Enhancing the Role of Meaning in the L2 Classroom: A Cognitive Linguistics Perspective

Abstract

From the Cognitive Linguistics (CL) stance, language is a dynamic interplay of complex subsystems composed of symbolic units, and meaning is the driving force behind form. Meaning arises from our physical experience (i.e., embodied cognition), and interacts with culture-specific ways of conceptualizing entities and events through language. As a usage-based model of language acquisition, CL has made significant contributions to second language (L2) pedagogy. Some of these contributions will be briefly discussed below to shed light on how CL research in Second Language Acquisition (SLA) has extended to Instructed SLA.