiency in L3 learning, and the lack of predictive power of the model.

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  • Syntactic Transfer in L3 Learning

    2019. Camilla Bardel. Cross-Linguistic Influence, 101-120

    Chapter

    In this chapter, five theoretical models of syntactic transfer in third language (L3) learning are presented together with results from studies that examine the role of the background languages (L1 and L2) in L3 syntax. The models are the Cumulative Enhancement Model (CEM, Flynn, Foley, & Vinnitskaya 2004), the L2 status factor hypothesis (Bardel & Falk, 2007, 2012), the Typological Primacy Model (TPM, Rothman, 2011, 2015), the scalpel model (Slabakova, 2017), and the Linguistic Proximity Model (LPM, Westergaard, Mitrofanova, & Mykhaylyk, 2017). With these models, L3 syntax has recently and quickly become a debated issue in the field of Second Language Acquisition (SLA). The models deal with various factors that are held to play particularly important roles in the initial stages of L3 learning. The factors are, above all, Universal Grammar, typological relations between languages or between structures, the learner’s perception of similarities between languages, and the level of metalinguistic knowledge and proficiency in the involved languages. Empirical data tend to point in different directions regarding the significance of these factors. The overall results point at the dynamic nature of multilingualism in that they indicate that both the L1 and the L2(s) may act as transfer sources in L3 syntax, but questions concerning which factors lead to transfer from which background language, and of which particular structures, remain unsolved. This chapter surveys the five models and their attempts to answer the question of how previously acquired or learned languages play a role in the learning of L3 syntax. It ends with a discussion of what this line of research can offer language teachers.

    Read more about Syntactic Transfer in L3 Learning

  • Learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages in Swedish lower secondary school – dilemmas and prospects

    2019. Camilla Bardel, Gudrun Erickson, Rakel Österberg. Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies 13 (1), 7-26

    Article

    This paper presents an overview of second foreign language (SFL) education in Sweden, especially at lower secondary level. It offers a survey of the historical development of the study of other languages than English as well as a reflection over the current state of the subject. Currently, there is a shortage of research on the circumstances and conditions of the learning, teaching and assessment of the Swedish school subject Modern languages, as well as on young people’s proficiency in other languages than English in Sweden. In order to contribute to a knowledge base for further research, the current paper reviews work considering the Swedish context concerning: a) frame factors, policy issues and organization of SFL studies b) attitudes towards plurilingualism and SFL motivation, c) teacher education and recruitment policies, and d) levels of attainment at the end of compulsory school. Throughout the paper, the European context is also taken into account. The paper ends with a discussion of the general status of the subject Modern languages in Swedish school and society, the fact that this subject is not mandatory, and the consistently high dropout rate that characterizes the current situation.

    Read more about Learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages in Swedish lower secondary school – dilemmas and prospects

  • Special issue on Learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages in school contexts

    2019. Jonas Granfeldt (et al.). Apples - Journal of Applied Language Studies 13 (1), 1-5

    Article

     The current special issue of Apples – Journal of Applied Language Studies features a subset of the papers presented at the symposium Learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages in school contexts held at Lund University, Sweden, in December 2016. The symposium was organised by the TAL-project (Granfeldt et al., 2016), a research project funded by the Swedish Research Council and focusing on the learning, teaching and assessment of second foreign languages (SFLs) in Swedish schools1.

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  • Offering research education for in-service language teachers

    2017. Camilla Bardel (et al.). Language Teaching 50 (2), 290-293

    Article

    Since 2008, the Swedish government has launched occasional offers of funding for graduate schools aimed at practising teachers. The fundamental purpose of this initiative is to enhance quality in the Swedish school system by implementing what is stated in the Education Act, namely that education at all levels should be based upon scientific knowledge and evidence-based experience.

