Degrees of knowing: An exploration of progressive abstraction in language awareness work

Abstract

This paper uses an analysis of the Language Awareness/Knowledge about Language components of the National Curriculum (England and Wales) in English and in Modern Foreign Languages to investigate the explicit awareness of language (in its various guises) expected of secondary school pupils. It is predicted that the recent statutory requirements will bring about a change in teaching focus and content. The analysis uses a framework of description derived from recent work in novice and expert knowledge and in cognitive linguistics, in which progression in Language Awareness for the individual is characterised by an increasing degree of abstraction and by changes in the types of categorisation and conceptualisation involved. The implications for teachers in English and Foreign Languages Departments in secondary schools are considered.