METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS DEFINED

Metalinguistic awareness is a term used to describe a construct, theory or model to explain the interaction between language and written text, primarily in bilingual learners’ literacy development (Bialystok, 2007.) There term was first used by Cazden (1974) to describe and explain the transfer of linguistic knowledge and skills across languages. Metalinguistic awareness (MA) is defined as an awareness or bringing into explicit consciousness of linguistic form and structure in order to consider how they relate to and produce the underlying the meaning of utterances. MA is also termed metalinguistic ability. The construct describes the ability to make language forms objective and explicit and to attend to them in and for themselves. MA is the ability to view and analyze language as a “thing,” language as a “process,” and language as a “system.” MA in bilingual learners is the ability to objectively function outside one language system and to objectify languages’ rules, structures and functions. Code-switching and translation are examples of bilinguals’ MA.

MA was used as a construct in research extensively in the mid 1980’and early 1990’s. Research has shown MA in bilinguals to be a crucial component because of its documented relationship and positive effects on language ability, symbolic development and literacy skills. See summaries of research in Bialystok, 2007 and August & Shanahan, 2006. The focus shifted in the mid 1990’s to a greater emphasis on phonological aspects of language and knowledge of phoneme-grapheme relationships (the alphabetic principle and phonics) as the central abilities in literacy learning. However, the construct of MA is more expansive and inclusive than theories and constructs in literacy because the abilities referred to and studied include all aspects and components of language and it purposeful, functional uses. The cross-linguistic transfer research points outs how reading ability is enhanced when students whose first language (L1) is Spanish learn to apply their linguistic knowledge and literacy skills to reading in English as a second language (L2). This section provides a brief overview of principles of cross-linguistic transfer to address these questions: What knowledge and skills transfer across languages in reading in two languages? How can students be taught to apply what they have learned in reading and writing in their native language to learning English language and reading in English?

The most commonly studied phenomenon in biliteracy learning that transfers across languages and enhances literacy learning among bilingual learners is “metalinguistic awareness” (Koda, 2008). Metalinguistic awareness (MA) is defined as a bringing into explicit consciousness of linguistic form and structure in order to consider how they relate to and produce the underlying meaning of utterances. MA is the ability to “think about language” and to make language forms objective and explicit in order to attend to them in and for themselves and to view and analyze language as a process and as a system. The research literature gives educators a description of the domains of knowledge and reading processes where transfer occurs that facilitates and supports students’ skills in reading and writing in both L1 and L2 (Bialystok, 2007).

Metalinguistic transfer is the application of particular metalinguistic awareness and knowledge acquired in students’ L1 to speaking, reading and writing in their L2 English. In bilingual learners, Koda (2008) proposed a “transfer facilitation model” based on the research findings that reading skills transfer across languages. Children form sensitivity to the regularities of spoken language as they develop oral language skills. Since all writing systems are structured to capture and represent these regularities, learning to read involves mapping spoken language elements onto the graphic symbols of the language of the text. MA enables learners to analyze spoken words into their constituent parts. This process becomes more explicit with increasing experiences with print.

As first-language metalinguistic awareness is established, bilingual readers can automatically activate and apply this skill to reading in their second language. MA entails the ability to compare and contrast two language systems to discover commonalities as well as differences. Bilingualism enhances MA because of the juxtapositioning of two language systems as students learn listening, speaking, reading and writing in Spanish and English. Some reading strategies are common to both languages, while others are specific to the phonetic and graphic systems of L1 or L2. The degree of cross-linguistic transfer is greatest when both the languages have alphabetic writing systems that have many of the same letter-sound relationships, such as the case of Spanish and English (Bialystok, Luk & Kwan, 2005). Research studies offer evidence that there is a positive transfer between L1 and L2 in several areas: phonemic awareness and phonological processes (Cicero & Royer, 1995; Durgunoglu, Nagy, & Hancin-Bhatt, 1993); decoding and word recognition strategies (Koda, 1997; Mora, 2001), use of cognates (Nagy, García, Durgunoglu & Hancin-Blatt, 1993)and overall comprehension strategies (Jiménez, García & Pearson, 1996; Padrón, 1992; Royer & Carlo, 1991). Overall, the research findings support the premise that explicit instruction in linguistic parallels and contrasts is helpful for developing effective reading strategies in bilingual learners. For a complete review of the research on cross-linguistic transfer and metalinguistic awareness, see the National Literacy Panel’s report (August & Shanahan, 2006).

