E51|Syntax: From Epilinguistic to Metalinguistic Awareness with Dr. Rachel Knecht and Dr. Dianna Townsend

You’ve probably heard about syntax. Maybe you’ve seen a slide in a presentation that showed a strand of rope labeled as syntax. Or perhaps you learned about sentence structure in school and completed assignments where you had to diagram sentences. But do we really know what syntax is, why it matters, and how to teach it? My guests today are here teach us about syntax. Their names are Dr. Rachel Knecht and Dr. Dianna Townsend. Rachel Knecht is a doctoral candidate at the University of Nevada-Reno. Her research focuses on supporting adolescents’ reading comprehension, particularly through metalinguistic development. Dianna Townsend is Professor of Literacy Studies in the College of Education and Human Development at the University of Nevada-Reno. Dr. Townsend researches the academic language development of adolescent students, specifically focusing on vocabulary, comprehension, and disciplinary texts. Plenty of take aways in this episode! Text Discussed in Episode: A famed pharaoh of the new period was Amenhotep IV, who triggered a religious revolution. Before Amenhotep’s rule, Egypt was a polytheistic society that believed in many gods, the most important named Amon. But, Amenhotep believed only in Aton, the sun god. Belief in only one god (monotheism) was a radical notion. To show his devotion to Aton, the pharaoh changed his name to Akenhaton (“he who is loyal to Aton”). Akenhaton moved his capital from Thebes, where Amon was worshiped, to Tell el Amanrna. References Knecht, R., Larson, L., & Townsend, D. (2023). Exploring teacher and student knowledge of sentence-level language features. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 66(6), 344–354. https://doi.org/10.1002/jaal.1290 Townsend, D., Knecht, R., Lupo, S., Chen, L.-T., & Barrios, V. S. (2023). A mixed-methods investigation of third and sixth graders’ academic sentence knowledge. Journal of World Languages, 9(3), 333–370. https://doi.org/10.1515/jwl-2023-0022