Stimulating language awareness in the foreign language classroom: exploring EFL teaching practices

Abstract

This study reports on EFL teachers' self-reported teaching practices aimed at stimulating students' language awareness. It investigates whether, and to what extent, awareness-raising practices are currently implemented in EFL secondary education in the Netherlands, how these practices can be characterised, and how awareness-raising practices can be developed and further integrated into foreign language education. In a semi-structured interview, 10 teachers were asked to provide examples which they believed stimulated students' awareness of language. A total of 41 teaching practices were collected. Analysis of teaching practices revealed that approximately half of all self-reported practices could be characterised as awareness-raising. These practices often integrated multiple topics, included authentic contexts, back-and-forth interaction and provided students with the opportunity to reflect on their own and other students' language difficulties. At the same time, numerous practices which were reported as awareness-raising could not yet be characterised as such, indicating that teachers' notion of what constitutes an awareness-raising practice may be incomplete. Nevertheless, these practices provide interesting leads for awareness-raising opportunities. In sum, the analysis of practices presents a valuable opportunity for teachers to discuss their notion of awareness-raising practices. In addition, such an analysis could support teachers in adjusting their own teaching practices.