Page 28 - Diversity in Action

Silva Bratož, Anja Pirih, Anita Sila, and Mojca Žefran

trees, houses, etc. Another alternative is to create your own personal lan-
guage landscape.
2. How does acknowledging students’ plurilingual competence foster an in-
clusive learning environment?
3. Discuss the role of different languages or language varieties from your
repertoire in your society. Are some languages in your repertoire under-
valued or stigmatised?

Language Awareness

Languageawareness(LA) refersto an individual’sunderstandingoflanguage
as a system and their ability to reflect on language in different contexts. One
key aspect of this is metalinguistic awareness, which involves focusing on
language properties such as phonology, syntax, semantics, and pragmat-
ics. Metalinguistic awareness allows individuals to recognise and manipulate
language structures, understand word meanings, and use language in vari-
ous social contexts.
While research on LA in young learners is limited, studies suggest that
early development of LA is beneficial, enhancing metalinguistic skills and
cultural understanding. Children as young as 4–5 years old show awareness
of their own language, express language preferences, and begin developing
metalinguistic awareness. Between ages 5–8, children’s metalinguistic abili-
ties improve, and they begin understanding synonyms and the relationship
between different languages. Young children also demonstrate significant
phonological and semantic awareness, although they may face challenges
in sentence segmentation and textual awareness. (Muñoz, 2014; Wagner,
2020).
Garrett and James (1993) talk about five LA domains: the cognitive, affec-
tive, social, power and performance domain. The cognitive domain focuses
on the structure of language and the comparison between the learner’s
first and second language, promoting analytical skills to explore language
patterns and their uses. The affective domain relates to attitudes and the
emotional aspect of language awareness, with the aim of fostering curios-
ity, openness, and positive attitudes toward linguistic and cultural diversity.
In the social domain, the focus is mainly on language as a tool for effective
communication and interaction, and, more generally, on the ways how lan-
guage operates in social contexts, including issues of identity, power, and
community dynamics. The power domain is mainly thought of in terms of
awareness that language can be a tool for manipulation, addressing issues
like language hierarchies, marginalisation, and how certain languages or di-

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