Meta-language is the language teachers and learners use to talk about the English language, learning and teaching.

Example
Words and phrases such as 'verb', 'noun', 'present perfect continuous', 'phrasal verb' and 'reported speech' are all examples of common classroom meta-language.

In the classroom
Certain classroom teaching materials rely on the learner knowing an extensive range of meta-language and teachers sometimes spend time teaching learners some of the more common terms.