English academic writing proficiency in higher education: Facilitating the transition from metalinguistic awareness to metalinguistic competence

Abstract

Students entering higher education are expected to develop into proficient academic writers in the course of their studies. The article focuses on metalinguistic awareness in the development of English (L2) academic writing proficiency in higher education. It builds on an on-going study investigating the role of metacognitive skills in the development of L2 academic writing proficiency in higher education. It bases its findings on an initial questionnaire which aimed at clarifying the students’ understanding of “an academic text” and “academic writing” in English, and how well they perceived themselves to mastering L2 academic writing. The article sheds light on the extent to which metalinguistic awareness of L2 academic vocabulary and language is present in the students’ thoughts about L2 academic writing as expressed in their responses to the questionnaire, and discusses the findings and their implications for how to further facilitate students’ development of L2 academic writing proficiency. The analysis reveals that the students possess elements of metalinguistic awareness about L2 academic writing but that their awareness is limited, particularly in relation to practical use of academic vocabulary. The results also indicate that the students lack the metalinguistic competence necessary to put their awareness into practice. The study concludes that raising students’ metalinguistic awareness is necessary to facilitate their further development in L2 academic writing proficiency. It argues that metalinguistic conversations can be an important tool in this process, and emphasizes that greater focus on such conversations as facilitators of L2 academic writing proficiency is needed within L2 higher education.