Students’ Awareness of Language Effects and its Promotion

Resumen

The aim of this paper is to record a process of Teacher Action Research that took place during 2017 in the subject IGCSE Literature among 16 year old students. The problem detected was a certain difficulty in the development of their awareness of Language Effects during the production of style commentaries. An exploration on their feelings for Literature and their opinions about previous training related to the required analytical skills was carried out. Subsequently, various actions/interventions were planned and taken, based on the exploratory study, to enhance the promotion of the abovementioned awareness. Working
with word associations, song translations and producing creative text-types other than commentaries proved relevant shortcuts to build an improved concept of what language effects involve. Measurement of their academic performance during diagnostic and end-ofterm periods guaranteed that achievement was not hindered by the exploration and actions/interventions carried out. Side issues like students’ perception of the utility of the skill, differences in gender motivation and peer pressure emerged as questions for future research.