Language knowledge and awareness

This category looks at your understanding of key terms and concepts used to describe language, your use of strategies to check and develop your language awareness, and your ability to apply such knowledge practically in order to facilitate language learning.

Four stages of development

Every skill is described in relation to the four stages of development; Foundation, Developing, Proficient, and Expert. Below, we list some of the main competencies for each stage, plus some suggestions on how to develop further.

Foundation

• Have not yet developed strategies to check and develop their own language awareness.
• Aware of some key terms for describing language, and some key reference materials.
• Starting to demonstrate understanding of these terms to:
  • analyse common language points
  • choose very simple models of language usage
  • answer simple questions about language with the help of reference materials.

Ways to develop further

Watch	English Grammar in Use: Video Tips English Language Learning Tips – Tenses Part 1 Part 2
Read	Patterns after verbs
Do	Record your learners and identify some common errors your learners make. Identify a key reference book and read up about language points you are unsure about.
Study	Try these courses from Cambridge University Press: Grammar for Teachers: Language Awareness English for the Teacher

Developing

• Have started to develop strategies to check and develop their own language awareness.
• Are aware of most key terms for describing language, and of many available reference materials.
• Demonstrate understanding of these terms to:
  • analyse most language points
  • provide accurate models of usage for many language points
  • answer most learner questions with the help of reference materials.

Ways to develop further

Watch	English Language Learning Tips – Prefixes and Suffixes English Grammar in Use: Video Tips
Read	Modality
Do	Record your learners and reflect on how many of the errors you actually noticed during the lesson. Read reference materials for the language points you are teaching, and compare their explanations with how you exemplify language in class.
Study	Try these courses from Cambridge University Press: Grammar for Teachers: Language Awareness English for the Teacher

Proficient

• Use strategies to regularly check and develop their own language awareness.
• Have good knowledge of key terms and available reference materials.
• Demonstrate the ability to:
  • correctly analyse most language points
  • provide accurate models of usage for most language points
  • answer most learner questions with minimal use of reference materials.

Ways to develop further

Watch	Language Clips – Idioms English Grammar in Use: Video Tips
Read	Listening in the Language Classroom by John Field
Do	Record your learners and reflect on the link between your language models and the accuracy of learners' output. Read reference materials for the language points you are teaching, and try out different ways of exemplifying language that your encounter. Identify the effects on your learners.
Study	Try these courses from Cambridge University Press: Grammar for Teachers: Language Awareness English for the Teacher

Expert

• Consistently use strategies to check and develop their own language awareness.
• Have a sophisticated knowledge of key terms and available reference materials.
• Demonstrate this understanding by:
  • correctly analysing all language points
  • provide consistently accurate models of usage
  • answering all learner questions with minimal use of reference materials.

Ways to develop further

Watch	Language Clips – Idioms English Grammar in Use: Video Tips
Read	Corpora and grammar
Do	Record your learners and reflect on the effectiveness of the language models you give in class. Design workshops for other teachers on language awareness for teaching, based on the reference materials you’ve read.
Study	Try these courses from Cambridge University Press: Grammar for Teachers: Language Awareness English for the Teacher

Download the Cambridge English Teaching Framework – Competency statements

Download the Cambridge English Teaching Framework – Framework components

Cambridge English teaching qualifications

We provide industry-leading qualifications that prove what teachers of English can do. These qualifications are mapped to the Cambridge English Teaching Framework, and support teachers every step of the way by helping them build the skills and confidence they need to teach English effectively.

Learn more about teaching qualifications