The theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG), despite its compatibility with preferred theories of instru... more 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 tea...
This paper provides an overview of the theory of Cognitive Grammar highlighting the aspects that ... more This paper provides an overview of the theory of Cognitive Grammar highlighting the aspects that can be applied to classroom second language acquisition. The paper begins with a brief introduction to CG and then focuses on the concepts that are most relevant for teaching case to German language learners such as transitivity and the functions of the cases. It concludes with a suggested lesson plan on how to include CG lessons on case in an established curriculum.
The decision to include or exclude phonemes in the description of a language is not always straig... more The decision to include or exclude phonemes in the description of a language is not always straightforward; presentations of the phoneme inventory of Modern Standard German (MSG) often include a discussion of why /ɛ:/ is problematic as a phoneme. This study describes the acoustic realization of /ɛ:/ in comparison to /e:/ in spoken German, specifically South Westphalian. 39 native German speakers produced /ɛ:/ and /e:/ in hVt non-word frames and vowel productions were measured for: (1) first and second formants from the steady state of the vowel, (2) duration, and (3) fundamental frequency (f0). Measurements were analyzed with a logistic regression model using the glm package in R. The model showed that while the main effects of F2, duration, and pitch were not significant, F1 was; speakers reliably produced /ɛ:/ lower in the vowel space than /e:/, but not fronter. This preliminary investigation into the acoustic realizations of /ɛ:/ and /e:/ through the lens of the debate on whether...
Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association
In order to test the efficacy of using cooperation scripts in combination with animations to teac... more In order to test the efficacy of using cooperation scripts in combination with animations to teach the passive in an advanced language classroom, we designed an intervention study with two groups. The first group received instruction with animations on the grammatical structure of the passive and the second group received the same instruction and animations as the first group, but in addition they were given a cooperation script to use in their small group work. The study uses a quasi-experimental design with a post-test and delayed post-test. The learners were university students in advanced German who had received classroom instruction and spent time in a German-speaking country. Therefore, they had explicit instruction on the morphology and function of the passive as is customary in first- and second-year textbooks for English-speaking learners. This study shows that students with the cooperation script perform better on open-ended tasks than students who worked independently.
Candidatus Liberibactor asiaticus (Ca. Las), a phloem limited, gram negative bacterium is the cau... more Candidatus Liberibactor asiaticus (Ca. Las), a phloem limited, gram negative bacterium is the causal organism of citrus greening disease (Huanglongbing/HLB) whereas citrus yellow mosaic disease is caused by Citrus mosaic badnavirus (CMBV). Both the diseases, singly or as mixed infection in the grove are considered as serious threat to Indian citrus industry. Early diagnosis for these systemic pathogens are essential in order to prevent the spread of these diseases and finally to devise their integrated management strategies. In the present study, a method of simultaneous detection of CMBV and 'Ca. Las' was developed using a simple nitrocellulose membrane (NCM) based DNA isolation protocol in three commercially grown citrus cultivars in India, viz. mandarin (Citrus reticulata), sweet orange (Citrus sinensis), and acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia) infected with these pathogens. Citrus tissues were crushed in extraction buffer containing NaOH and EDTA. The crude extract was spotted on NCM and incubation elution was done in nuclease-free water after 30 minute of NCM spotting. Eluted products were taken for simultaneous detection of CMBV and 'Ca. Las' using duplex PCR with newly designed primers. The developed protocol was found to be equally sensitive as multistep DNA isolation method and commercially available kit. The protocol is simple, rapid and inexpensive thus can be used for large-scale pathogen indexing of citrus plant samples in orchards and nurseries.
This series will present books and edited books on critical and essential theoretical issues as w... more This series will present books and edited books on critical and essential theoretical issues as well as well-grounded empirical research which shape and inform second and foreign language education. It provides a platform for the dissemination and discussion of new, innovative and progressive curricular and teaching practice. The titles in this series focus primarily on key areas of inquiry and development in second and foreign language teaching and learning such as theories of language acquisition/education and their applications, instructional methodologies, innovative approaches to language teaching and learning, curriculum development and syllabus design, teacher education and professional development, language planning and standards development, autonomous learning environments, language program evaluation and the teaching/learning of less commonly taught languages. This series will be of interest to second and foreign language researchers and educators, teacher educators and student teachers, curriculum and materials developers, language policy planners, and language program administrators and evaluators.
