This action research study evaluates a classroom approach incorporating a reflective, metacognitive component within a second language process-oriented writing environment. Inspired by the literature and developed by the first author, this approach seeks to provide English language learners (ELLs) with a command of metalinguistic principles…

In a paper published in "The Language Learning Journal" in 2005, Eric Hawkins describes his vision of language education as an apprenticeship comprising two stages. In stage one (ages 5-14), the purpose is "educational" and the focus is on language awareness; in stage two (14-19), the purpose is "instrumental" and…

This study reflects a social constructivist theoretical framework in which the zone of proximal development (ZPD) is a central element, as two teaching approaches, communicative language teaching (CLT) and explicit focus on form (FonF) are examined. Research questions include: Are CLT and explicit FonF conducive to reaching the ZPD? Is there a…

The developing understandings of teacher-trainees of language and content connections in "subject" teaching in Singapore's bilingual primary schools are explored in this article. I narrate the development of the project, the trainee responses, and my own reflections on the process. Throughout, I take an Exploratory Practice (Allwright,…

Teaching pragmatic competence in Korean-as-a-foreign language (KFL) settings is still an underdeveloped area, when compared to teaching other language areas, such as speaking, listening, reading, and writing. The first step to enhance pragmatic language teaching in foreign language (FL) education is to raise the FL instructors' and students'…

Uses children's drawings about reading and writing to provide valuable insights into metalinguistic knowledge that children have about literacy, including their beliefs about self and others as language users and knowledge about the demands of different literacy events. Makes a case for children's art as a source of insight on the nature and…

Noting that language study (one leg of the traditional English tripod of language, literature, and composition) has received mixed attention internationally and is almost forgotten in North America, this paper presents a rationale for researching language awareness and three instruments that can be used in such research. The paper begins with…

Undergraduate students in the Basque Autonomous Community of Spain completed a questionnaire seeking their views about native speaker teachers (NST) and nonnative speaker teachers (NNSTs) on rating scales relating to language skills, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, learning strategies, culture, and civilization, attitudes and assessment.…

This study examines interviews with 46 undergraduates to explore if participants with differing language and cultural backgrounds view plagiarism or textual appropriation primarily as a) a language problem because of a lack of words of one's own, or b) a cultural challenge as a result of either some first language (L1) cultural training to…

Presents research on second language learning strategies, including both those with a general application and those relating to computer assisted language learning (CALL). Findings reveal that the issue of learning strategies looms as an important topic and that a detailed consideration of them in CALL is feasible. (37 references) (Author/CK)

This paper reports an investigation into the language used by writers of grammar of English and learners' awareness of it. Two key features of this genre are whether and how writers present themselves in the text ("personality") and whether and to what extent they qualify their statements via the use of modality. Two comparable texts, one from a…

Current research on language learning makes many claims about the potential benefits of small group work in L2 classrooms. With the relatively recent emphasis on students' perspectives, there is now a growing number of investigations that focus on learners' beliefs about the language classroom. In this study, 21 students and their teachers…

A case study explored two African Americans' perceptions of Black English (BE) in their writing of academic prose and the effect these perceptions may have on their own metalinguistic awareness. Subjects, two African American male undergraduates enrolled at Ohio State University who had difficulty with grammar or used BE in their writings, were…

In recent years, language awareness has been a popular topic of lively discussion. Both linguists and language teachers have shown interest in consciousness raising that has been considered a means of establishing motivated and effective language learning. Most studies have approached the subject from the viewpoint of foreign languages, and less…

Argues for the use of poetry reading in second language classrooms. Reviews literary and linguistic theories of poetry and synthesizes these theories within a psycholinguistic model of poetry reading, according to which the central aspect of poetry reading is the conscious negotiation of the formal structures of language for comprehension…