Metalinguistic abilities are undoubtedly one of the major factors behind high level academic performance.The MATEL project aims, on the one hand, at developing and validating tests that measure metalinguistic abilities in several European languages, namely French, German and Spanish, which would add up to the already validated and extensively used original Italian version. On the other hand, it aims at designing didactic instruments for first and second language teachers in order to promote the development of metalinguistic abilities and their assessment.
The outcome of this European funded project is twofold. Not only will it offer a wide range of teaching and assessment tools in different languages yet based on the same construct, but it will also widen the research possibilities for academics concerned with metalinguistic awareness.