CALL and complexity – short papers from EUROCALL 2019
Over the past few years, language teaching has progressively evolved from teacher-fronted classro... more Over the past few years, language teaching has progressively evolved from teacher-fronted classroom settings to more complex, learner-centered scenarios, allowing learners to explore authentic contents, work collaboratively, and create sophisticated and socially relevant products. In addition, these processes foster language learning, increase learner engagement, and support the acquisition of competences such as critical thinking and democratic competence. In spite of these positive results, previous research has not always suggested efficient ways to properly manage classroom interaction and potentially enhance learning outcomes. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the potential of cooperation scripts as a means to leverage collaborative work and classroom interaction in complex learning scenarios. In this paper, we report on the first phase of an intervention study that was conducted with 17 university learners of German at the B2-C1 level. Survey results show that most of...
One of the functions of the dative is to mark non-prototypical subjects, i. e. subjects that some... more One of the functions of the dative is to mark non-prototypical subjects, i. e. subjects that somehow deviate from the agentive prototype. The Germanic languages, as all subbranches of Indo-European (cf. Barðdal et al. 2012. Reconstructing constructional semantics: The dative subject construction in Old Norse‐Icelandic, Latin, Ancient Greek, Old Russian and Old Lithuanian. Studies in Language 36(3). 511–547), exhibit structures where the subject or the subject-like argument is not in the nominative case, but in the accusative, dative or genitive, for instance. The focus of this article is on the dative, leaving accusative and genitive subjects aside, in particular homing in on lexical semantic similarities and differences between the individual Germanic languages. We compare Modern Icelandic, Modern Faroese, and Modern German, on the one hand, and the historical Germanic languages, i. e. Gothic, Old English, Old Saxon, Old High German, Middle English, Middle Dutch, Middle German, Old Norse-Icelandic and Old Swedish, on the other. The goal is to document the semantic development of the construction across time. This, in turn, is a part of a more general research program aiming at reconstructing the origin and the development of the Dative Subject Construction in Germanic and Indo-European. As the Germanic languages are both genealogically and areally related, we suggest a computational model aiming at disentangling genealogical and geographical factors, in order to estimate to which degree the two interact with each other across languages and across historical eras.
This paper provides an overview of the theory of Cognitive Grammar highlighting the aspects that ... more This paper provides an overview of the theory of Cognitive Grammar highlighting the aspects that can be applied to classroom second language acquisition. The paper begins with a brief introduction to CG and then focuses on the concepts that are most relevant for teaching case to German language learners such as transitivity and the functions of the cases. It concludes with a suggested lesson plan on how to include CG lessons on case in an established curriculum.
The theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG) can be used to account for a number of syntactic structures ... more The theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG) can be used to account for a number of syntactic structures in a variety of languages in a way that is useful to L2 students 2006 for Spanish). Cognitive Grammar is a usage-based theory that assumes that grammatical structure is almost entirely present at the clausal level. Furthermore, CG assumes that speakers extract the " rules " of a language from the linguistic data they hear; there are no underlying structures or derivations. CG is concerned with providing a representation of language as it is produced and understood as well as the dynamics of this interaction. The usage-based character of CG makes it ideally suited for understanding the language produced by second language learners as well as a rubric for students' knowledge about grammar. Cognitive Grammar is not a theory of second language acquisition; it is a theory that can describe the properties of language as a system. Like cognitive and sociocultural theories of second language acquisition, it rejects the Sausurrean/Chomskian model of language as an abstract, autonomous system. Cognitive Grammar assumes that language structures vary based on context and the speaker (Ellis, 1998; MacWhinney, 1997; Tomasello, 2003). Thus the theory is equipped to handle an analysis of dialectal variation or the variation in grammar by an L2 speaker. In this paper, I use a CG approach to analyze the interlanguage of L2 students' in an oral narrative task designed to elicit accusative and dative case. PAGE
The theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG), despite its compatibility with preferred theories of instru... more 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. While (CG) has existed as a theory since the 1970s, some foreign language instructors have yet to hear of it, while others are familiar with it but still find the core concepts somewhat obtuse. 1 This chapter serves to introduce the reader to CG, providing concrete examples to illustrate some of the key pillars of the theory. In addition, the chapter also explores how CG, though similar to prevailing theories of grammar, distinguishes itself from them, particularly in the area of transitivity, and how it can complement foreign language instruction, not only facilitating student comprehension of grammar but also promoting translingual and transcultural competence, a priority identified in the MLA Report (MLA, 2007). In our brief review of the theory of CG, we focus primarily on two core concepts that can be applied to foreign language instruction: cognitive domains, or schemas, and semantic/syntactic prototypes, two elements that differ significantly from other approaches to grammar. An explanation then follows of how these two elements can be applied directly to the explicit grammar instruction that takes place in the language classroom. The last section of the chapter then presents a lesson plan that applies the principles of CG, activating a cognitive domain and then using that cognitive domain to introduce particular syntactic/seman-tic prototypes, anchoring the students in the CG metalanguage that will inform
The theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG), despite its compatibility with preferred theories of instru... more 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 tea...
