Jeroen Darquennes (Namur)

1. The acquisition and development of metalinguistic skills: challenges and opportunities in RML settings Jeroen Darquennes (Namur)

2. 1. Language policy at the supranational level 2. Terms and definitions: (meta)linguistic/language awareness etc. 3. Pedagogical approaches 4. Metalinguistic awareness / skills in RML-settings

3. Language policy at the supranational level

4. European Commission • Communication: Multilingualism as an asset (2008) • one language as a platform for learning another • one of the main objectives: to raise awareness of the value and opportunities of the EU’s linguistic diversity and encourage the removal of barriers to intercultural dialogue • Sylvia Vlaeminck (2003) in context of Action Plan 2004-2006 • Emphasis on metalinguistic skills enabling people to cover, at least passively, a wider number of (related) languages

5. Council of Europe • 2006 document • plurilingual education involves … • an awareness of and the ability to use transferable skills in language learning • an awareness of why and how one learns the language one has chosen

6. Interaction between … • European Commission – Council of Europe – academia  (re-)interpretation of concepts and terminology  partially overlapping / conflicting definitions → also within academia → nice example: François Grin’s ‘diversity clover’

7. On terms and definitions

8. Hugo Baetens Beardsmore on ‘bilingualism’ → open-ended semantics • Same seems to apply to ‘metalinguistic awareness’ • long history that can be traced back to Roman Jakobson • features in … • developmental psycholinguistics • educational psycholinguistics • cognitive sciences (cognitive linguistics) • applied linguistics

9. Tunmer & Herriman (1984: 12): “To be metalinguistically aware is to begin to appreciate that the stream of speech, beginning with the acoustic signal and ending with the speaker’s intended meaning, can be looked at with the mind’s eyes and taken apart.” • Hakuta (1985: 65): the ability to think in an abstract way about language • Warren-Leubecker/Carter (1988: 728): “the ability to consciously reflect upon and attend to language forms as objects in and of themselves, rather than the ability to simply use these forms to convey meaning”

10. Malakoff & Hakuta (1991: 147): “At the most general level, metalinguistic awareness may be defined as an awareness of the underlying linguistic nature of language use. It allows the individual to step back from the comprehension or production of an utterance in order to consider the linguistic form and structure underlying the meaning of the utterance” • Baker (2000: 71): language is inspected and thought about as a system to understand and produce conversations, rather than simply used.

11. understanding and producing conversations • refers to more than intra-linguistic features • also refers to extra-linguistic features  reflections on language as a social construct • linguistic awareness ? • metalinguistic awareness ? • language awareness ?

12. Metalinguistic awareness ~ Cavalli (2005) • la conscience du fonctionnement de la langue et de ses modalités d’apprentissage • intra-linguistic dimension • conceptualisations métalinguistiques à propos, par exemple, des registres de langues • is, at least in some way, related to extra-linguistic dimension

13. Pedagogical approaches

14. From awareness → skills / competence • metalinguistic awareness • partly present without a person being (fully) aware of it • part of it needs to be triggered, part of it needs to be acquired • can be (further) developed and turned into skills / competencies → operationalization of metalinguistic awareness → pedagogical approaches

15. Reflection on pedagogical approaches has started in the 1970s (cf. CoE conference in Turku, 1972) • The more abstract goals seem to be clear and involve making pupils (people in general) aware of … • the existence of linguistic diversity and (historical, social, functional, etc.) language variation • the existence and negotiation of language norms and standards • the dynamic nature of languages and language use (involving, in multilingual surroundings, forms of code-switching etc.) • the existence of multiple linguistic identities (language biographies)

16. the distance between languages / language varieties (making reference to language families) • the function of phonetical, phonological, morpho-syntactic and lexical features related to the distance between languages / language varieties (related to intercomprehension) • the (at times rather complicated) relation between sound and orthography

17. Existing approaches • promoting diversity (and writing skills) • e.g. Evlang (Eveil aux langues) • intercomprehension • e.g. EuroCoM • DIL (didactique intégrée des langues)

