Abstrakt:
The aim of this paper is to introduce the results of a pilot study of the
metalinguistic awareness of nine and ten-year old children in terms of the
comprehension and use of the terms denoting parts of speech. The study was
conducted among 73 children. The interpretation of study results includes the
connection between defining and the development of the skill of defining.
Moreover, the authors take into consideration the fact that the process of
becoming independent of perceptive and semantic aspects and the development
of the awareness of the linguistic formin children are extended in time. The study
shows that children are able to combine a metalinguistic term with its definition
to a larger extent if the definition comprises the semantic features of parts of
speech. On the other hand, they display smaller awareness of the grammatical
features of particular parts of speech. Their receptive and perceptive competence
is relatively low, which indicates that many children do not understand the terms
discussed in the scope provided in the core curriculum.