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  • The L2 status factor hypothesis revisited

    2017. Camilla Bardel, Laura Sánchez. L3 Syntactic Transfer, 85-101

    Chapter

    This chapter provides a nuanced view of the L2 status factor model, emphasizing explicit metalinguistic knowledge as the key factor governing transfer, together with individual differences in working memory and the operations associated with it. We argue that individual differences regarding the degree of explicit metalinguistic knowledge attained either in L1 or in L2 and differences when it comes to working memory, attention and noticing should be taken in consideration when accounting for transfer from previously acquired or learned languages in L3 learning.

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  • Cognitive factors, linguistic perceptions and transfer in third language learning

    2016. Laura Sánchez, Camilla Bardel. Revue Française de Linguistique Appliquée 21 (2), 123-138

    Article

    The study attempts to investigate whether there is a relationship between individual differences in cognitive abilities, learners' perceptions about typology relations, and negative transfer in written production. To this aim, data were analyzed from Spanish/Catalan bilingual learners of L3 English (n= 47) aged 10-15, with German as L2. The cognitive abilities measured were working memory, attention control, and attention switching. Furthermore, proficiency in the L3 was also controlled, based on the results of the participants' performance in the Oxford Placement Test. It was found that learners with lower attentional abilities had a harder time in identifying areas of structural contrast between the L2 and the L3, which, in turn, resulted in a higher rate of transfer from this language.

    Read more about Cognitive factors, linguistic perceptions and transfer in third language learning

  • Pointing backward and forward

    2016. Franco Pauletto, Camilla Bardel. Language, Interaction and Acquisition 7 (1), 89-116

    Article

    In this study, we analyze the kind of actions L1 and L2 speakers of Italian perform by prefacing their responsive turns with the discourse marker be’. As a baseline, the article begins with an analysis of how native speakers of Italian use be’. We then carry out a quantitative and a qualitative analysis of the use of be’ in a number of L2 learners at different proficiency levels from three data sets of different types of interactions between students and native speakers of Italian. In the qualitative analysis, we adopt a conversation analytic perspective. The results suggest that both native speakers and L2 speakers, at an intermediate to an advanced level, perform a variety of social actions by be’-prefacing their responsive turns.  

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  • The role of L1 explicit metalinguistic knowledge in L3 oral production at the initial state

    2015. Ylva Falk, Christina Lindqvist, Camilla Bardel. Bilingualism 18 (2), 227-235

    Article

    In this study we explore the role of explicit metalinguistic knowledge (MLK) of first language (L1) in the learning of a third language (L3). We compare the oral production of 40 participants with varying degrees of explicit MLK of the L1, who are exposed to a completely new L3. In accordance with the second language (L2) status factor, which is further motivated by the distinction between implicit competence and explicit knowledge (Bardel & Falk, 2012; Paradis, 2009), we hypothesize that the participants with low explicit MLK in their L1 will transfer from their L2, and that the participants with high explicit MLK in the L1 will transfer from their L1. The structure of interest is adjective placement, which is the same in the L1 and the L3 (but not in the participants' L2s). The results show that the degree of explicit MLK in the L1 plays a decisive role at the initial state of L3 learning.

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  • A new approach to measuring lexical sophistication in L2 oral production

    2013. Christina Lindqvist, Anna Gudmundson, Camilla Bardel. L2 vocabulary acquisition, knowledge and use, 109-126

    Chapter

    The aims of this chapter are a) to give a comprehensive description of a new toolfor lexical profiling by reporting how it was developed, and b) to indicate possibleareas of use and future developments of the tool. The tool has been used for meas-uring the lexical sophistication of Swedish learners of French and Italian. The dif-ferent steps of development have partly been presented in previous studies (Bardel&Lindqvist, 2011; Bardel, Gudmundson & Lindqvist, 2012; Lindqvist, Bardel &Gudmundson, 2011) but are complemented here through a detailed account ofthe tool, in order to enable replication and use of the method with other languages. The outline of this chapter is as follows: first, as a background, we provide a sur-vey of methods designed to measure lexical richness in L2 production. Then wediscuss the inherent differences between written and spoken language and whatthese differences may imply when lexical richness is measured. Next, we presenta new method for analyzing L2 learners’ lexical profiles in oral production data,giving a detailed technical description of the creation of the tool. We then dis-cuss pros and cons with frequency-based measures in general and present oursolutions to some of the problems brought up. Finally, we suggest some poten-tial areas of use and discuss some possible improvements of the method.

