Metalinguistic Awareness in the Acquisition of English and Romanian: Insights from Hungarian Secondary School Students

In this paper, we examine the relationship between language proficiency and metalinguistic awareness among Hungarian secondary school students in Harghita County, Romania, using empirical data from a fact-finding study conducted in the school year 2023–2024. After outlining the theoretical framework and describing the research methodology, the study presents findings based on a sample of 1,520 participants. As both languages under investigation have been learned/acquired after the mother tongue, the paper first reports the results of the English and Romanian proficiency tests, followed by an analysis of the factors that participants identified as influencing their performance. Finally, the study explores how students perceive the role of metalinguistic awareness and metalinguistic knowledge in their language learning outcomes. By comparing the acquisition processes of the two languages, the research demonstrates that the mode of learning plays a decisive role in shaping the function of metalinguistic awareness.