Language awareness

LANGUAGE AWARENESSLANGUAGE AWARENESS

Answer the questionsAnswer the questions

What is awareness? What is language awareness? How do you acquire awareness?

Interest in current approaches Interest in current approaches

Learner independence, learner autonomy, learning strategies, self-directed learning, self­access, individualization

Explicit learner-centred approaches Cognitive sciences Studies in individual differences “Good language learner” research Humanistic approaches “Study skills” tradition Social changes and changes in the labour

market.

http://www.learningpaths.org/papers/paperawareness.htm

AWARENESSAWARENESS

State or ability to perceive, to feel, or to be conscious of events, objects or sensory patterns. More broadly, it is the state or quality of being aware of something. In biological psychology, awareness is defined as a human's or an animal's perception and cognitive reaction to a condition or event.

Language AwarenessLanguage Awareness

explicit knowledge about language, and conscious perception and sensitivity in language learning, language teaching and language use.

good knowledge about language, a conscious understanding of how languages work, of how people learn them and use them.

Language awarenessLanguage awareness

(Cognitivist learning theory) As a prerequisite for the restructuring of

the learner’s mental representation of the language, some degree of conscious awareness is necessary

Awereness-raising activitiesAwereness-raising activities

Explicit focus on the rules of the system Help learners uncover gaps in their

knowledge

Attention: Pay attention, alert, interested, involved and

curious- features of target skill

Noticing: Conscious registering of the occurrence of some

event. When do you notice things of language?

- make connections

- familiarity

- absence of something

- noticing the gap

Understanding: no awareness without understanding,

recognition of general rules, principles or patterns

THE CELLPHONE AGETHE CELLPHONE AGE Do you have a cellphone? Yes, No/Why? What functions does your cellphone

provide?

Match the word with the correct Match the word with the correct meaning.meaning.

a. indispensable __large inconvenient sizeb. the preserve of __be as good asc. Bulky __not noticingd. rival __suitable only fore. bemoan __very importantf. oblivious __complain about

Why did you choose your particular cell

phone? Does it have any functions that you

never use?

How do you think cellular phones will change

in the coming years?

Do you think you have good ‘cell phone

manners’? Can you give any examples?

In what places is cell phone usage banned? Do

you agree with this?

Choose one of the following populations and design a cellphone for them

ConsiderConsider

Features Uses Restrictions Price Shape Population Advantages

NOW…NOW…

Choose a topic and plan a set of activities to teach a specialized language

Raising awareness activitiesRaising awareness activities Activate background knowledge: brainstorm

vocabulary (tyres, gears, brakes, saddles, frame)

Check gist: asking general questions

Check register: establish register variables

(tenor), degree of formality

Check details: provide a grid to fill, multiple

choice questions, repeat recording as many times

as necessary

Listen and read: hand out the transcript

Resolve doubts: residual doubts about the

topic and the reading

Focus on language features: identifying,

counting, classifying, matching, connecting,

comparing and contrasting