Differential effects of metalinguistic awareness components in early foreign language acquisition of English vocabulary and grammar

Abstract

Metalinguistic awareness (MLA) is a predictor of adult foreign language (FL) learning in instructed settings. Following Bialystok and Ryan (1985) two-component model of MLA, we distinguish ML analysis as the ability to compare and select language items from ML control as the ability to detect and manipulate rule-based linguistic patterns. So far, there is little evidence how components of MLA interact, and how they affect learning outcomes in early FL learning. In this paper, we investigate the effects of MLA on FL learning of English in primary school, where learning is mostly oral and proficiency in the target language is still rudimentary. We tested 200 students in German public primary schools on English vocabulary and grammar. Metalinguistic (ML) analysis was assessed in an interview, while ML control was operationalized in phoneme manipulation and letter fluency tasks. In addition, we assessed personal, cognitive, and social covariates. Results from linear mixed effects regression analyses indicate that (a) ML control predicts ML analysis skills, (b) ML analysis fosters FL vocabulary outcomes, and (c) ML control benefits grammar skills. We discuss theoretical and practical implications.

Plain language summary

In this paper, we studied how primary-school-age children’s knowledge about language helps them learning a foreign language. Specifically, we examined two aspects of what has been termed ‘metalinguistic awareness’. Theory assumes that metalinguistic awareness consists of (a) knowledge of how languages work and how they are similar or different (metalinguistic analysis) and (b) skills to manipulate or rearrange elements of language and play with them (metalinguistic control). For instance, speakers know how words are ordered in a sentence and how to add endings to make words rhyme.

We were interested in how these two aspects of awareness are connected and how they help learners in different areas of foreign language learning.

To answer these questions, we collected data from 200 4^th-graders in Germany with different linguistic and social backgrounds learning English as a foreign language. We were particularly interested in the early stages of learning a foreign language, where proficiency is still limited.

Results show that metalinguistic awareness indeed consists of an analysis and a control component affecting different parts of foreign language learning. Whereas the ability to compare linguistic structures (metalinguistic analysis) is important for English vocabulary learning, the manipulation of language elements (metalinguistic control) helps learning English grammar.

Since different types of metalinguistic awareness are important factors during the learning process, teachers should incorporate activities that foster both in the classroom. Overall, comparing and reflecting on language(s) on a metalinguistic level can be a fruitful approach even at the beginning stages of foreign language learning.

Keywords:

• metalinguistic awareness
• analysis of representations
• control of attention
• English as a foreign language
• early foreign language learning

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Teresa Kieseier

Teresa Kieseier is a PhD student of English linguistics at the University of Mannheim (Germany). Her research interests include first and (early) second language acquisition, multilingualism and phonology. In her PhD, she investigates how German primary school students with heterogeneous language backgrounds acquire English as a foreign language and traces links between language outcomes and several non-linguistic and metalinguistic variables. She also works as a researcher at the Mannheim Center for Empirical Multilingualism Research (MAZEM gGmbH) where she coordinates the evaluation of various language training programs.

Dieter Thoma

Dieter Thoma is Senior Researcher and Lecturer at the University of Mannheim (Germany) in psycholinguistics and English linguistics, Visiting Professor at Aarhus University (Denmark), and co-founder and scientific director of the Mannheim Center for Empirical Multilingualism Research (MAZEM gGmbH). He received his PhD in psycholinguistics from the University of Mannheim and studied for his Diploma/M.Sc. in Business Education at the Universities of Mannheim and Swansea (UK). He is interested in (bilingual) language acquisition and processing. In his research, he has been studying how (second) language processing interacts with cognitive, emotional, and social processes. He uses different experimental methods including reaction-time tasks, eye tracking, and pupillometry as well as large-scale survey studies and language tests. An important component of his interdisciplinary research is to apply psycholinguistic findings to improve language learning in educational contexts and to understand how language influences consumer behavior.

Markus Vogelbacher

Markus Vogelbacher is coordinator of the working unit “From Kindergarten and Elementary School to Lower Secondary Education” of the National Educational Panel Study at the Leibniz Institute for Educational Trajectories. He does quantitative research in family stress processes, development and socialization of values in children, early social disparities and language acquisition.

Hopp Holger

Holger Hopp is a Professor of English Linguistics at the Technische Universität Braunschweig (Germany). In his research, he investigates child and adult L2/3 acquisition and processing as well as heritage language acquisition and attrition. He uses several psycholinguistic methods, e.g. eye-tracking and priming, to determine the directionality, scope and degree of crosslinguistic influence in bi- and multilingual speakers of different ages as well as the limits on multilingual learning and learnability.