Fostering Language

Awareness
Adapted from:
Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003) Beyond Methods:
Macrostrategies for Language Teaching.
New Haven: Yale University Press.

Matsuda:

Yuniar Flora P. Timotius Pradana A. M.

Fitri Nur L. Lydia Agatha
 Fostering language awareness

Education plays an important role in fostering student's language awareness of the

role of language in individual development
There are 2 thoughts about how language can be fostered:

1) General language awareness

Language awareness is treated primarily as an awareness of linguistic and
sociolinguistic features which governs language usage.

2) Critical language awareness

Language awareness is treated primarily as an awareness of social and political
factors governing language use
Microstrategies for
Fostering Language
Awareness
Microstrategy 1: Language Use and
Levels of Formality
Dealing with general language
awareness.
It is about formality levels involved
in interpersonal communication.
For example, the way we address
people at home, in school, at
workplace.
Procedure:
1. T writes on the board:
Madam President, Mr. Chairman,
Your Honor, Sir, Hello Darling, Hey.
Then, make small groups ->
discuss in what context(s) and with
whom would it be appropriate to
use these forms of address.
2. The groups share their discussion and
talk about disagreements within their
groups.
3. In individual, students make a list of
terms they use to address family member
(grandpa, grandma, father, mother, elder or
younger brother and sister).
4. In small groups, students share their list
with others and compare how forms of
address work within a family in different
linguistic or cultural communities.
5. Students may talk about the factors such
as setting, age, gender that affect the form
of address and what contexts boundaries
may be crossed.
6. In small groups again, students compare
how the forms of address in their L1 and L2.
7. Students share their important points
with the class.
8. Teacher helps them (if necessary, through
leading questions) reflect on how different
forms of address may actually reveal
cultural values and beliefs, and how these
are reflected in language use.
Dealing with Critical Language
Awareness
This microstrategy aims at fostering critical language awareness in learners by drawing
their attention to doublespeak, that is, deceptive language that is widely used to
mislead people—whether in a democratic society or in a totalitarian regime.
Procedures:
1. Write the full title of Lutz’s book on the board. Ask your students to focus on the key
words in the title and give them some time to think about how
(a) government,
(b) business, and
(c) advertisers
use language to deceive the general public.
Let them share their thoughts and examples with the class.
Write the following paragraph on the board or, if you have prepared a transparency,
project it on the OHP screen. Ask your students to read it carefully.
2. If there are any difficult vocabulary
items, deal with them first, so that the
students fully understand the text
before proceeding further. If
necessary, make a two-column table
highlighting only the juxtaposed lexical
items (potholes/pavement
deficiencies, etc.).
3. Form small groups and allot one or
two sentences to each group for a
detailed analysis. Ask them to think
about critical questions such as: What
is achieved by the use of such
doublespeak? At what cost? At whose
cost? Who benefits from such
doublespeak and how?
4. Ask a representative from each
group to present a brief report,
followed by class discussion.
5. Help them (with leading questions, if
necessary) to think why many people
fail to notice doublespeak even though
it is so common in public discourse and
in private conversations.
6. Help them (again with leading
questions, if necessary) to think of ways
in which a critical awareness of
doublespeak and its function can help
them in their role as language learners,
and in their role as educated citizens.
7. Give them a suitable take-home 9. Based on the class discussion, ask
assignment. For instance, have them them to draft a letter to the editor of
read a newspaper or a news magazine the newspaper or the news magazine,
of their choice for one week. Ask them drawing the editor’s attention to
to make a list of what they consider to doublespeak. Help them revise the
be instances of doublespeak, and draft, and encourage them to actually
bring this list to class on a specified send the letter to the editor.
day.
8. In class, form pairs and have them
exchange their list with their partner’s.
After a brief conversation between
partners.
Exploratory projects
Deals with the concept of speech acts.

This project is aimed at creating language as well cultural awareness among L2

learners about the language of personal and political apologies.
Project 1
(Language of personal apologies)

Objective: to design a classroom activity to make learners explore the language of

personal apology in formal and informal contexts.
3. Think about how to introduce the scenarios.

4. Anticipate some possible student responses.

5. Think about the best way of carrying out the activity.

Suggestions for designing the activity:

1. Imagine a couple of scenarios where people normally tender

an apology ( formal informal context).

2. Make a brief lesson plan about what the scenarios will be and
how to implement the plan.
6. Think about what are the ideas and issues expected from learners to come up with
during class discussion and how to relate them to
the objective of creating language awareness.

7. Think about what are the ways that can explicitly draw learners’ attention to how
English usage varies between formal and informal
contexts for apologizing.
8. Think about what are the ways that can help learners consciously think and talk
about probable variations in the realization of apology as a speech act in L1 and L2
speech communities.

9. Think about difficulties that have to be anticipated and deal with in order to
achieve classroom's objectives.

10. Design an appropriate take-home writing assignment on linguistic and cultural

variations in tendering a personal apology.
Project 2
(The Language of Political Apologies)
Objective:
Design a classroom activity to make learners explore the language of political apology
between nations or within a nation between various groups of people.
Project 2
(The Language of Political Apologies)
Suggestions for designing the activity:

1. Search for news article (online or written) which covers the topic of recent political
apologies.
e.g.
(a) The Pope apologizing to Jews for the Vatican’s indifference during the Holocaust.
(b) The United States apologizing to Japanese-Americans for their
internment during the Second World War.
2. Write an outline of a classroom activity
a step-by-step teaching strategy to make learners aware of the complex factors (e.g.,
historical, political, national, cultural, linguistic) involved in political apologies. (pay
attention to students’ proficiency level)

3. Think about the best way of carrying out the classroom activity
Group work? Pair work? Role play? How to steer class discussion to achieve the major
objective of creating critical language awareness?
4. Plan how to start the activity in class
e.g.
How to extend the earlier discussion on personal apologies to the concept of national
or international apology.

5. Write a detailed lesson plan using the news story of your choice.
Think about how you can use a topical text like this to foster general as well as critical
language awareness.
5. Design an appropriate take-home writing assignment for your
students on any aspect of political apologies.
6. Reflect on the desirability/the difficulty of discussing topics such as
political apology in the classroom—what difficulties you anticipate if
you do decide to take up such topics for discussion in class.
7. Compare the anticipated difficulties with how the students actually
reacted to the classroom activity.
Conclusion
Language awareness, general as well as critical, should form an integral part of
language education as well as content education.
Language awareness is essential for the realization of an individual’s full potential and,
through that, for the realization of a nation’s democratic ideals.
Conclusion
Language awareness activities  commonly associated with the development of
advanced skills in critical thinking, reading, and writing, but they are also useful for
grammar learning and teaching as well.

Language awareness  facilitate learners' noticing or consciousness-raising 

activate the learners’ intuitive heuristics  enhancing their readiness to internalize
the grammatical system of their L2.