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  • L2 vocabulary acquisition, knowledge and use

    2013. Camilla Bardel, Christina Lindqvist, Batia Laufer.

    Book (ed)

    This book is intended for researchers and students in the field of second language (L2) acquisition. As its title suggests, the book discusses L2 vocabulary acquisition, knowledge and use, and examines them from the perspectives of assessment and corpus analysis. The chapters also address some additional central research issues: the role of word frequency in the input, the difference between single words and multi-word units, and the distinction between vocabulary of oral and written language. The first three chapters of the book present critical reviews of different aspects of vocabulary acquisition. The other four chapters contain empirical studies that relate to the central themes of the book. The data in the studies draw on a variety of source and target languages: English, French, Italian, Swedish, Hebrew and Japanese. The book offers some new insights into the field of vocabulary and suggests avenues of research.

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  • Aspects of lexical sophistication in advanced learners' oral production vocabulary acquisition and use in l2 french and italian

    2012. Camilla Bardel, Anna Gudmundson, Christina Lindqvist. Studies in Second Language Acquisition 34 (2), 269-290

    Article

    This article reports on the design and use of a profiler for lexical sophistication (i.e., use of advanced vocabulary), which was created to assess the lexical richness of intermediate and advanced Swedish second language (L2) learners' French and Italian. It discusses how teachers' judgments (TJs) of word difficulty can contribute to the methodology for lexical profiling and compares two methods, one purely frequency based and one modified on the basis of TJs of word difficulty. It has been suggested elsewhere that factors other than frequency play an important role in vocabulary acquisition. Here it is argued that cognates and thematic vocabulary related to teaching materials, although infrequent in target language (TL) corpora, should not necessarily be considered advanced and that analyses of learners' lexical sophistication would benefit from integrating these aspects. In this study, the frequency-based method normally used in lexical profiling was modified by recategorizing some low-frequency words considered easy by many teachers. On the basis of the TJs, a basic vocabulary, which consisted mainly of high-frequency words but also of cognates and thematic words, was defined, which was based on the fact that teachers judged certain low-frequency cognates and thematic words as relatively easy. Using the modified method, learners' lexical profiles were found to be more homogeneous within groups of learners at specific proficiency levels. The superiority of the new method over the purely frequency-based one was shown when comparing effect sizes. It is argued that this method gives a more correct picture of advanced L2 lexical profiles.

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  • Lexical richness in the advanced learner’s oral production of French and Italian L2

    2011. Christina Lindqvist, Camilla Bardel, Anna Gudmundson. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 49, 221-240

    Article

    This study investigates Swedish learners' lexical richness in French and Italian L2. A frequency-based measure was used to compare the lexical richness of learners at different proficiency levels to that of native speakers. Frequency bands based on oral L1 data were created for both languages to serve as a benchmark. For French, the results show that there are differences between two groups of learners at different proficiency levels concerning lexical richness. Moreover, the most advanced learners have a lexical profile that is similar to that of a control group of native speakers, suggesting that these learners are native-like as far as lexical richness is concerned. The results for Italian also point at differences between the learner groups. However, the most advanced group does not reach the degree of lexical richness of the native speakers. The overall results support earlier proposals of a discriminating capacity of lexical frequency profiling methods for L2 proficiency.

