Course title: Application of cognitive linguistics in learning and teaching L2
Instructor: Associate professor Renata Geld, PhD ; Associate professor Mateusz-Milan Stanojević, PhD
ECTS credits: 5
Status: elective
Semester: III
Enrolment requirements: recommended for students with basic knowledge of cognitive linguistics
Course description and objectives: The course offers fundamental aspects of the cognitive linguistic theoretical framework that are relevant for current trends in SLA and TEFL. Special attention is given to cognitively motivated ways of teaching grammar. Upon completing the course the students will be able to do the following: recognize relevant elements from the cognitive linguistic framework and apply them in practice; adjust teaching material and their approach to teaching lexicon and grammar by paying attention to the idea of cognitive motivation in language and its symbolic nature; and consolidate previous knowledge about language, language acquisition, and language teaching in terms of what they have learnt from the cognitive linguistic description of language.
Week by week schedule:
| week | Topics |
| 1 | Fundamental concepts Introduction |
| 2 | Fundamental concepts: the nature of language and language vis-à-vis other cognitive processes |
| 3 | Fundamental concepts: aspects of conceptual structure and construal |
| 4 | Fundamental concepts: cognitive motivation in language / the nature of grammar/lexicon |
| 5 | REVISION |
| 6 | Language as an experiential phenomenon: L1 vis-à-vis L2 |
| 7 | Strategic construal (L2 construal): cognitive learning strategies vis-à-vis general cognitive processes |
| 8 | Strategic construal (L2 construal): from specificity to schematicity / from idiomaticity to grammar |
| 9 | Learning L2 by insight: grammar as conceptual structure/meaningfulness of grammar |
| 10 | REVISION |
| 11 | Ways of testing theory in practice |
| 12 | Ways of testing theory in practice: microproject I – plans and drafts |
| 13 | Consolidation |
| 14 | Ways of testing theory in practice: microproject II – reports |
| 15 | Ways of testing theory in practice: microproject II – reports |
Required reading:
- Croft, W. & Cruse, D. A. 2004. Cognitive Linguistics. Cambridge: Cambridge Univesity Press (selected chapters)
- Geld, R. 2006. Konceptualizacija i vidovi konstruiranja značenja: temeljne postavke i pojmovi kognitivnolingvističkog teorijskog okvira, Suvremena lingvistika, 62, pp. 183-211.
- Geld, R. and Đurđek, S. 2009. Gradience in L2 procesing: the importance of the non-protoypical, In: Brdar, M., Omazić, M. and Pavičić-Takač V. (eds.) Cognitive Approaches to English: Some Fundamental Interdisciplinary and Applied Aspects, Newcastle: Cambridge Scholars Publishing
- Geld, and Stanojević, M.-M. 2018. Strateško konstruiranje značenja riječju i slikom – konceptualna motivacija u ovladavanju jezikom. Zagreb: Srednja Europa (selected chapters)
- Langacker, R. 2001. The English Present Tense, 2: 251-272. 5 Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/S1360674301000235
- Radden, G. and Dirven, R. 2007. Cognitive English Grammar. Amsterdam/ Philadelphia: John Benjamins (selected chapters)
- Radden, G. and Panther, K.-U. (eds.) 2004. Studies in Linguistic Motivation. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter (selected chapters)
Recommended reading:
- Achard, M. and Niemeier, S. (eds.) 2004. Cognitive Linguistics, Second Language Acquisition, and Foreign Languge Teaching. Walter de Gruyter Inc. (selected chapters)
- Aarts, B., Denison, D., Keizer, E., Popova, G. (ed.) 2003. Fuzzy Grammar. Oxford: Oxford University Press
- Dirven, R. and Verspoor, M. 2004. Cognitive Exploration of Language and Linguistics. Amsterdam/Philadelphia: John Benjamins
- Rudzka-Ostyn, B. 2003. Word Power: Phrasal Verbs and Compounds, A Cognitive Approach. Berlin/New York: Mouton de Gruyter