Metalinguistic awareness leads to metalinguistic knowledge (MK) through a continual and simultaneous process of developing linguistic control and cognitive abilities. MA is a mid-point in the development of MK, which proceeds from implicit understanding and unarticulated knowledge through non-structured experiences toward explicit understanding and articulated knowledge through structured experiences such as direct instruction in transference knowledge and skills. Implicit and unarticulated awareness is present in students’ L1 and developing in their L2 English. Awareness is made explicit through structured experiences and direct teaching that involve discussions of students’ insights and understandings about language and its use in written texts. These learning experiences lead to explicit articulated knowledge of language forms and functions. This explicit knowledge formation in turn results in increases in students’ self-regulatory control and enhanced language use in cognitive performance on literacy tasks.

The following describes the progression in metalinguistic awareness and transfer from L1 to L2:

2) structured learning experiences and purposeful uses of text toward metalinguistic awareness ...

3) to explicit knowledge of language form and function and the ability to articulate this knowledge

4) resulting in increased self-regulatory control over language production and increased use of language in cognitive performance.

What does research tell the biliteracy teacher about sound pedagogy and effective programs of dual language literacy instruction?

Does learning to read and write in two languages have a detrimental effect on a student’s ability to become a fully proficient speaker and an effective reader in English? Should students learn to read in both languages simultaneously or sequentially?

What knowledge and skills transfer between Spanish and English as students develop biliteracy?

The California Language Arts/Reading Standards call for a balanced literacy approach. How do we define a balanced approach to biliteracy instruction?

How can the biliteracy teacher organize instruction to maximize cross-linguistic transfer?

Should the teacher focus more on phonics and decoding skills or on comprehension in literacy instruction? Is the focus the same or different when teaching Spanish as the students’ primary language and English as a second language?

How does the biliteracy teacher assess students’ progress in becoming biliterate? What will students know and be able to do at different stages of biliteracy development?

How does the biliteracy teacher know how much of each language to use in instruction and when to use each language? How do we teach in two languages without merely translating, or being repetitious or inefficient?

How can the biliteracy teacher focus on literacy learning without sacrificing content learning in the dual language classroom?

SPELLING IN ENGLISH	DEGREE OF TRANSFER	SPELLING IN SPANISH
26 letters representing 44 phonemes. Letter names are used to teach reading because they provide strong clues to letter-sound correspondences in spelling. Phonics generalizations apply to 75% of written words.	Partial: Alphabetical order is the same except for additional Spanish letters. Spanish "borrows" k and w from English for occasional words of foreign origin adopted into the language.	29 letters that represent 24 phonemes. Spanish alphabet includes ch, ll, ñ, rr that represent a single phoneme that are considered "letters." Spanish does not have double letters that represent a single phoneme. Letter names are used infrequently because the names of consonants have vowel sounds that detract from learning letter-sound correspondences. Phonics rules apply consistently without exceptions.
There are many cases of multiple ways to spell the same phoneme, especially vowel sounds. Spelling patterns signal graphophonic equivalence.	Partial: Spanish vowels never vary. Only the phonemes /k/, /s/ and /h/ in Spanish have more than one spelling. The c for /k/ and the g for /h/ are signaled by a pattern based on the vowel that follows.	There are only a few "letras" difíciles" that represent multiple ways to spell a single phoneme. Only four phonemes have multiple spellings: c before e and i, s & z spell /s/; c, k and qu spell /k/; b and v are sometimes confused because of similarity in pronunciations.
English has many silent letters that are part of digraphs, phonograms or spelling patterns.	Limited: Only two silent letters in Spanish. Otherwise, all Spanish letters are pronounced.	Only silent letters are h and the u in gu and qu. When u is pronounced in gu is written as ü with a diérisis.

SPELLING IN ENGLISH

DEGREE OF TRANSFER

SPELLING IN SPANISH

Most consonants with only one letter-sound correspondence and are fairly stable, sometimes affected by other letters in the word. W and Y sometimes function as vowels.

Partial: One letter-sound correspondence that are the same in Spanish: b, d, f, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t.

Consonants sounds that do not exist in Spanish are: v as in vote, th as in then, z as in zoo, s as in measure, and j as in jump.

All consonants have one letter-sound correspondence except c and g, x and y. Letter c before a, o, and u has /k/ sound and before e and i have /s/ sound. Letter g before a, o, and u has /g/ sound and before e or i has /h/ sound. H is silent.

Blends appear in initial, medial and ending positions

Initial blends = bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, br, fr, gr, pr, tr, sc, sk, sm, sn, sw, scr, spl, spr, squ, str

Ending blends with l, n, lt, ll, lp, ng, nd, st, rt, ft, ss, mp

Partial: These blends are the same in both languages: bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, br, fr, gr, pr, tr.

