The Effect of Bilingualism on the Third Language Learning: A Case Study of the Monolingual and Bilingual Chinese Persian Learners

In recent years, extensive studies have been conducted in the field of the effect of bilingualism in different aspects on third language learning, which has been proven to be positive and sometime negative in various studies. The present research aimed to examine the effect of artificial bilingualism (learning foreign/ second language through schooling) on the third. The participants included 24 Chinese Persian learners in the Persian Language Center at IKIU. The learners were classified based on their domination on English. So, there existed two groups, the first knew English as a foreign language in different levels while the second only knew Chinese as their mother tongue. Each group included 12 applicants. The data were gathered based on their final scores in four skills of reading, writing, speaking and listening. Then the data were analyzed. Results showed that there was positive significant relationship between bilingualism and the level of achievement in Persian learning. In addition, findings represented that the higher the level of bilingualism is in learners, the progress in Persian learning would be more observable. Therefore, it can be concluded that there is a significant relationship between the domination on bilingualism and third language learning.