Charles M. Mueller (Fuji Women's University, Japan)
Abstract
Empirical studies have demonstrated that English prepositions can be effectively taught through lessons that target individual prepositional senses. These lessons often include tasks in which students apply what they have learned by supplying the appropriate preposition for various sentences (e.g., fill-in-the-blank exercises). However, such exercises only require students to supply the correct target form; they do not require them to employ precise knowledge of the individual senses that actually motivate prepositional choice. In our study, we test the hypothesis that cognitive-linguistics-based learning tasks requiring students to employ more fine-grained knowledge (to include both correct choice of the target preposition and knowledge of the precise prepositional sense) result in more learning. We examine the performance of eight intact classes assigned to two experimental conditions (fine-grained versus traditional practice) and compare pretest, posttest, and delayed posttest results. The study has important pedagogical implications for instruction targeting polysemous lexical items and grammatical constructions.
Research Paper (In person; 25 minutes)
Applied Linguistics / Second Language Acquisition
Primarily of interest to teachers of university students
About the Presenter
Charles M. Mueller has a PhD in second language acquisition from the University of Maryland. He currently teaches at Fuji Women’s University in Japan. Most of his research has been conducted within the cognitive linguistic framework. His SLA research has primarily focused on the L2 learning of prepositions. Another strand of his research has examined figurative language within religious discourse.
