Prof David Nunan University of Hong Kong China

David Nunan is Emeritus Professor at the University of Hong Kong. He has published over 100 books and articles in the areas of curriculum and materials development, classroom-based research, and discourse analysis. His recent publications include What Is This Thing Called Language? (Palgrave Macmillan), Introducing Discourse Analysis (Penguin Books), The Self-Directed Teacher (Cambridge University Press), and Voices from the Language Classroom (with Kathleen M. Bailey) (Cambridge University Press). His textbook projects include ATLAS, Go For It, Listen In, Speak Out and Expressions, all published by Heinle & Heinle/Thomson Learning. He was President of TESOL 1999-2000.

Presentation

What does it mean to be 'language aware'?

The purpose of this presentation is to take a critical look at the concept of language awareness. In the first part of the presentation, I will briefly review current understandings of the concept and relate it to applications in second language pedagogy including consciousness raising, noticing and focus on form. In the bulk of the paper, I will explore some problematic aspects of the concept addressing questions such as the following: