The presentation focuses on the question of how metalinguistic awareness in monolinguals and multilinguals can be measured and whether there are differences between the metalinguistic awareness of monolinguals and multilinguals. A method to make metalinguistic awareness visible using language comparison and to measure it will be presented.
Metalinguistic awareness as a cognitive disposition that enables individuals to use language intentionally and to reflect on language(s) becomes visible when individuals talk about languages. In the research projects "Language Competences and Language Awareness" and "MoreLanguages", the M-SPRA method (Wildemann et al. 2016) was developed, which uses language comparison to make metalinguistic awareness visible and measure it. The present paper presentation focuses on the question of how metalinguistic awareness in monolinguals and multilinguals can be measured and whether there are differences between the metalinguistic awareness of monolinguals and multilinguals. The M-SPRA method works with a multilingual software and five language-related stimuli which guide children to compare the linguistic structures of German with those of other languages (English, Spanish, Turkish and Russian). To investigate metalinguistic awareness, two children worked together with a test administrator, who introduced metalinguistic stimuli to make them reflect on and compare languages. They made language-related observations, explanations and hypotheses on the basis of the perceived similarities and/or differences between the languages. These metalinguistic interactions were videoed and evaluated qualitatively. The total number of metalinguistic statements made by each child was used as an indicator of his or her metalinguistic awareness. Using this method, the metalinguistic awareness of 900 primary school children (3rd and 4th grades) were analysed at two measure points. The results show that multilinguals reflect and compare languages at a higher level of complexity and more often than monolinguals (Bien-Miller et al. 2017). Multilingual children also have a higher awareness of language similarities and differences. The results on the language-related knowledge of mono- and multilingual pupils are currently being evaluated and will also be included in the paper presentation. With a focus on the M-SPRA method, we would like to discuss the question: How can M-SPRA be adapted to the practice?
