Cognitive grammar and its applicability in the foreign language classroom

Abstract

The theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG), despite its compatibility with preferred theories of instruction and teaching methodologies, has yet to make its way into the foreign language classroom. This chapter introduces CG, outlining the basic principles that are most useful in the language classroom: cognitive domains, which function well as instructional tools in a communicative classroom, and the concept of schemas and prototypes, which help students examine the relationships between syntax and meaning. A lesson plan illustrates how one applies the principles of CG to explicit grammar instruction, supplementing students’ grammatical metalanguage and establishing a cognitive domain the instructor can use for future grammar lessons. CG, because it encourages experimentation and interpretation, complements communicative language teaching and speaks to the goals of the report from the Modern Language Association (MLA) Ad Hoc Committee on Foreign Languages (MLA, 2007), which calls for teaching students translingual and transcultural competence at the secondary and postsecondary level.