Metalinguistic Awareness in Vocabulary Acquisition: Evidence from Grade Six Korean EFL Learners

The purpose of the present study was to investigate metalinguistic awareness and its contribution to L2 vocabulary acquisition. One hundred twenty seven Korean EFL learners in grade six were administered measures of phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness (PA, MA, and OA, respectively) as well as receptive vocabulary. Information about the participantslanguage learning experience and home environment was also obtained from a student questionnaire. Descriptive discriminant analysis and commonality analysis were performed on the data. The results showed that (a) metalinguistic awareness played a statistically significant role in discriminating between different vocabulary level groups; (b) MA was the greatest factor in determining group differences compared to PA and OA; and (c) interrelated common effects of PA, MA, and OA on vocabulary learning were found, in addition to unique PA and MA effects. Educational implications and future research directions are discussed.