Cover not available
Article published In:
Cognitive Linguistic Studies
Vol. 9:2 (2022) ► pp.185–201

Applying cognitive linguistics to foreign language teaching and learning

Addressing current research challenges

| Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
ORCID logo | Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
ORCID logo | Georg-August-Universität Göttingen
The discipline of Applied Cognitive Linguistics is a recent, still emerging framework, which is situated at the interface of Cognitive Linguistics (CL) and Applied Linguistics research (Pütz, Niemeier & Dirven 2001a, 2001b). At its core, Applied CL is concerned with the use of CL models, theories, or concepts for L2 teaching and learning, where it aims to create effective teaching methods, activities, or materials. Owing to its more recent origin in the 1990s/2000s, a lively metadisciplinary discussion is still taking place within the discipline, which highlights various challenges or concerns that Applied CL research is currently facing (e.g., Achard & Niemeier 2004; Pütz 2010; Roche 2014; Tyler & Huang 2018). Major concerns in this discussion are, for instance, (1) the underuse of empirical data in Applied CL research and (2) the yet limited application of CL theories to Communicative Language Teaching (as opposed to Present-Practice-Produce, in which it is typically embedded). This article outlines these two challenges to research in Applied CL and offers suggestions how to address these concerns in future investigations. By doing so, we intend to contribute to the ongoing metadisciplinary discussion about the Applied CL framework and to promote its further consolidation.
Keywords: cognitive linguistics, applied cognitive linguistics, empirical research, communicative language teaching, present-practice-produce
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction: Applied Cognitive Linguistics as recent, still emerging field
  • 2.Article outline
  • 3.Method: A metadisciplinary discussion
  • 4.Concern 1: Underuse of empirical data in Applied CL
  • 5.Concern 2: Applied CL is rarely combined with communicative language teaching
  • 6.Summary and outlook
  • Notes
  • References
Published online: 6 December 2022
DOI logo
https://doi.org/10.1075/cogls.21010.wir
References (49)
References
Achard, M. (2018). Teaching usage and concepts: Towards a cognitive pedagogical grammar. In A. Tyler, L. Huang & H. Jan (Eds.), What is Applied Cognitive Linguistics? Answers from current SLA research (pp. 37–62). Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Achard, M., & Niemeier, S. (Eds.). (2004). Cognitive Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, and Foreign Language Teaching. Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Ahmed, S. (2017). Authentic ELT materials in the language classroom: An overview. Journal of Applied Linguistics and Language Research, 4 (2), 181–202.Google Scholar
Athanasiadou, A. (2004). Teaching temporal connectors and their prototypical non-temporal extensions. In M. Achard & S. Niemeier (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, and Foreign Language Teaching (pp. 195–210). Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Bielak, J., & Pawlak, M. (2011). Teaching English tense and aspect with the help of Cognitive Grammar: An empirical study. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 1 (3), 365–400. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2013). Applying Cognitive Grammar in the Foreign Language Classroom: Teaching English Tense and Aspect. Berlin: Springer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Boers, F., & Lindstromberg, S. (Eds.). (2008). Cognitive Linguistic approaches to teaching vocabulary and phraseology. Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(2006). Cognitive Linguistic applications in second or foreign language instruction: Rationale, proposals, and evaluation. In G. Kristiansen, M. Achard, R. Dirven & F. J. Ruiz de Mendoza Ibáñez (Eds.), Cognitive Linguistics: Current Applications and Future Perspectives (pp. 305–358). Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Brown, J. D. (2004). Research methods for Applied Linguistics: Scope, characteristics, and standards. In A. Davies & C. Elder (Eds.), The Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 476–500). Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Brown, H. D., & Lee, H. (2015). Teaching by Principles: An Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (4th ed.). White Plains, NY: Pearson Education.Google Scholar
Canale, M., & Swain, M. (1980). Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and testing. Applied Linguistics, 1 (1), 1–47. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Chan, W. M., Chin, K. N., & Suthiwan, T. (Eds.). (2011). Foreign Language Teaching in Asia and Beyond: Current Perspectives and Future Directions. Boston: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dirven, R., & Taylor, J. R. (1994). English modality: A cognitive-didactic approach. In K. Davidse, K. Carlon, B. Rudzka-Ostyn & E. Vorlat (Eds.), Perspectives on English: Studies in Honour of Professor Emma Vorlat (pp. 542–556). Leuven: Peeters.Google Scholar
Dirven, R. (1989). Cognitive Linguistics and pedagogic grammar. In G. Graustein & G. Leitner (Eds.), Reference grammars and modern linguistic theory (pp. 56–75). Tübingen: Niemeyer. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Dörnyei, Z. (2009). Research Methods in Applied Linguistics: Quantitative, Qualitative, and Mixed Methodologies. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Gilquin, G. (2017). Applied Cognitive Linguistics and second/foreign language varieties: Towards an explanatory account. In J. Evers-Vermeul & E. Tribushinina (Eds.), Usage-based Approaches to Language Acquisition and Language Teaching (pp. 47–72). Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Hamrick, P., & Attardo, S. (2010). A prototype approach to auxiliary selection in the Italian passato prossimo . In S. De Knop, F. Boers & A. De Rycker (Eds.), Fostering Language Teaching Efficiency through Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 277–292). Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Jacobsen, N. D. (2012). Applying Cognitive Linguistics and Task-supported Language Teaching to Instruction of English Conditional Phrases. Doctoral dissertation, Washington, D. C.: Georgetown University.
