Traditionally language has been viewed as an autonomous system,
separate from other cognitive and social abilities. In this view, the language
system operates under a set of arbitrary and unmotivated rules
and properties and the various subcomponents of the language system
such as syntax, morphology, and lexis are independent of each other.
The approach to language learning that accompanies this view of language
emphasizes the need for the learner to learn vocabulary items
separately, master the grammar rules and memorize their exceptions.
A radically different view of the language system is found in a cognitive
linguistic approach. Cognitive Linguistics (CL) is based on the
assumption that meaning is embodied and attempts to explain facts
about language in terms of other properties and mechanisms of the human
mind and body. Meaning is therefore often motivated through metaphor,
metonymy, and image schemas, not only at the lexical level, but also in
syntax and morphology (see also Nation, Lexical Awareness in Second
Language Learning, Volume 6; Sharwood Smith, Morphological and
Syntactic Awareness in Foreign/Second Language Learning, Volume 6).
Even though studies that apply CL theoretical insights to L2 learning
and teaching are still relatively sparse, applied linguists such as Nick
Ellis (cf. 1998 and 1999) have explicitly stated that CL has a lot to offer
to SLA because it provides for meaningful learning, giving insight into
the conceptual principles that may give rise to different forms. This
chapter first gives a brief overview of how CL has developed and then
after explaining CL in more detail, it shows what a CL view entails
for second language development and how it may be used in raising
language awareness in second language teaching. |