INVESTIGATING THE ROLE OF METALINGUISTIC AWARENESS IN FOREIGN LANGUAGE ACQUISITION IN AN INTERCOMPREHENSION-BASED SETTING. AN EXPLORATORY STUDY

This article describes a part of an overall study on the relationships between metalinguistic awareness (MLA) and foreign language acquisition (FLA) in the context of Intercomprehension (IC) teaching and learning. It has been claimed that MLA is a strong predictor of successful FLA and, on the other hand, that IC intrinsically involves MLA to some extent. Nevertheless, no study, so far, has explored the connection between MLA, FLA and IC with specific instruments nor as a function of the structural relatedness between native and target languages. The present article offers an initial contribution in this direction by studying levels of MLA, as measured by a metalinguistic test in two languages, Spanish (TRAM-3, Lasagabaster et al. 2015), and English (MAT-3, Pinto et al. 1999), and the ability of learning Italian as a foreign language. Fifty-five students (age range: 18-30) attending Italian language courses at California State University, Long Beach, were recruited, some of which enrolled in classes based on the principles of IC, and others in traditional courses. In each type of classes there were students dominant in either English or Spanish who received either the THAM-3 or the MAT-3, based on this dominance. Initial and final competencies in Italian were measured and related to the THAM-3 / MAT-3 scores. Results show that, irrespective of language dominance, type of Italian course attended, and structural relatedness between the native and the target language, MLA was the major factor responsible for achievement in Italian.