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  • Object pronouns in German L3 syntax

    2011. Ylva Falk, Camilla Bardel. Second language research 27 (1), 59-82

    Article

    Several studies on L3 lexicon, and recently also some on L3 syntax, have convincingly shown a qualitative difference between the acquisition of a true L2 and the subsequent acquisition of an L3. Some studies even indicate that L2 takes on a stronger role than L1 in the initial state of L3 syntax (e.g. Bardel and Falk, 2007; Rothman and Cabrelli Amaro, 2010). In this article we further investigate syntactic transfer from L1/L2 to L3 in learners at an intermediate level of proficiency in the target language. Data have been obtained from 44 learners of German as L3, testing the placement of object pronouns in both main and subordinate clauses in a grammaticality judgement/correction task (GJCT). The learners constitute two groups (both n = 22): One group has English as L1 and French as L2 and the other group has French as L1 and English as L2. This particular combination of background languages allows us to pinpoint the source of transfer, since object placement is pre-verbal in French and post-verbal in English, this being applied in both main and subordinate clauses. In target language (TL) German, however, the object placement varies between pre-verbal in the sub clause and post-verbal in the main clause. The two groups behave differently as to both acceptance and rejection of the test items (60 grammatical and ungrammatical main and sub clauses with object pronouns). This difference is significant and can be ascribed to their L2s, respectively. Our results thus show that the L2 transfers into the L3 even at an intermediate level, and on the basis of this we claim a strong role for the L2 status factor.

    Read more about Object pronouns in German L3 syntax

  • The study of the role of the background languages in third language acquisition

    2010. Ylva Falk, Camilla Bardel. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 48 (2/3), 185-219

    Article

    The aim of this article is to give an up-to-date picture of study of the role of the background languages (the first language, L1, and the second language, L2) in third language (L3) acquisition, mainly in the two areas of vocabulary and syntax. These seem to be the two linguistic levels on which there has so far been most research concerning cross-linguistic influence (CLI). Lexical CLI and syntactic transfer have in most cases been studied separately, but as we will see studies indicate that L3 learners seem to rely on both vocabulary and grammar from their background languages, at least to some extent. The role of the background languages in morphology and phonology has been less investigated in L3 studies, although there are a few studies that indicate that L3 performance can reflect activation of previously acquired languages at these linguistic levels too. The paper also includes a survey of neurolinguistic approaches to multilingualism and discusses how these findings can contribute to the understanding of transfer in L3 acquisition.

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  • Il lessico nella produzione orale dell’italiano L2 e il vocabolario di base

    2007. Camilla Bardel, Anna Gudmundson, Jane Nystedt. Linguistica e Letteratura (1/2), 151-183

    Article

    The aim is to privilege the text, analyzed in all its inner characteristics, in its relationships with other literary works and other languages, like those used by reviewers and in visual arts ground. An interdisciplinary approach will be emphasized as wider as possible, in order to reach the intertextuality and interexpressivity levels, and search the comparison with textualities and different codes from scientific and tecnological culture.

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  • The role of the second language in third language acquisition

    2007. Camilla Bardel, Ylva Falk. Second Language Research 23 (4), 459-484

    Article

    In this study of the placement of sentence negation in third language acquisition (L3), we argue that there is a qualitative difference between the acquisition of a true second language (L2) and the subsequent acquisition of an L3. Although there is considerable evidence for L2 influence on vocabulary acquisition in L3, not all researchers believe that such influence generalizes to morphosyntactic aspects of the grammar. For example, Håkansson et al. (2002) introduce the Developmentally Moderated Transfer Hypothesis (DMTH), which incorporates transfer in Processability Theory (PT). They argue against syntactic transfer from L2 to L3. The present study presents counter-evidence to this hypothesis from two groups of learners with different L1s and L2s acquiring Swedish or Dutch as L3. The evidence clearly indicates that syntactic structures are more easily transferred from L2 than from L1 in the initial state of L3 acquisition. The two groups behave significantly differently as to the placement of negation, a difference that can be attributed to the L2 knowledge of the learners in interaction with the typological relationship between the L2 and the L3.

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