(2116)EFFECT OF METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS ON READING IN THEFIRST LANGUAGE, SECOND LANGUAGE AND THIRD LANGUAGEOF UNIVERSITY STUDENTS

摘要

This study examined the question of whether metalinguistic awareness affects reading proficiency inall the languages known by an individual. Most studies have examined this effect on only onelanguage (e.g.[1]) or at best on two languages (e.g. [2]). In addition, the majority of previousinvestigations of the relationship between metalinguistic awareness and reading ability have focusedon single metalinguistic domains (e.g. phonological awareness and word awareness) [1] and havebeen carried out on children (e.g. [1] [2] [3]). The present study focuses on metalinguistic awarenessas a whole construct rather than in terms of single domains, and explores the possibility that readingproficiency in all the languages known by a bilingual or a plurilingual would be affected bymetalinguistic awareness. Examining the relationship between metalinguistic awareness (as a wholeconstruct) and reading proficiency in plurilingual adults would bring along new knowledge as to therelationship between these two factors in an increasingly growing plurilingual population.