18. Evlang • développement d’attitudes positives face à la diversité linguistique et culturelle • transferts de connaissances et d’habiletés entre les langues maternelles et une langue de scolarisation • développement des capacités métaphonologiques (l’apprentissage des correspondances entre les sons et les lettres => favoriser la réussite de l’apprentissage de la lecture et de l’écriture)

19. EuroCom • den Europäern in realistischer Weise Mehrsprachigkeit zu ermöglichen und zwar durch Konzentration auf rezeptiveSprachkompetenzen bei gleichzeitiger Ausweitung auf alle Sprachen jeweils einer Sprachfamilie • beweist dem Lerner, dass er von seiner Muttersprache und einer einzigen gelernten Fremdsprache her bereits unerwartet viel Kenntnisse mitbringt, um Texte in einer verwandten, aber noch nicht gelernten Sprache verstehen zu können • schöpft alle Kenntnisreserven aus, die fast ohne Lerninput mobilisierbar sind

20. Das Aufspüren von Bekanntem in Fremdem vollzieht sich auf zwei sprachlichen Fundamenten: • der Sprachverwandtschaft • hat Priorität • ~ Laute, Morphologie, Wortbildung, Syntax • den Internationalismen → die 7 Siebe

21. Die 7 Siebe (example: EuroComRom) • der internationale Wortschatz • der panromanische Wortschatz • Lautentsprechungen • Graphie und Aussprache • panromanische syntaktische Strukturen • morphosyntaktische Elemente • Präfixe und Suffixe

22. DIL (French L2 and English L3 in Val d’Aoste) • Objectifs pour les élèves (objectifs cognitifs), e.g. • créer une ambiance plurilingue motivante • employer une langue connue, le français (emploi véhiculaire), pour en approcher une inconnue, l’anglais • mettre en place des situations sécurisantes de co-apprentissage et de recherche continue où • l’alternance est sollicitée/encouragée • l’erreur n’est pas sanctionnée et l’interlangue est accueillie comme phase du parcours • l’élève est le vrai acteur de son parcours cognitif • Stimuler/sensibiliser à l’ouverture vers d’autres réalités/cultures

23. Objectifs pour les élèves (objectifs linguistiques) • enrichissement lexical • acquisition de langages spécifiques • sensibilisation aux emprunts linguistiques • soin/perfectionnement des aspects phonétiques et de l’ortographe • développement de l’expression orale

24. Objectifs pour les professeurs, e.g. • un développement systématique et intégré du curriculum de l’aire linguistique (cohérence, efficacité, economie) • un partage et une intégration d’objectifs cognitifs et linguistiques à l’intérieur de séquences d’apprentissage communes • un transfert de stratégies et d’acquisitions de type linguistique et pragmatique d’une langue à l’autre • une planification plus ponctuelle et des critères d’évaluation mieux partagés • La création d’espaces/moments d’utilisation des langues de façon fonctionelle aux situations communicatives, aux destinataires, aux buts de la communication (valorisation de l’alternance)

25. Metalinguistic awareness / skills in RML settings

26. Considering the extra-linguistic dimension • deserves a place in every educational setting in Europe • certainly not a priority only for schools in RML setting • when used in RML settings • helps to increase the image of the minority language • helps to approach language variation, translanguaging, dynamic multilingualism as something quite normal → conditions

27. time needs to be available / allowed for the extra-linguistic dimension in the curriculum • (all) language courses need to include an extra-linguistic dimension (that should not have a negative effect on the other objectives that need to be reached) • language teachers need to find a (collective) way to deal with the extra-linguistic dimension (language practice + evaluation) • the extra-linguistic dimension in the school needs to be compared to the extra-linguistic dimension outside of the school

28. Considering the intra-linguistic dimension • in RML (or any other) setting → questions concerning • source language(s) and target language(s) ~ distance between languages • level ~ age • goals (receptive / passive / translanguaging / …) ~ society • light version vs. full option → stress the added value