Language, metalanguage, and language use: a cognitive psycholinguistic view

Abstract

The problem addressed in this paper concerns a possible relationship between metalingual knowledge in the form of rules and communicative knowledge of language as demonstrated in second/foreign language production. This paper looks at: 1) the validity of the conviction that second/foreign language production involves the application of rules in the light of insights available from first language development; 2) a conceptual analysis of key terms; 3) some empirical evidence about the role of metalinguistic knowledge in second language use; 4) two explanations from second language acquisition research of the relationship between metalinguistic knowledge and language production; 5) and a currently emerging psycholinguistic monolingual production model. The article concludes with a section on the implications of the analysis for the formal context of language learning and teaching.