Jordan, G. (2004). Theory Construction in Second Language Acquisition. Amsterdam: John Benjamins Publishing. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kanaplianik, K. (2016). Kognitionslinguistisch basierte Animationen für die deutschen Modalverben: Zusammenspiel der kognitiven Linguistik und des multimedialen Lernens bei der Sprachvermittlung [CL-based Animations for German Modal Verbs: The Interplay of Cognitive Linguistics and Multimedia Learning in Foreign-language Teaching]. Berlin: LIT Verlag.Google Scholar
Kemsies, R. (2016). Frame-based instruction: Teaching polysemous nouns in the L2. Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association, 4 (1), 171–191. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Kohl-Dietrich, D. (2019). Cognitive Linguistics in the English as a Foreign Language Classroom: An Empirical Study on Teaching Phrasal Verbs. Münster: Waxmann.Google Scholar
Lakoff, G. (1990). The invariance hypothesis: Is abstract reason based on image-schemas? Cognitive Linguistics, 1 (1), 39–74. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Langacker, R. W. (2008). Cognitive Grammar as a basis for language instruction. In P. Robinson & N. C. Ellis (Eds.), Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition (pp. 66–88). New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Littlewood, W. (2004). Second language learning. In A. Davies & C. Elder (Eds.), The Handbook of Applied Linguistics (pp. 501–524). Malden, Mass.: Blackwell. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Llopis-García, R. (2011). Gramática cognitiva para la enseñanza del español como lengua extranjera [Cognitive Grammar for the Instruction of Spanish as a Foreign Language]. Madrid: Ministerio de Educación de España.Google Scholar
Mackey, A., & Gass, S. M. (2016). Second Language Research: Methodology and Design (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Matsuda, P. K. (2005). Historical inquiry in second language writing. In P. K. Matsuda & T. Silva (Eds.), Second Language Writing Research: Perspectives on the Process of Knowledge Construction (pp. 33–46). Mahwah: Lawrence Erlbaum.Google Scholar
MacLennann, C. H. (1994). Metaphors and prototypes in the learning teaching of grammar and vocabulary. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 32 (2), 97–110. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Negueruela, E., & Lantolf, J. P. (2006). Concept-based instruction and the acquisition of L2 Spanish. In R. Salaberry & B. A. Lafford (Eds.), The Art of Teaching Spanish: Second Language Acquisition from Research to Praxis (pp. 79–102). Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press.Google Scholar
Newby, D. (2015). The role of theory in pedagogical grammar: A cognitive + communicative approach. Eurasian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 1 (2), 13–34. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Niemeier, S. (2017). Task-based Grammar Teaching of English: Where Cognitive Grammar and Task-based Language Teaching Meet. Tübingen: Narr Francke Attempto.Google Scholar
Norris, J. M., & Ortega, L. (2000). Effectiveness of L2 instruction: A research synthesis and quantitative meta-analysis. Language Learning, 50 (3), 417–528. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pütz, M., Niemeier, S., & Dirven, R. (Eds.). (2001a). Applied Cognitive Linguistics I: Theory and Language Acquisition. Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
(Eds.). (2001b). Applied Cognitive Linguistics II: Language Pedagogy. Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Pütz, M. (2010). Cognitive Linguistics and applied linguistics. In D. Geeraerts & H. Cuyckens (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 1139–1159). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Reif, M. (2012). Making Progress Simpler? Applying Cognitive Grammar to Tense-aspect Teaching. Frankfurt a.M.: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Rilling, S., & Dantas-Whitney, M. (Eds.). (2009). Authenticity in the Language Classroom and Beyond: Adult Learners. Alexandria, VA: Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages.Google Scholar
Roche, J. (2014). Language acquisition and language pedagogy. In J. Littlemore & J. R. Taylor (Eds.), The Bloomsbury Companion to Cognitive Linguistics (pp. 325–351). London: Bloomsbury.Google Scholar
Roche, J., & Suñer, F. (2017). Sprachenlernen und Kognition: Grundlagen einer kognitiven Sprachendidaktik [Language Learning and Cognition: Basics of a Cognitive Language Didactics]. Tübingen: Gunter Narr.Google Scholar
Rycker, A. De, & Knop, S. De. (2009). Integrating Cognitive Linguistics and foreign language teaching: Historical background and new developments. Journal of Modern Languages, 19 (1), 29–46.Google Scholar
Taylor, J. R. (1993). Some pedagogical implications of Cognitive Linguistics. In B. Rudzka-Ostyn & R. A. Geiger (Eds.), Conceptualizations and Mental Processing in Language (pp. 201–223). Berlin: de Gruyter.Google Scholar
Tyler, A., & Huang, L. (2018). Introduction. In A. Tyler, L. Huang & H. Jan (Eds.), What is Applied Cognitive Linguistics? Answers from Current SLA Research (pp. 1–33). Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tyler, A., Huang, L., & Jan, H. (Eds.). (2018). What is Applied Cognitive Linguistics? Answers from Current SLA Research. Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Tyler, A. (2012). Cognitive Linguistics and Second Language Learning: Theoretical Basics and Experimental Evidence. New York: Routledge. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Verspoor, M., & Tyler, A. (2009). Chapter 8: Cognitive Linguistics and second language learning. In W. C. Ritchie & T. K. Bhatia (Eds.), The New Handbook of Second Language Acquisition (2nd ed.) (pp. 159–177). Bingley: Emerald.Google Scholar
Widdowson, H. G. (1998). Context, community, and authentic language. TESOL Quarterly, 32 (4), 705–716. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Wirag, A. (2021). The Construction and Efficiency of Prototype Definitions for the EFL Learner’s Dictionary: An Empirical Study in Applied Cognitive Linguistics. Trier: Wissenschaftlicher Verlag Trier.Google Scholar
Zhao, H., Siu-ho Yau, T., Li, K., & Nga-yan Wong, N. (2018). Polysemy and conceptual metaphors: A Cognitive Linguistics approach to vocabulary learning. In A. Tyler, L. Huang & H. Jan (Eds.), What is Applied Cognitive Linguistics? Answers from Current SLA Research (pp. 257–286). Berlin: de Gruyter. DOI logoGoogle Scholar
Cited by (6)

