The Importance of Language Awareness-Ambiguities in the understanding of language awareness and the practical implications

Abstract: The aim of this essay has been to investigate the role of language awareness (LA), from a teacher’s perspective in today’s Swedish upper secondary school, related to foreign language learning (with the emphasis on the cognitive aspects), and to investigate why it is important to give more attention to LA as a concept in order to enhance language acquisition. The investigation has been carried out through qualitative in-depth interviews with six foreign language teachers. The result shows that the teachers’ views of the concept do not cover all aspects of LA and that there are theoretical and practical ambiguities in the views concerning the cognitive aspects. The conclusion points to the necessity of clarification of LA and that LA ought to be explicitly mentioned and developed in the curriculum. Finally, the conclusion underlines the need of LA methodology in order to facilitate teaching in the aim of improving language learning through pupils’ metacognition.