Two groups of children were tested at ages five, six, and seven to determine metalinguistic knowledge of the syntactic subject of a sentence. Found that five-year olds had difficulty repeating the pronomial and longest subjects; ability to isolate pronouns improved with age; and ability to identify longest subjects improved with increased…

Argues that the grammar of a language can be viewed as the systematic way that it works and, like everything else in life, grammar is subject to change. (JL)

Discusses Kenneth Burke's "A Grammar of Motives" and why its largest chapter, "The Dialectic Constitutions," is central to understanding the book's assumptions. Discusses also Burke's pentad and the steps of his philosophical argument. (PRA)

Asserts that Kenneth Burke's dualistic theory of constitutions pictures selves and instruments as creating and as transcending one another. Calls for a methodology dealing simultaneously with principles of permanence and change. Shows that the methodology can be formalized through rereading Burke's writings. Ties these ideas to Burke's view that…

Five examples are presented of how native speakers may try to explain a grammatical point to a linguist, and in the absence of a suitable meta-language, adopt some "lateral" way of demonstrating the point. (five references) (Author/LB)

Responds to Kanno's article (see FL 528 536), which described studies of adult American learners of Japanese and their knowledge of two universal grammar (UG) principles and noted various lateral inconsistencies. This commentary suggests that another form of lateral inconsistency, arising from failure to replicate Kanno's findings in another adult…

Traces the history of the British language-awareness (LA) movement from its grassroots origins, through its confrontation with the establishment, to its eventual academization. Provides an extended definition of LA, compares LA with the complementary and parallel enterprise of consciousness raising, and cites new developments in the fields of…

Reviews study of toddlers' responses to specific and neutral requests for clarification, focusing on ability to locate linguistic errors that provoked clarification requests and their successes in repair. Argues that this behavior provides evidence for a speech monitor that detects errors and enables repair. Suggests that metalinguistic ability…

Describes the workings of one cognitive model for the development of literary knowledge. The model derives from current discussions of the role of conscious processes in language learning. (Author/VWL)

Examines key principles of critical language awareness with reference to a class on critical reading that was taught to advanced foreign language learners. Argues that critical language awareness needs to be located within critical pedagogy, and that critical pedagogy is conceptualized around three major principles: teaching as emancipatory,…

Asks what first-order language might be like if there were no way to talk, write, or sign about it--that is, what if there were no second-order metalanguage. By considering the consequences for writing, translation, pragmatics, semantics, and language acquisition and evolution, it is suggested that without second-order, reflexive properties,…

Looks at value of proper names in language awareness education by demonstrating their role in various fields of linguistics. Then deals with proper names in three different areas of German language education: German as a mother tongue; German as a foreign language; and the multicultural classroom. Proposals are made regarding the teaching of…

Extends the notion of language awareness to include intercultural communicative awareness. The interconnectedness of language and cultural processes is illustrated through a discussion of metapragmatic awareness. The second half of the article looks at the potential of misunderstandings in intercultural communication and charts some of the…

Studied a bilingual Italian-English aphasic patient who was very poor in categorizing Italian nouns for grammatical gender in explicit metalinguistic tasks, and was at chance when gender could not be inferred from the word's phonology. However, she showed a good ability to modify adjectives to match the gender of nouns in a task that involved…

Investigates teacher representations of language in relation to assessment contexts. Analyzes not only what is represented in teachers' use of metalanguage, but also how it is presented--in terms of expression, voice, and source. The analysis is based on interviews with teachers, transcripts of lessons, and classroom-based assessments, formal…