Resumen de Negotiating the mental lexicon in EFL of monolingual and bilingual learners: Insights from Network Analysis

María del Pilar Agustín Llach

• The increasing linguistic diversity in educational settings raises important questions about how learners with different linguistic backgrounds access and organize their lexicon in a foreign language. This study compares the mental lexicon structure of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) learners with monolingual backgrounds (L2 learners) and heritage bilingual backgrounds (L3 learners) through semantic fluency tasks and network analysis. No significant quantitative differences in vocabulary production were found. However, some qualitative differences at the microscopic level, concerning specific responses, could be attested. These findings highlight the role of linguistic proficiency in structuring the lexicon. The study contributes to second language acquisition theories and provides insights for pedagogical strategies tailored to multilingual EFL learners.