The History of Language Awareness in the United Kingdom

Abstract

The term ‘Language Awareness’ (LA) came into widespread use in the United Kingdom in the early 1980s. A definition of the term was produced by the working party on LA of the National Congress on Languages in Education (NCLE), cited in the report of its work (Donmall, 1985), as follows: “Language Awareness is a person’s sensitivity to and conscious awareness of the nature of language and its role in human life”. During the four-year lifetime of this working party (1982-1986) and for some time after, the term, with this definition, was understood and used widely in schools and local education authorities in England, to an extent in Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland, also in some departments in institutions of Higher Education, which included Applied Linguistics, Education, Classics, and, though to a lesser extent in the Higher Education sector, English and Modern Languages. The Association for Language Awareness (ALA), whose formation in 1992 marked the culmination of the work of many in this field, defines LA as “explicit knowledge about language, … conscious perception and sensitivity in language learning, language teaching, and language use” (1996 publicity sheet of the Association). These definitions point to the far-reaching implications of LA for the individual not only within Education but also in all areas of life.