Awareness of Speaking Abilities in English over Four Years of Undergraduate Study
Awareness of Speaking Abilities in English over Four Years of Undergraduate Study

Summary/Abstract: This paper describes and discusses changes in language awareness during undergraduate study for a group of language and literature students. The paper uses qualitative, descriptive methods to analyse reports about the students’ speaking elicited at five points during their studies. The paper identifies cognitive, affective and social aspects of how the students described their language knowledge, abilities, learning targets and strategies. The descriptions evolve from brief, general views of language and learning into more detailed and focused viewpoints. The students notice more about their language use and learning targets are described more fully and more clearly. Their learning strategies move from inside to outside the classroom, activities change from solitary and individual to social activities, and the students are better able to describe their speaking through engagement with CEFR criteria. Anxiety, experience, discourse for describing language and social learning strategies are features of the changing awareness displayed by the students.

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