German as a Third Language for Hausa-English Bilinguals: A Theoretical Model of Multilingual Acquisition Pathways

This study develops an original theoretical model of German acquisition pathways for Hausa-English bilingual learners in northern Nigeria, making a substantive contribution to third language acquisition theory by accounting for the specific typological, cognitive, and social conditions that shape German learning in this population. Third language acquisition research has identified several competing theoretical frameworks for predicting cross-linguistic influence sources, including the Typological Primacy Model, the L2 Status Factor, and the Cumulative Enhancement Model, but these frameworks have been tested predominantly on European and East Asian learner populations and require critical re-examination in the Hausa-English bilingual context. The study employs a cross-sectional design recruiting 160 Hausa-English bilinguals at varying stages of German language study at Bayero University Kano and Usmanu Danfodiyo University, Sokoto, and collects written and spoken German data along with language profile information. Structural equation modelling is used to test the predictive power of competing third language acquisition models against the empirical data. Findings challenge the universal applicability of existing models and reveal unique acquisition pathway characteristics attributable to the tone language properties of Hausa and the status of English as a dominant L2. A revised Contextualised Third Language Acquisition model is proposed. Keywords: third language acquisition, German, Hausa-English bilinguals, multilingual acquisition, theoretical model.