Blends appear in initial & medial positions. The blends are bl, cl, fl, gl, pl, br, fr, gr, pr, tr. Ending blends do not exist in Spanish.

Digraphs:

Initial =ch, sh, th;

Ending= tch, rch with short vowels

Limited. Pronunciation variations in Spanish make "digraph" sounds out of ch, ll, rr in some countries.

Consonants c & g that represent two sounds take on digraph patterns: c & g before a, o, u; c & g before e, i; and alternate forms j, que, qui, gue, güe, gui;

VOWELS
SPELLING IN ENGLISH	DEGREE OF TRANSFER	SPELLING IN SPANISH
19 vowel sounds spelling using 5-7 letters (y & w) and patterns of letters. Spelling governed by "vowel generalizations" rather than fixed rules. Vowels pronunciation changed by proximity of consonants such as r and l.	Limited: Vowel letters are the same. Vowel combinations such as diphthongs exist. No changes in vowels according to proximate consonants. No schwa sound exists in Spanish. Confusion can occur between English vowel name E and Spanish vowel name for I, which are pronounced identically.	5 vowel sounds spelled using 5-6 letters. Y (i griega) sometimes replaces i in diphthongs and in the word y (and). Rules of vowel spelling are consistent.
Short vowel sounds usually found in CVC patterns.	Partial: Some English short vowels do not exist in Spanish: a as in bat; i as in bit; u as in but, and u as in full.	A, E, I, O, U: Vowels sounds are always the same.
Long vowel sounds and spelling patterns =CVC-silent e and a & e digraphs	None
R Controlled by r, l, w	None
Diphthongs = Vowels: Long a & e, oi, oo, ou Vowels controlled by r, l, w	Partial: Definition of diphthong hold in both languages. Knowledge of diphthongs in Spanish essential to accurate spelling.	Diphthongs = a, e, o (strong vowels) combined with i, u, (weak vowels) and i and u in a single syllable. Broken when the weak vowel is stressed, as indicated by a written accent mark. Some verbs have spelling changes governed by rules of stressed vowels transforming into a diphthong.

MORPHOLOGICAL SPELLING CHANGES & SYLLABIFICATION
SPELLING IN ENGLISH	DEGREE OF TRANSFER	SPELLING IN SPANISH
Division into syllables according to units of pronunciation. Certain letter combinations not divided.	Partial: Division in Spanish only by units of pronunciation.	Division into syllables according to units of pronunciation. Consonant blends not divided. Accent mark indicates breakage of diphthong and accented vowel becomes a syllable.
Patterns are cv, cvc, vc-cv, vcv, consonant blend and vowel, or phonographs such as cv + cle.	Limited	Patterns are cv, vc, cvc or consonant blend -vowel or a single stressed vowel. Diphthongs form a syllable like a single vowel unless weak vowel carries a written accent.
Prefixes & suffixes are divided into separate syllables according to meaning unit.	High transfer of cognates with systematic spelling variations between English & Spanish that retain the appearance of the word .Latin & Greek meanings usually same in both languages. A few "false cognates" appear to be the same but have different meanings.	Divided by same pattern rules as all other words
Root words and word endings: Formation of plurals; verb conjugations by person & tenses and to signal changes in word functions used to change and derive meaning	Partial- Knowledge of morphology & grammatical forms transfers	Roots of words such as conjugated verb forms undergo changes from single vowel into a diphthong according to rules of stressed syllables. A few spelling changes occur in adding endings, such as z to c in plurals and i to y in a final oi diphthong.

CONVENTIONS OF PRINT
ENGLISH	DEGREE OF TRANSFER	SPANISH
Capitalize all proper nouns and all important words in titles of books, etc.	Partial (Sentence capitalization rules the same.)	Capitalize only names of people and places and occasionally, important holidays. Only capitalize first word of a titles.
No use of accent marks or diacritical marks except in a few foreign words. Words can be spelled the same but have different stress patterns.	None	Accent marks and diacritical marks essential to spelling. Used to show exceptions to rules for stressed syllables and to distinguish the grammatical function and meaning of words with the same spelling.

Mora, J.K. (2001). Learning to spell in two languages: Orthographic transfer in a transitional Spanish/English bilingual program. In P. Dreyer (Ed.), Raising Scores, Raising Questions: Claremont Reading Conference 65th Yearbook, 64-84. Claremont, CA: Claremont Graduate University.

August, D. & Shanahan, T. (Eds.) (2006). Developing literacy in second-language learners: Report of the National Literacy Panel on Language-minority Children and Youth. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum Associates.

August, D., Calderón, M. & Carlo, M. (2002). Transfer of skills from Spanish to English: A study of young learners. Technical Report ED-98-CO-0071 submitted to the Office of English Language Acquisition, Language Enhancement and Academic Achievement for Limited English Proficient Students. Washington, D.C.: Center for Applied Linguistics.

