抄録
In the 1970s, Language Awareness (LA) was put forward as a "bridging subject" in the UK school curriculum primarily by modern linguists such as Eric Hawkins. It was regarded as a solution to certain problems in UK schools at that time: functional illiteracy in English, difficulty in learning foreign languages, and prejudices in the increasingly multicultural society. This grassroots movement was partially stifled in that the national curriculum of 1988 did not specifically allow for LA or language to be formally taught. But this setback did not mean that the LA movement failed or was useless. LA has developed further since 1988, and the Language Awareness movement has now grown beyond Europe into a global endeavour. At the same time, EU countries have introduced the concept of plurilingualism, to be realized in the context of pluriculturalism, and have begun to conduct language education under the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). This language education policy has brought new potentialities and roles to LA. Today's curriculum developers have a pan-European perspective, and LA now serves not only to develop mother tongue and foreign language competences but also to promote understanding of cultural diversities. Education in the UK is no exception, and a new project, LA in primary schools, is under way.