This paper provides an overview of the theory of Cognitive Grammar highlighting the aspects that ... more This paper provides an overview of the theory of Cognitive Grammar highlighting the aspects that can be applied to classroom second language acquisition. The paper begins with a brief introduction to CG and then focuses on the concepts that are most relevant for teaching case to German language learners such as transitivity and the functions of the cases. It concludes with a suggested lesson plan on how to include CG lessons on case in an established curriculum.
The decision to include or exclude phonemes in the description of a language is not always straig... more The decision to include or exclude phonemes in the description of a language is not always straightforward; presentations of the phoneme inventory of Modern Standard German (MSG) often include a discussion of why /ɛ:/ is problematic as a phoneme. This study describes the acoustic realization of /ɛ:/ in comparison to /e:/ in spoken German, specifically South Westphalian. 39 native German speakers produced /ɛ:/ and /e:/ in hVt non-word frames and vowel productions were measured for: (1) first and second formants from the steady state of the vowel, (2) duration, and (3) fundamental frequency (f0). Measurements were analyzed with a logistic regression model using the glm package in R. The model showed that while the main effects of F2, duration, and pitch were not significant, F1 was; speakers reliably produced /ɛ:/ lower in the vowel space than /e:/, but not fronter. This preliminary investigation into the acoustic realizations of /ɛ:/ and /e:/ through the lens of the debate on whether...
Yearbook of the German Cognitive Linguistics Association
In order to test the efficacy of using cooperation scripts in combination with animations to teac... more In order to test the efficacy of using cooperation scripts in combination with animations to teach the passive in an advanced language classroom, we designed an intervention study with two groups. The first group received instruction with animations on the grammatical structure of the passive and the second group received the same instruction and animations as the first group, but in addition they were given a cooperation script to use in their small group work. The study uses a quasi-experimental design with a post-test and delayed post-test. The learners were university students in advanced German who had received classroom instruction and spent time in a German-speaking country. Therefore, they had explicit instruction on the morphology and function of the passive as is customary in first- and second-year textbooks for English-speaking learners. This study shows that students with the cooperation script perform better on open-ended tasks than students who worked independently.
Candidatus Liberibactor asiaticus (Ca. Las), a phloem limited, gram negative bacterium is the cau... more Candidatus Liberibactor asiaticus (Ca. Las), a phloem limited, gram negative bacterium is the causal organism of citrus greening disease (Huanglongbing/HLB) whereas citrus yellow mosaic disease is caused by Citrus mosaic badnavirus (CMBV). Both the diseases, singly or as mixed infection in the grove are considered as serious threat to Indian citrus industry. Early diagnosis for these systemic pathogens are essential in order to prevent the spread of these diseases and finally to devise their integrated management strategies. In the present study, a method of simultaneous detection of CMBV and 'Ca. Las' was developed using a simple nitrocellulose membrane (NCM) based DNA isolation protocol in three commercially grown citrus cultivars in India, viz. mandarin (Citrus reticulata), sweet orange (Citrus sinensis), and acid lime (Citrus aurantifolia) infected with these pathogens. Citrus tissues were crushed in extraction buffer containing NaOH and EDTA. The crude extract was spotted on NCM and incubation elution was done in nuclease-free water after 30 minute of NCM spotting. Eluted products were taken for simultaneous detection of CMBV and 'Ca. Las' using duplex PCR with newly designed primers. The developed protocol was found to be equally sensitive as multistep DNA isolation method and commercially available kit. The protocol is simple, rapid and inexpensive thus can be used for large-scale pathogen indexing of citrus plant samples in orchards and nurseries.
This series will present books and edited books on critical and essential theoretical issues as w... more This series will present books and edited books on critical and essential theoretical issues as well as well-grounded empirical research which shape and inform second and foreign language education. It provides a platform for the dissemination and discussion of new, innovative and progressive curricular and teaching practice. The titles in this series focus primarily on key areas of inquiry and development in second and foreign language teaching and learning such as theories of language acquisition/education and their applications, instructional methodologies, innovative approaches to language teaching and learning, curriculum development and syllabus design, teacher education and professional development, language planning and standards development, autonomous learning environments, language program evaluation and the teaching/learning of less commonly taught languages. This series will be of interest to second and foreign language researchers and educators, teacher educators and student teachers, curriculum and materials developers, language policy planners, and language program administrators and evaluators.
