Applied Cognitive Construction Grammar: Cognitive Guide to the Teaching of Modal Verbs

Applied Cognitive Construction Grammar: Cognitive Guide to the Teaching of Modal Verbs
Author: Sergio Torres-Martínez
Publisher: Sergio Torres-Martinez
Total Pages: 120
Release: 2021-01-14
Genre: Education
ISBN:

The purpose of the present monograph is to offer teachers and learners of English a comprehensive pedagogical guide to modal verbs. As such, the book presents a fresh introduction to the use of the cognitive approach in the context of pedagogical grammar. The reader will find a short introduction to the cognitive conceptualization of language. The tasks in the book amalgamate three main rationales discussed in Torres-Martínez (2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020): Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT), Paper-based Data-Driven Learning (PbDDL) and the cognitive dimension of language providing the systematicity required for the introduction of the tasks in the classroom. I believe readers will find that this book seamlessly connects Construction Grammar theory and English pedagogy in a way that contributes to the important conversation between theory, research and classroom practice.

Applied Cognitive Construction Grammar: A Cognitive Guide to the Teaching of Phrasal Verbs

Applied Cognitive Construction Grammar: A Cognitive Guide to the Teaching of Phrasal Verbs
Author: Sergio Torres-Martínez
Publisher: Sergio Torres-Martinez
Total Pages: 218
Release: 2021-01-13
Genre: Education
ISBN:

This book is about teaching and learning phrasal verbs in the context of both foreign and second language acquisition. Although both processes differ in terms of the degree to which learners are exposed to the target language through either formal classroom instruction or immersion in the language, the idea underlying this proposal is that both EFL and ESL learners can have similar levels of exposure to the language if the nature of constructions is clearly defined. Thus, in order to create a type of input that promotes category construction through both inductive and explicit instruction, it is necessary to depart from very different assumptions regarding the nature of mind, cognition, and the human experience with the physical world. For example, I claim that what we call mind is not a brain-only phenomenon but a flux of embodied experiences and agentive selections that are reflected in the linguistic system through the influence of speaker-meaning. This theoretical shift aims to connect Applied Cognitive Construction Grammar (ACCxG) with several disciplines such as psychology, cognitive science, philosophy, semiotics, linguistics, and second language acquisition (SLA) theory, to name a few. Clearly, the book is not programmatic, but aims to introduce a cognitive description of language in the context of pedagogical grammar.

Directions for Pedagogical Construction Grammar

Directions for Pedagogical Construction Grammar
Author: Hans C. Boas
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 413
Release: 2022-02-21
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 3110746778

How can insights from Construction Grammar (CxG) be applied to foreign language learning (FLL) and foreign language teaching (FLT)? This volume explores several aspects of Pedagogical Construction Grammar, with a specific look at issues relevant to second language acquisition, FLL, and FLT. The contributions in this volume discuss a wide range of constructions, as well as different resources, methodologies, and data used to learn constructions in the language classroom. More specifically, they seek to provide answers to the following questions: What do new constructional approaches to teaching and learning foreign language look like that take the insights of CxG seriously? What should electronic resources using constructions and semantic frames for foreign language instruction look like? How should constructions (pairings of form with meaning/function) in the foreign language classroom be introduced? What role does frequency play in learning constructions in the language classroom? What types of strategies does CxG offer to facilitate the acquisition of a second language? This volume is relevant for anyone interested in second language acquisition, foreign language pedagogy, Construction Grammar, and Cognitive Linguistics. Endorsements: If first language learning flows forth from language use, teaching language should be based on relevant usage-patterns, modified in accordance with the advanced cognitive and linguistic knowledge of older learners. The current volume shows how insights from first and second language learning and usage-based Construction Grammar can be turned into evidence-based teaching strategies. Heike Behrens, University of Basel Usage-based Construction Grammar has changed our view of language learning, but it is only recently that researchers have begun to apply the insights of the constructionist approach to language pedagogy. This volume brings together a collection of articles in which experts of Construction Grammar and Usage-based Linguistics make concrete proposals for teaching constructions by using corpora and other resources. A must read for everybody interested in grammar teaching. Holger Diessel, University of Jena With Directions for Pedagogical Construction Grammar, Boas has produced an impressive and much-needed volume which excels at illustrating the immense potential of constructionist approaches to improve language pedagogy. The contributions to this volume, all authored by leading cognitive and corpus linguists, convincingly describe what a successful future of language teaching could look like—one that is founded in usage-based linguistics and takes language patterns seriously. I consider this volume essential reading for any applied linguist. Ute Römer, Georgia State University

