Meta-linguistic Awareness Revisited: Its Contribution to the Child’s Appropriation of Form.

Metalinguistic awareness is discussed in terms of the new national curriculum in English language education in Great Britain. A chronology is presented of events surrounding national curriculum legislation that prompted controversy in Britain concerning the teaching of the English language. One result of this legislation has been the creation of the Language in the National Curriculum (LINC) project, which provides materials and activities for the teacher training necessary for curriculum implementation. A piece of writing by a young child called “When I Was Naughty” is examined as a case study of ways of talking about features of a written text. and selected observations by teachers and languag: researchers who were asked to respond to the child’s writing are described. The importance of distinguishing between two levels of awareness and two kinds of pedagogy: between focusing students’ attention on aspects of language on the one hand, and teaching explicitly about language forms and functions on the other, is discussed. Two studies of young children are described to illustrate this difference. (Contains 24 references.) (JP) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document.