CALL and complexity – short papers from EUROCALL 2019
Over the past few years, language teaching has progressively evolved from teacher-fronted classro... more Over the past few years, language teaching has progressively evolved from teacher-fronted classroom settings to more complex, learner-centered scenarios, allowing learners to explore authentic contents, work collaboratively, and create sophisticated and socially relevant products. In addition, these processes foster language learning, increase learner engagement, and support the acquisition of competences such as critical thinking and democratic competence. In spite of these positive results, previous research has not always suggested efficient ways to properly manage classroom interaction and potentially enhance learning outcomes. Against this backdrop, this paper explores the potential of cooperation scripts as a means to leverage collaborative work and classroom interaction in complex learning scenarios. In this paper, we report on the first phase of an intervention study that was conducted with 17 university learners of German at the B2-C1 level. Survey results show that most of...
One of the functions of the dative is to mark non-prototypical subjects, i. e. subjects that some... more One of the functions of the dative is to mark non-prototypical subjects, i. e. subjects that somehow deviate from the agentive prototype. The Germanic languages, as all subbranches of Indo-European (cf. Barðdal et al. 2012. Reconstructing constructional semantics: The dative subject construction in Old Norse‐Icelandic, Latin, Ancient Greek, Old Russian and Old Lithuanian. Studies in Language 36(3). 511–547), exhibit structures where the subject or the subject-like argument is not in the nominative case, but in the accusative, dative or genitive, for instance. The focus of this article is on the dative, leaving accusative and genitive subjects aside, in particular homing in on lexical semantic similarities and differences between the individual Germanic languages. We compare Modern Icelandic, Modern Faroese, and Modern German, on the one hand, and the historical Germanic languages, i. e. Gothic, Old English, Old Saxon, Old High German, Middle English, Middle Dutch, Middle German, Old Norse-Icelandic and Old Swedish, on the other. The goal is to document the semantic development of the construction across time. This, in turn, is a part of a more general research program aiming at reconstructing the origin and the development of the Dative Subject Construction in Germanic and Indo-European. As the Germanic languages are both genealogically and areally related, we suggest a computational model aiming at disentangling genealogical and geographical factors, in order to estimate to which degree the two interact with each other across languages and across historical eras.
This paper provides an overview of the theory of Cognitive Grammar highlighting the aspects that ... more This paper provides an overview of the theory of Cognitive Grammar highlighting the aspects that can be applied to classroom second language acquisition. The paper begins with a brief introduction to CG and then focuses on the concepts that are most relevant for teaching case to German language learners such as transitivity and the functions of the cases. It concludes with a suggested lesson plan on how to include CG lessons on case in an established curriculum.
The theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG) can be used to account for a number of syntactic structures ... more The theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG) can be used to account for a number of syntactic structures in a variety of languages in a way that is useful to L2 students 2006 for Spanish). Cognitive Grammar is a usage-based theory that assumes that grammatical structure is almost entirely present at the clausal level. Furthermore, CG assumes that speakers extract the " rules " of a language from the linguistic data they hear; there are no underlying structures or derivations. CG is concerned with providing a representation of language as it is produced and understood as well as the dynamics of this interaction. The usage-based character of CG makes it ideally suited for understanding the language produced by second language learners as well as a rubric for students' knowledge about grammar. Cognitive Grammar is not a theory of second language acquisition; it is a theory that can describe the properties of language as a system. Like cognitive and sociocultural theories of second language acquisition, it rejects the Sausurrean/Chomskian model of language as an abstract, autonomous system. Cognitive Grammar assumes that language structures vary based on context and the speaker (Ellis, 1998; MacWhinney, 1997; Tomasello, 2003). Thus the theory is equipped to handle an analysis of dialectal variation or the variation in grammar by an L2 speaker. In this paper, I use a CG approach to analyze the interlanguage of L2 students' in an oral narrative task designed to elicit accusative and dative case. PAGE
The theory of Cognitive Grammar (CG), despite its compatibility with preferred theories of instru... more 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. While (CG) has existed as a theory since the 1970s, some foreign language instructors have yet to hear of it, while others are familiar with it but still find the core concepts somewhat obtuse. 1 This chapter serves to introduce the reader to CG, providing concrete examples to illustrate some of the key pillars of the theory. In addition, the chapter also explores how CG, though similar to prevailing theories of grammar, distinguishes itself from them, particularly in the area of transitivity, and how it can complement foreign language instruction, not only facilitating student comprehension of grammar but also promoting translingual and transcultural competence, a priority identified in the MLA Report (MLA, 2007). In our brief review of the theory of CG, we focus primarily on two core concepts that can be applied to foreign language instruction: cognitive domains, or schemas, and semantic/syntactic prototypes, two elements that differ significantly from other approaches to grammar. An explanation then follows of how these two elements can be applied directly to the explicit grammar instruction that takes place in the language classroom. The last section of the chapter then presents a lesson plan that applies the principles of CG, activating a cognitive domain and then using that cognitive domain to introduce particular syntactic/seman-tic prototypes, anchoring the students in the CG metalanguage that will inform
Uploads
Papers by Carlee Arnett