Metalinguistic Awareness. Theory, Development, and Measurement Instruments

Istituti editoriali e poligrafici internazionali, 1999, pp. 180 -- This volume is the result of the excellent translation and adaptation by Professor Francesca Trusso (English Linguistics, University of Rome "La Sapienza") of the Italian monograph by Maria Antonietta Pinto, La consapevolezza metalinguistica. Teoria, sviluppo, strumenti di misurazione, result of a long and fruitful collaboration between the two Italian authors of this volume, Maria Antonietta Pinto and Renzo Titone. The introduction reviews the leading theoretical and empirical contributions in international literature from the perspective of a broader conception of metalinguistic awareness; it is significant that the predominant approaches do not focus on the object of metalinguistic awareness, which is language, especially in its historicalsocial components. The creation of three tests of metalinguistic abilities, in succession, intends to bridge this evolutionary gap. Each test is applicable to the corresponding period of transition of an individual moving out of one particular school cycle into the next: the MAT 1 (46 years), transition from kindergarden to elementary school; the MAT 2 (9 13), transition from elementary school to middle school; the mat 3 (adolescentadult age group), transition from high school to university.…