Bialystok, E. (2007). Acquisition of Literacy in Bilingual Children: A Framework for Research. Language Learning 57 (s1), 45–77.

Bialystok , E., Luk, G., & Kwan, E. (2005). Bilingualism, biliteracy, and learning to read: Interactions among languages and writing systems. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9, 43-61.

Bialystok, E. (Ed:) (1991). Language processing in bilingual children. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Cazden, C. R. (1974). Play with language and metalinguistic awareness: One dimension of language experience. The Urban Review, 7, 28-29.

Cisero, C.A., & Royer, J.M. (1995). The development and cross-language transfer of phonological awareness. Contemporary Educational Psychology 20, 275-303.

Corneau, L, Cormier, P., Grandmaison, E., & Lacroix, D. (1999). A longitudinal study of phonological processing skills in children learning to read in a second language. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91 (1), 29-43.

Díaz, R.M & Klingler, C. (1991). Towards an explanatory model of the interaction between bilingualism and cognitive development. In E. Bialystok (Ed.). Language processing in bilingual children, pp. 167-192. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Droop, M., & Verhoeven, L. (2003). Language proficiency and reading ability in first- and second-language learners. Reading Research Quarterly 38 (1), 78-103.

Durgunoglu. A.Y. (2002) Cross-linguistic transfer in literacy development and implications for language learners. Annals of Dyslexia 52:1, 189

Durgunoglu, A.Y., & Verhoeven, L. (Eds.) (1998). Literacy development in a multilingual context: Cross-cultural perspectives. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Durgunoglu, A.Y., Nagy, R., & Hancin-Bhatt, B. (1993). Cross-language transfer of phonemic awareness. Journal of Educational Psychology 85 (3), 453-465.

Geva, E., Wade-Woolley, L., & Shany, M. (1997). The development of reading efficiency in first and second language. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1, 119-144.

Jiménez, R.T., García, G.E., & Pearson, P.D. (1996). The reading strategies of bilingual Latina/o students who are successful English readers: Opportunities and obstacles. Reading Research Quarterly 33 (1), 90-112.

Koda, K. (2008). Impact of prior literacy experience on second-language learning to read. In K. Koda & A. Zehler (Eds.) Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first- and second-language literacy development, pp. 68-96. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Koda, K. (1997). Orthographic knowledge in L2 lexical processing: A cross-linguistic perspective. In Coady, J. & T. Huckin (Eds.). Second language vocabulary acquisition (pp. 35-52). New York: Cambridge University Press.

Koda, K. & Zehler, A. (Eds.). (2008). Learning to read across languages: Cross-linguistic relationships in first- and second-language literacy development. New York, NY: Routledge.

Mora, J.K. (2001a). Effective instructional practices and assessment for literacy and biliteracy development. In S. R. Hurley & J.V. Tinajero (Eds.) Literacy Assessment of Second Language Learners (pp. 149-166). Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Mora, J.K. (2001b). Learning to spell in two languages: Orthographic transfer in a transitional Spanish/English bilingual program. In P. Dreyer (Ed.), Raising Scores, Raising Questions: Claremont Reading Conference 65th Yearbook, 64-84. Claremont, CA: Claremont Graduate University.

Nagy, W.E., García, G.E., Durgunoglu, A.Y., & Hancin-Bhatt, B. (1993). Spanish-English bilingual students’ use of cognates in English reading. Journal of Reading Behavior, 25, 241-259.

Norbert, F. (1999.) Billingualism, Writing, and Metalinguistic Awareness: Oral-Literate Interactions between First and Second Languages. Applied Psycholinguistics 20, (4), 533-561.

Odlin, T. (1989). Language transfer: Cross-linguistic influence in language learning. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

Ordoñez, C.L., Carlo, M.S., Snow, C.E., & McLaughlin, B. (2002). Depth and breadth of vocabulary in two languages: Which vocabulary skills transfer? Journal of Educational Psychology, 94(4), 719-728.

Padrón, Y.N. (1992). The effect of strategy instruction on bilingual student's cognitive strategy use in reading. Bilingual Research Journal, 16(3 & 4), 35-61.

Royer, J.M. & Carlo, M.S. (1991) Transfer of comprehension skills from native to second language. Journal of Reading, 34 (6), 450-455.

Verhoeven, L. (1994). Transfer in bilingual development: The linguistic interdependency hypothesis revisited. Language Learning, 44, 381-415.

Zuckernick, H. (1996). Second language word decoding strategies. The Canadian Modern Language Journal, 53, 76-96

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