The concept of metalinguistic awareness is helpful in explaining the execution and transfer of linguistic knowledge across languages (e.g. code-switching as well as translation among bilinguals).
Currently, the most commonly held conception of metalinguistic awareness suggests that its development is constituted by cognitive control (i.e. selecting and coordinating the relevant pieces of information needed to comprehend the language manipulation) and analysed knowledge (i.e. recognising the meaning and structure of the manipulated language).
Bialystok and Ryan argue that achieving metalinguistic awareness is the ability to manipulate both dimensions at an arbitrarily "high" level.
Phonological awareness may be assessed through the use of phonemic segmentation tasks, though the use of tests utilizing nondigraph, nonword syllables appear to provide more accurate results.
However, the paradigm shifted with the idea that metalinguistic ability had to instead be measured through essential underlying skills (i.e. analysed knowledge and cognitive control).
Separate studies also suggest that the process of learning how to read is strongly influenced by aptitude with metalinguistic factors.
[2] Studies have generally supported the hypothesis that bilingual children possess greater cognitive control than their monolingual counterparts.
These studies are conducted with the caveat that monolingual and bilingual children being assessed have, as a baseline, equal competency in the languages that they speak.