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Language Awareness and Its Multiple Possibilities for the L2 Classroom

What is Language Awareness?. ?Sensitivity to and conscious awareness of the nature of language and its role in human life" (Donmall, 1985)Knowledge of one language can help development of another language (L1 <-> L2). Why Language Awareness?. Dissatisfaction with Communicative Language T

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Language Awareness and Its Multiple Possibilities for the L2 Classroom

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    1. Language Awareness and Its Multiple Possibilities for the L2 Classroom Article by Daphnée Simard and Wynne Wong Samantha Label FLL 655 April 25, 2006

    2. What is Language Awareness? “Sensitivity to and conscious awareness of the nature of language and its role in human life” (Donmall, 1985) Knowledge of one language can help development of another language (L1 <-> L2)

    3. Why Language Awareness? Dissatisfaction with Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Loss of accuracy with CLT only Social reasons Immigrant students and language Language awareness fosters tolerance of other cultures and languages

    4. Awareness of Language Program Developed by Hawkins (1984) for U.K. students Bridge between languages and new language instructions Elementary and secondary language instruction Transition to foreign language study Bridge from ESL

    5. Metalinguistic Reflection “Acts of reflection about the language that are under conscious control including the learner’s intentional planning of his/her linguistic processing” (Gombert, 1996) Reflection example: “Des fois, les mots sont inversés” (“Sometimes, the words are reversed”) Done by children and adults

    6. Metalinguistic Reflection (Cont.) Without MR, students learning under immersion and naturalistic acquisition models experience lack of accuracy in certain features of L2. This is attributed by Simard and Wong to absence of reflection on language and awareness of either L1 or L2.

    7. Social Implications Dabčne (1990) once proposed that the L1 of immigrant students in France be taught as foreign languages in French schools. Learning these languages (and reflecting on them metalinguistically) would potentially validate their use to the native French students and break down a social barrier between natives and immigrants. “Expert” factor

    8. Metalinguistic Reflection (Cont.) Reflecting on L1 can help understanding of L2 Languages should be learned together and compared, not in isolation

    9. Studies EVLang Joint European study Language awareness, motivation and cultural appreciation Results (motivation and attitude vs. testing) Huot (1995) studied a French L1 child and found a positive relationship between metatalk and L2 acquisition

    10. Input Enhancement Instruction in which students are led to notice certain linguistic features Also known as “consciousness-raising” Based on the idea of comprehensible input (Krashen) Many methods, from textual enhancement to explicit grammar instruction

    11. Applications Activities designed to raise general awareness of any language, as well as cross-cultural appreciation Different intonations (increased sensitivity and tolerance) Nonverbal communication (greetings, cross-cultural awareness)

    14. Applications (Cont.) Using guided reflection to help students understand similarities in construction of active/passive sentences Cross-linguistic exploration of language (days of the week) helps students get to a deeper understanding and appreciation of L1 and L2 Consciousness-raising activity in which students have to recognize the “correct” form and determine the grammatical rule from there

    18. Conclusions Language awareness can be a powerful social awareness tool in the classroom Students need a healthy mix of awareness to form and to meaning These methods can potentially raise the interest level of FL instruction Prescriptive vs. descriptive?

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