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Teacher Language Awareness

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Language Awareness and Multilingualism

Part of the book series: Encyclopedia of Language and Education ((ELE))

Abstract

The term teacher language awareness (TLA) refers to teachers’ cognitions (knowledge and beliefs) about language in general and the language they teach. TLA research considers how these cognitions are developed and their impact on teaching and learning. An underlying assumption is that conscious knowledge about language facilitates language development, whether in the mother tongue or subsequent languages, and hence that language teachers need such knowledge (TLA) in order to facilitate their students’ learning. The chapter focuses in particular on language teachers’ subject-matter knowledge.

Research has revealed the complexity of TLA. The language teacher is at the same time language user, analyst, and teacher (Edge, ELT Journal 42(1), 9–13, 1988). To carry out those three roles successfully, teachers need well-developed language proficiency plus conscious (declarative) TLA and the ability to draw on that declarative knowledge when enacting the curriculum in the language classroom (Andrews, Teacher language awareness, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2007). TLA research explores the interrelationships between these three components and other factors that influence TLA development. Examples include studies on the impact of teachers’ knowledge and beliefs about grammar on their teaching (Borg, Teacher cognition and language education: research and practice, Continuum, London, 2006) and work on the development of TLA through consciousness raising in teacher education (Wright and Bolitho, ELT Journal, 47(4), 292–304, 1993; Svalberg and Askham, Language Awareness, 23(1/2), 122–136, 2014). One of the challenges for researchers is the difficulty of establishing empirically the link between TLA and the facilitation of language learning. Future research is likely to be influenced by new conceptions of language as complex and dynamic and should consider in greater depth the importance of affective and identity issues in the development of TLA.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    In the remainder of this chapter, the terms LA and KAL are treated as if they are synonymous. Where one term is used instead of the other, this is a reflection of the terminology used by the authors of the original work(s) being discussed.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong, China

    Stephen Andrews

  2. University of Leicester, School of Education, 21 University Road, LE1 7RF, Leicester, UK

    Agneta M-L Svalberg

Authors
  1. Stephen Andrews
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  2. Agneta M-L Svalberg
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Stephen Andrews or Agneta M-L Svalberg .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept Res Methods Education, University of the Basque Country Dept Res Methods Education, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Jasone Cenoz

  2. UPV/EHU - IKERBASCQUE, University of the Basque Country UPV/EHU - IKERBASCQUE, Donostia-San Sebastian, Spain

    Durk Gorter

  3. Faculty of Education, University of Auckland, School of Critic, Auckland, New Zealand

    Stephen May

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© 2016 Springer International Publishing AG

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Andrews, S., Svalberg, A.ML. (2016). Teacher Language Awareness. In: Cenoz, J., Gorter, D., May, S. (eds) Language Awareness and Multilingualism. Encyclopedia of Language and Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_17-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_17-2

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-319-02325-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-319-02325-0

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

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Chapter history

  1. Latest

    Teacher Language Awareness
    Published:
    31 January 2017

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_17-2

  2. Original

    Teacher Language Awareness
    Published:
    15 July 2016

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-02325-0_17-1

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