Metalinguistic test for English remedial education

本研究设计了一个简单的元语言测试来测量日本大学低水平英语学习者的元语言知识。结果显示，1,180名参与者中有许多人无法识别副词和冠词等简单的词性。元语言测试的结果和被试的英语水平测试成绩之间存在显著的相关性，表明元语言知识的缺乏可能会阻碍低水平英语学习者提高英语水平。

In this research, a simple metalanguage test was developed to measure the metalinguistic knowledge of low proficiency English learners at Japanese universities. The result showed that many of the 1,180 participants could not identify simple parts of speech such as adverbs and articles. Significant correlations were found between the results of the metalanguage test and the participants’ English proficiency test scores, indicating that the lack of metalinguistic knowledge could be preventing low proficiency English learners from improving their English.