A bright future for interdisciplinary multilingualism research

Multilingualism is a prevalent reality in today's world. From an individual level to a societal one, multilingualism incorporates many aspects that have been studied extensively by diverse social research disciplines. The present article will explore the potential directions which multilingualism research can take, concentrating mainly on the benefits of the integration of psychological methods in mainstream multilingualism research. We propose that a closer collaboration between psychologists and applied linguists is necessary for the advancement of the field of multilingualism. The integration of the themes and methodologies of the two social sciences will be advantageous to both. The diverse methodological approaches should not be viewed as a hindrance for the development of multilingual research, but rather as an asset. Linguists and psychologists can draw on each other's methodological expertise since many of the research questions asked are comparable and complementary.