Cognitive Linguistic Approaches to Teaching Vocabulary and Phraseology

Seventeen European academics contribute 14 chapters exploring ways that cognitive linguistics (CL) insights into the non-arbitrary nature of language can facilitate the teaching and learning of words and phrases in a second or foreign language. Following a detailed introductory overview of the topic, a selection of papers offer mostly quantitative empirical investigations of the effectiveness of CL-inspired instructional methods targeting figuratively used lexis, including phrasal verbs and idioms, with a focus on young adult language learners in secondary school, college or university settings. Subsequent chapters broaden the scope beyond young adults and the school context, beyond high-frequency polysemes and figurative phrases, beyond semantic elaboration, and beyond English as a target language. The text concludes with a chapter translating CL pedagogy into classroom activities, putting to use many of the research findings from the preceding discussions. Annotation c2008 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Frank Boers, Erasmus College Brussels, Belgium; Seth Lindstromberg, Hilderstone College, UK.