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Fatma Aydin

Anadolu University, Eskişehir, Türkiye

 

Abstract

Given the crucial role of metalanguage in explicit instruction and its widespread use by L2 teachers and textbooks, it is essential to examine the extent of L2 learners’ metalinguistic knowledge. Accordingly, the present study aimed to investigate how familiar intermediate-level Turkish EFL learners are with the terminology used in their textbook to describe language, as well as with the processes employed to discuss and analyse language. The study involved 105 Turkish EFL learners. Data were collected through a terminology test consisting of 40 grammar terms drawn from the participants’ textbook and a matching test including 30 grammatical structures paired with corresponding meaning-oriented language items also taken from the textbook. The findings indicate that intermediate-level Turkish EFL learners have limited familiarity with the grammatical terminology used in their textbook while showing comparatively greater ability to interpret meaning-oriented descriptions and functional explanations of language use. The results are discussed in light of previous research.

 

Keywords

Grammatical terminology, meaning-oriented descriptions, explicit instruction, EFL learners