Cognitive Linguistics and Language Teaching

This book argues that Second language teaching has not been well served by recent approaches to the description of language content. The book explores how Cognitive Linguistics offers teachers a description of language that can translate into practical classroom activities.

Arguing hat Second Language Teaching has not been well served by recent approaches to the description of language content, Randal Holme explores how Cognitive Linguistics offers teachers a description of language that can translate into practical classroom activities because: - theories of construction grammar help students wed form to meaning - theories of embodied cognition relate form and meaning to imagery derived from movement - new theories of linguistic relativity show how second language errors can originate in the use of first language forms with second language meanings The book looks at how Cognitive Linguistic research into embodied cognition, conceptualisation, and linguistic symbolism can offer new perspectives on how teachers approach form. It summaries each area of research whilst showing its application, unfolding its argument through more than forty classroom activities and examples.

Acknowledgements List of Figures and Tables List of Activities Introduction PART I: EMBODIED EXPERIENCE The Problem of Linguistic Meaning Conceptualisation, Embodiment, and the Origins of Meaning Gesture PART II: CONCEPTUALISATION Language, Culture and Linguistic Relativity Conceptualization and Construal PART III: MEANING AND USAGE Teaching Encyclopaedic Meaning Usage and Grammatical Meaning PART IV: CONCLUSIONS Towards a CL Syllabus References

RANDAL HOLME is Associate Professor of English at the Hong Kong Institute of Education. His main research interest is in the applications of Cognitive Linguistics to language teaching and learning. His publications include the books, Mind, Metaphor and Language Teaching (2003) and Literacy: an Introduction (2004).