Metalinguistic awareness

Origins There are a number of explanations as to where metalinguistic abilities may come from. One such explanation depends on the notion that metalinguistic ability is developed in tandem with language acquisition, specifically pertaining to spoken language. Another possible account suggests that metalinguistic awareness and metalinguistic ability are distinct from other sorts of linguistic developments, where these metalinguistic skills are entirely separate from the development and acquisition of basic speaking and listening skills. By this account, metalinguistic abilities necessarily differ from linguistic proficiency. A third possible account suggests that metalinguistic awareness occurs as a result of language education in schools – this account holds that it is the process of learning to read that nurtures metalinguistic ability. Later developments Today, the most widely accepted notion of the development of metalinguistic awareness is a framework that suggests it can be achieved through the development of two dimensions: analysed knowledge and cognitive control. As opposed to knowing that is intuitive, analysed knowledge refers to "knowing that is explicit and objective". Cognitive control involves "the selection and coordination of information, usually within time constraint". In a given proposition, a sentence with wordplay, for instance, metalinguistic awareness plays out in several steps. One has to control selecting and coordinating the relevant information in that proposition, and then analyse the information as it is represented to decipher it. Bialystok and Ryan argue that achieving metalinguistic awareness is the ability to manipulate both dimensions at an arbitrarily "high" level. In the study of metalinguistic ability in children, the proportional growth of these two dimensions suggests that there may not be a fixed age of onset to trace or measure metalinguistic ability, but rather an emerging proficiency that follows increasingly difficult metalinguistic issues. ==Types of metalinguistic awareness==

There are four major categories to metalinguistic awareness, where this notion of metalinguistic ability may manifest. These categories are: phonological awareness, word awareness, syntactic awareness and pragmatic awareness. This may include the epistemic context, knowledge of the situation, or any other details surrounding the utterance. This may be measured by assessing the ability to detect inconsistencies between sentences. ==Correlations with other linguistic fields==

Past research has attempted to find correlations between the attainment of metalinguistic ability with other language abilities like literacy and bilingualism. However, the paradigm shifted with the idea that metalinguistic ability had to instead be measured through essential underlying skills (i.e. analysed knowledge and cognitive control). This framework – analysing ability through comparing it with skills rather than comparing it with other abilities – came to be applied to other linguistic abilities that bore the need for similar skills. Literacy The process of learning to read depends heavily on analysed knowledge on the functions and features of reading, control over the knowledge required and control over the formal aspects of the language to extract its meaning. Various research has exhibited that weaknesses in any one of these aspects reflects poorer literacy. As such, there suggests a relationship between literacy and metalinguistic awareness. Separate studies also suggest that the process of learning how to read is strongly influenced by aptitude with metalinguistic factors. In fact, older, literate children often prove to be more adept with metalinguistic skills. It is suggested, though, that the relation may be reversed in that it is improved metalinguistic skill that leads to an improved ability to read, rather than reading that precipitates an improvement in metalinguistic ability. This advanced awareness could be manifested in the transferability of the idea that language is malleable, across languages. Interestingly, studies seemed to show that bilingual children had higher proficiency in their metalinguistic skills than in the languages themselves. ==References==