This book reviews and analyzes what is known about metacognitive processes in relation to language. Each of its seven chapters deals systematically with the relationship between the comprehension and production of the phonetic, syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, and textual aspects of language. This material is then related to the metacognitive principles which govern reflective awareness. A concluding chapter deals with written language and metalinguistics. --From publisher's description.
Not very many years ago, it was common for language researchers and theorists to argue that language development was somehow special and separate from other aspects of development. It was a period when the "1 ittle 1 inguist" view of language development was common, and much discussion was devoted to develop mental "linguistic universals," in contrast to more broadly defined cognitive universals. It seemed to me at the time (and still does) that such views reflected more their promulgators' ignorance of those aspects of cognitive development most likely to provide illuminating parallels with language development than they did the true developmental state of affairs. Coming from a neo-Piagetian frame of reference, it seemed to me that there were striking parallels be tween the development of children's language comprehension abilities and the cognitive developmental changes occurring contemporaneously, largely during the period Piaget characterized as the preoperational stage. And, though more difficult to see even now, there appeared also to be developmentally earlier parallels during the sensory-motor stage.
In the past fi fteen years there has been a growi ng interest in the development of children's awareness of language as an object in itself -- a phenomenon now generally referred to as metal inguistic awareness. Until the publication of an earlier volume in the Springer Series in Language and Communication, The Chitd's Conoeption oi Language, edited by A. Sinclair, R. J. Jarvella, and W. J. M. Levelt, there had been no systematic treatment of metalinguistic awareness. The major goal of that volume was to map out the field of study by describing the phenomenon of interest and defining major theoretical issues. The aim of the present volume is to present an overview of metalinguistic awareness in children which reflects the current state of research and theory. The volume is divided into three major sections. The first considers various conceptual and methodological issues that have arisen from efforts to study metalinguistic awareness. It addresses such questions as what is metalinguistic awareness, when does it begin to emerge, and what tasks and procedures can be employed to assess its development in young children. The second sect ion cri ti ca 11y revi ews the research that has been conducted i nto the four general types of metalinguistic awareness -- phonologieal, word, syntactic, and pragmatic awareness. In the final section the development of metalinguistic awareness is examined in relation to general cognitive development, reading acquisition, bilingualism, and early childhood education.
The contributions to the volume examine in detail diverse aspects of second language education, ranging from a focus on the basic contributions of linguistic theory and research to our understanding of second language learning and teaching on the one hand, to a series of reviews of innovative language education practices in selected regions of the world on the other.
Metalinguistic Awareness and Second Language Acquisition is the first book to present an in-depth overview of metalinguistic awareness as it relates to SLA. In this volume, Roehr-Brackin discusses metalinguistic awareness in the context of both child and adult language learning, and outlines the various methods that can be used to measure metalinguistic awareness. The author presents different approaches to metalinguistic awareness, including a cognitive-developmental perspective that explains how the concept relates to literacy, and an applied linguistics perspective that understands metalinguistic awareness as explicit or conscious knowledge about language. Roehr-Brackin explores the role of metalinguistic awareness in language education aimed at young learners, as well as in instructed adult SLA. This book is an excellent resource for those researching or taking courses in second language acquisition, bi- and multilingualism, and language teaching.
During the 1970s there was a rapid increase in interest in metacognition and metalinguistics. The impetus came from linguistics, psychology, and psycho linguistics. But with rather unusual rapidity the work from these scientific dis ciplines was taken over in education. This new direction in these various areas of academic study was taken simultaneously by several different investigators. Although they had varying emphases, their work sometimes appears to be over lapping; despite this, it has been rather difficult to find a consensus. This is reflected in the varying terminology used by these independent investigators "linguistic awareness," "metacognition," "metalinguistic ability," "task aware ness," "lexical awareness," and so on. For educators these developments presented a glittering array of new ideas that promised to throw light on children's thinking processes in learning how to read. Many reading researchers and graduate students have perceived this as a new frontier for the development of theory and research. However, the variety of independent theoretical approaches and their accompanying terminologies has been somewhat confusing.
The metalinguistic dimension refers to the way in which learners bring to bear knowledge about language into their learning of a second language, the "L2". This book brings together new research on the metalinguistic dimension, given its increasing importance in the study of L2 acquisition. In applied linguistics it is widely accepted that L2 learners develop and use knowledge about language when engaging with the challenging task of acquiring a new language; this applies to both children and adults. It is definitions of the metalinguistic dimension that vary, and findings regarding its role in L2 learning are not necessarily homogenous or compatible. The scope exists for further, empirical, detailed research. This book explores the nature, development and role of the metalinguistic dimension and will be essential reading for all SLA scholars and those working in language and education.
This volume tells the story of research on the cognitive processes of writing--from the perspectives of the early pioneers, the contemporary contributors, and visions of the future for the field. It includes the very latest in findings from neuroscience and experimental cognitive psychology, and provides the most comprehensive current overview on this topic.