A Cognitive Grammar Approach to Teaching Tense and Aspect in the L2 Context

A Cognitive Grammar Approach to Teaching Tense and Aspect in the L2 Context
Author: Franka Kermer
Publisher: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
Total Pages: 290
Release: 2016-05-11
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 1443893153

This volume links Cognitive Grammar explanations to the area of second-language learning and instructed grammar teaching. It represents a contribution to empirically based knowledge promoting a new perspective on the process of teaching and learning about English language structures. The theoretical part of the book provides an overview of the basic tenets of Cognitive Grammar, and discusses elements of the theory that are of crucial importance for understanding English tense and aspect structures. The second part brings together these two fields of study and tests a Cognitive Grammar approach to teaching tense and aspect to less advanced learners of English. To this end, an experimental study was conducted, comparing the effects of Cognitive Grammar-inspired instruction on the language learning process with those of teaching methods which employ more traditional grammatical descriptions. As such, the book is of particular relevance to Cognitive Grammar research, and second-language learning and teaching research, and for learners and teachers of a foreign language.

The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar

The Oxford Handbook of Construction Grammar
Author: Thomas Hoffmann
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
Total Pages: 609
Release: 2013-04-18
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 0195396685

This Handbook is the first authoritative reference work solely dedicated to the theory, method, and applications of Construction Grammar, and will be a resource that students and scholars alike can turn to for a representative overview of its many sub-theories and applications.

Modality and Diachronic Construction Grammar

Modality and Diachronic Construction Grammar
Author: Martin Hilpert
Publisher: John Benjamins Publishing Company
Total Pages: 259
Release: 2021-10-15
Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines
ISBN: 9027259003

This volume explores how Diachronic Construction Grammar can shed new light on changes in a central and well-researched domain of grammar, namely modality. Its main goal is to show how constructional analyses can help us address some of the long-standing questions that have informed discussions of modal expressions and their development, and to illustrate the processes that are involved in these developments on the basis of data from languages such as English, Finnish, French, Galician, German, and Japanese. The studies in this volume are organized around three interrelated topics. The first of these concerns the organization of modal constructions in a network. A second focus area of the studies in this volume concerns the developmental pathways that modal constructions follow diachronically. The third topic that ties the contributions of this volume together is the contrast between constructionalization and constructional change.

Models of Modals

Models of Modals
Author: Ilse Depraetere
Publisher: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co KG
Total Pages: 305
Release: 2023-04-27
Genre: Foreign Language Study
ISBN: 3110734257

Modal verbs in English communicate delicate shades of meaning, there being a large range of verbs both on the necessity side (must, have to, should, ought to, need, need to) and the possibility side (can, may, could, might, be able to). They therefore constitute excellent test ground to apply and compare different methodologies that can lay bare the factors that drive the speaker’s choice of modal verb. This book is not merely concerned with a purely grammatical description of the use of modal verbs, but aims at advancing our understanding of lexical and grammatical units in general and of linguistic methodologies to explore these. It thus involves a genuine effort to compare, assess and combine a variety of approaches. It complements the leading descriptive qualitative work on modal verbs by testing a diverse range of quantitative methods, while not ignoring qualitative issues pertaining to the semantics-pragmatics interface. Starting from a critical assessment of what constitutes the meaning of modal verbs, different types of empirical studies (usage-based, data-driven and experimental), drawing considerably on the same data sets, shows how method triangulation can contribute to an enhanced understanding. Due attention is also given to individual variation as well as the degree to which modals can predict L2 proficiency level.