This paper presents a series of experiments that tested the usefulness of teaching Spanish mood using an approach to Cognitive Grammar specifically developed for the foreign language classroom: Operational Grammar.
Mood selection is one of the most difficult aspects of learning Spanish as a FL, and it is one of the last features acquired. It is unquestionably complex, involving issues of subordination, alternation, and speaker’s communicative intent. This complexity has been amplified by the traditional approach to mood, which has changed little over the last 50 years.
The alternative presented here sees language as a symbolic representation of the speaker’s mental model of the world. Grammar is closely linked to this model as the tool used in class to help learners communicate meaning through form. This enables them to understand how native speakers choose to communicate. Language, then, portrays an outcome of the speaker’s own selection, guided by communicative intent and not as part of a taxonomic set of rules.
The empirical study showed that the combination of a cognitive approach to mood with a Processing Instruction methodology had positive effects on how the students identified mood selection in both input and output learning situations.
2024. Applied Cognitive Linguistics and L2 Instruction,
Littlemore, Jeannette
2023. What Have Bees, Macaque Monkeys, and Humans Got in Common? Embodied Cognition, Gesture, and Second Language Learning. In Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Second Language Learning and Teaching, ► pp. 171 ff.
2023. Does L2 assessment make a difference? Testing the empirical validity of applied cognitive linguistics in the acquisition of the Spanish/L2 psych-verb construction. Language Teaching Research
Giovanelli, Marcello & Chloe Harrison
2022. Cognitive Grammar in the Classroom: A Case Study. In Pedagogical Stylistics in the 21st Century, ► pp. 131 ff.
Kissling, Elizabeth Maria & Taylor Arnold
2022. Preliminary evidence that applied cognitive linguistics is effective for novice learners regardless of their individual differences. Language Teaching Research► pp. 136216882211396 ff.
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Hijazo-Gascón, Alberto & Reyes Llopis-García
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