How French Speakers Reflect on Their Language: A Critical Look at the Concept of Metalinguistic Awareness

Autor/in	Woll, Nina
Titel	How French Speakers Reflect on Their Language: A Critical Look at the Concept of Metalinguistic Awareness
Quelle	In: Language Awareness, 28 (2019) 1, S.49-73 (25 Seiten)Infoseite zur Zeitschrift PDF als Volltext Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	0965-8416
DOI	10.1080/09658416.2019.1567743
Schlagwörter	Foreign Countries; College Students; Student Attitudes; Language Attitudes; Metalinguistics; French; Language Tests; Grammar; Native Speakers; Knowledge Level; Error Patterns; Canada + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Ausland; Collegestudent; Schülerverhalten; Sprachverhalten; Metalanguage; Metasprache; Französisch; Language test; Sprachtest; Grammatik; Muttersprachler; Wissensbasis; Fehlertyp; Kanada
Abstract	While metalinguistic awareness (MLA) has been shown to play a crucial role in second and third language acquisition, a variety of methodological approaches point to the difficulty of operationalising the concept. The present study provides a critical analysis of MLA in relation to its measurement by means of a French-language test of metalinguistic ability. In this article, the results on the "Test d'Habiletés Métalinguistiques" (THAM-3) completed by 66 francophone college students in Québec are interpreted with reference to the notions of "noticing" and "understanding." Nearly a third of the participants reached the highest level of metalinguistic analysis in the metasemantic section of the test, as opposed to only 5% in the metagrammatical part. An analysis of the coding procedures suggests that this tendency may be related to the fact that explicit reference to grammatical categories was required to attain maximal scores in the metagrammatical section, whereas metalinguistic terminology was not necessary to perform at this level in the metasemantic section. This critical view of the coding procedures used on the THAM-3 points to the need to re-evaluate the role of explicit knowledge of grammatical concepts and metalanguage in the measurement of MLA. (As Provided).
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Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2020/1/01