Applying Cognitive Linguistics to Learning the Semantics of English to, for and at: An Experimental Investigation.

Authors

  • Andrea Tyler
  • Charles Mueller
  • Vu Ho

Keywords:

Applied congnitive linguistics, instructed second language learning, prepositions, English prepositions, semantics

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed growing interest in cognitive linguistics (CL) and its potential insights for L2 learning. However, few experimental investigations have applied a CL perspective to instructed L2 learning. English prepositions represent a promising target for the application of CL to instructed L2 learning since, contrary to traditional approaches, CL represents the many meanings associated with a single preposition as being systematically related in principled ways. This article lays out the fundamentals of a CL analysis of the semantics of English prepositions and reports on a quasi-experimental study examining the efficacy of applying a CL approach to instructed L2 learning of the semantics of English to, for and at. Comparison of pre- and post-test results show significant gain scores (p >.0003), indicating that the group of 14 advanced learners who received instruction based on a CL perspective experienced substantial improvement in their understanding of the semantics of the three prepositions

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Published

2019-02-22

Issue

Section

Articles