The Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) aims to encourage language learners to think about what they do when communicating, and to think about what they can do to help themselves and others to learn a language better. This paper considers to what extent the CEFR supports language learning by looking at how a group of learners, in the course of a term, used parts of the Common Reference Levels (CRLs) of the CEFR for self-assessment. The paper discusses the extent to which the CRL helped to raise the learners' awareness of their language use and learning, and looks in detail at how the learners described their speaking skills and how their use of CRL statements and their perceptions of self-assessment changed during the term. Findings show that the students used CRL statements to write longer, more relevant, and more detailed and critical descriptions of their speaking skills.
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.Keywords: language awareness, engagement with language, speaking skills.
ÖZ:Bu makalenin konusu İngiliz Dili ve Edebiyatı (İDE) öğrencilerinden oluşan bir grubun, lisans eğitimi süresince dil farkındalığındaki değişikliklerdir. Makalede öğrencilerin eğitimi boyunca beş farklı noktada konuşma becerileri ile ilgili öğrencilerden alınan raporları incelemektedir. Raporda öğrencilerin dil bilgileri, becerileri, öğrenme hedefleri ve stratejilerini bilişsel, duygusal ve sosyal açıdan ele alınmıştır. Öğrencilerin dille ve öğrenme ile ilgili açıklamaları ilk başta kısa ve genel iken daha sonra detaylı ve odaklı hale gelmiştir. Öğrenciler zaman geçtikçe kullandıkları dil ve öğrenme hedefleri hakkında daha çok farkındalık elde etmiş, bu konularda daha bütünlüklü ve açık betimlemelerde bulunmuşlardır. Öğrenme stratejileri sınıftan dış dünyaya taşınmış, yaptıkları aktiviteler yalnız yapılanlardan sosyal aktivitelere evrilmiş ve öğrenciler CEFR kriterlerini kullanarak konuşma becerilerini açıklamak konusunda gelişme göstermiştir. Öğrencilerde görülen farkındalık değişimi, endişe, deneyim, dili betimleme söylemleri ve sosyal öğrenme stratejileri başlıkları altında toplanmıştır.
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