ABSTRACT
The chapters in this volume address the many facets of language awareness and the different perspectives explored since the term gained accepted currency in the early 1990s (Garrett and James, 1993). They provide different interpretations of the definition of language awareness given by the Association for Language Awareness (ALA) on their website, as the “explicit knowledge about language, and conscious perception and sensitivity in language learning, language teaching and language use”, and they illustrate how language awareness can serve as a catalyst for related and less-related issues in language learning and language teaching, thus confirming Svalberg’s words in her state-of-the-art article in 2007 (p. 287):
LA straddles a cognitive to sociocultural spectrum and involves such apparent distinct areas of research and practice as cognitive linguistics (attention and awareness in language learning), language teaching, language use and intercultural communication (cross-cultural awareness)