Cited by six other publications

Muthmainnah, Muthmainnah, Eka Apriani, Abdul Gafur Marzuki, Ahmad Al Yakin, Nur Aeni, Ali Sorayyaei Azar & Mohd. Rafi Riyawi
2024. Navigating Education 5.0 Robotic Technique for Teaching Foreign Languages in Todays Classroom. In Preconceptions of Policies, Strategies, and Challenges in Education 5.0 [Advances in Educational Technologies and Instructional Design, ], ► pp. 118 ff. DOI logo
Romero Muñoz, Eloy, Remy Decorte & Dylan Dachet
2024. Applying cognitive grammar to the Count/Mass Distinction. Review of Cognitive Linguistics DOI logo
Zhang, Bin
2024. Li, Xiang: Aussprachetraining im Bereich der Prosodie für chinesische DaF-Lernende. Berlin: Frank & Timme, 2023 (Schriften zur Sprechwissenschaft und Phonetik, 28). -- ISBN 978-3-7329-0947-6. 438 Seiten, € 68,00.. Informationen Deutsch als Fremdsprache 51:2-3 ► pp. 196 ff. DOI logo
Della Putta, Paolo & Ferran Suñer
2023. Using the body to activate the brain. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 21:1 ► pp. 1 ff. DOI logo
Littlemore, Jeannette
2023. ‘Loud Suits’ and ‘Sharp Cheese’: Motivated Language, Iconicity, and Second Language Learning. In Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Second Language Learning and Teaching, ► pp. 209 ff. DOI logo
Russi , Cinzia
2023. ESSERE O AVERE? UNA PROPOSTA DI APPLICAZIONE DELLA GRAMMATICA COGNITIVA ALL’INSEGNAMENTO DELLA SELEZIONE DELL’AUSILIARE IN ITALIANO L2. Italiano LinguaDue 15:2 ► pp. 104 ff. DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 4 august 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers. Any errors therein should be reported to them.