Cognitive Linguistic Applications to Second Language Teaching: From Theory to Practice

Aims of the workshop

Cognitive linguistic approaches such as cognitive grammar and construction grammar are best suited to elucidate grammar principles that often remain hidden to language learners, since they use imagery and embodied experiences to make grammar's meaningfulness more transparent to learners. Although their potential is widely accepted, empirical research so far still needs to provide a clear understanding of how these approaches can best be translated into effective teaching practices, especially for languages other than English. In the field of applied linguistics, assessing the effectiveness of such approaches in controlled classroom settings remains an exciting, but challenging endeavor. Therefore, the present workshop addresses some of the questions regarding the testing of cognitive linguistic approaches in the form of interventional studies in classroom settings, such as the following:

• How should the treatment be designed in order to align with the most recent advances in language pedagogy?
• Which study designs are best suited to assess the impact of the treatment?
• How can measurements be constructed and validated?
• Which statistical methods are best suited for the analysis of variables?

Participants

The workshop aims to provide interested researchers in the field of applied linguistics (PhD students, PostDocs and others) with a strong methodological background on how to test the effectiveness of cognitive linguistic approaches to language teaching by means of classroom-based studies. To this end, the program of the workshop includes both talks reporting the most recent advances in the field and hands-on sessions, requiring the participants to further their own research. Participants will have the opportunity to receive specialized feedback, become familiar with practice examples and actively engage in discussion (see also program here). The workshop will be held in English, but pedagogical applications for other foreign languages such as Spanish, German and French will be showcased. Researchers working on any foreign language are strongly encouraged to participate.

For registration click here

Keynote Speakers

Robert Blake (University of California Davis)

Thomas François (Université catholique de Louvain)

Jörg Roche (University of Munich)

Organizing committee

Carlee Arnett, University of California Davis

Mathieu Lecouvet, Université catholique de Louvain

Ferran Suñer, Université catholique de Louvain