Frame-based instruction: Teaching polysemous nouns in the L2
Abstract
Across the various L2 teaching methodologies, polysemy represents a mostly neglected phenomenon. Due to the widespread belief that multiple meaning extensions are largely arbitrary as well as due to the lack of a systematic teaching method, rote learning of polysemous word meanings frequently appears to be a common practice in L2 classrooms. A cognitive semantic view of polysemy claims that polysemous meaning extensions are motivated and form a systematic network (Lakoff 1987). Against this backdrop, this article introduces a CL-based learning/teaching technique in order to systematically approximate the intended meanings of polysemous L2 nouns in context. ‘Frame-based instruction’ capitalizes on the notion of frame-inherent ‘slots’ and ‘fillers’ (cf., e.g., Barsalou 1992; Martin 1997; Minsky 1975). According to this view, polysemy arises through context- dependent slot-filler configurations. The method grants L2 learners access to these structures through a systematic array of questions scanning generic slots within the contextual frame and the polyseme-frame. In doing so, it guides them to unveil the intended polysemous word meaning in context in a step-by-step fashion. After an illustration of the method on the basis of a practical example, an empirical study is presented which tested the functionality of frame-based instruction in a classroom setting with 13-year-old EFL learners in Austria. Although the experiment produced a statistical null result, several future avenues of research crystallized with regard to an improved implementation of the method.
© 2016 by Walter de Gruyter Berlin/Boston
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Contents
- Section A
- Introduction: Cognitive approaches to L2 learning and teaching
- German modals in second language acquisition: A constructionist approach
- „Im Deutschen kan das nicht“ – Text type didactics for the teaching of German modal verb constructions
- Path encoding in German as a foreign language: Difficulties encountered by L1 Spanish learners
- One step closer to the target: Using Construction Grammar to teach the expression of motion events to Japanese learners of English
- Section B
- Metaphors and grammar teaching
- The acquisition of the German case system by foreign language learners through computer animations based on cognitive linguistics
- Animation of grammar – Interplay of cognitive linguistics and multimedia learning: The example of German modal auxiliaries
- Teaching the form-function mapping of German ‘prefield’ elements using Concept-Based Instruction
- Frame-based instruction: Teaching polysemous nouns in the L2
- Conceptual motivation as a tool for raising language awareness in the English as a foreign language classroom – Does it enhance learning outcomes? Insights from an empirical study
- A lexical-semantic analysis of the English prepositions at, on and in and their conceptual mapping onto Arabic
- Section C
- The role of scaffolding in children’s questions: Implications for (preschool) language assessment from a usage-based perspective
- Destabilisation, IL variation and restructuring in foreign language learning
- Gesture as a window onto conceptualization in multiple tasks: Implications for second language teaching
Articles in the same Issue
- Titelei
- Contents
- Section A
- Introduction: Cognitive approaches to L2 learning and teaching
- German modals in second language acquisition: A constructionist approach
- „Im Deutschen kan das nicht“ – Text type didactics for the teaching of German modal verb constructions
- Path encoding in German as a foreign language: Difficulties encountered by L1 Spanish learners
- One step closer to the target: Using Construction Grammar to teach the expression of motion events to Japanese learners of English
- Section B
- Metaphors and grammar teaching
- The acquisition of the German case system by foreign language learners through computer animations based on cognitive linguistics
- Animation of grammar – Interplay of cognitive linguistics and multimedia learning: The example of German modal auxiliaries
- Teaching the form-function mapping of German ‘prefield’ elements using Concept-Based Instruction
- Frame-based instruction: Teaching polysemous nouns in the L2
- Conceptual motivation as a tool for raising language awareness in the English as a foreign language classroom – Does it enhance learning outcomes? Insights from an empirical study
- A lexical-semantic analysis of the English prepositions at, on and in and their conceptual mapping onto Arabic
- Section C
- The role of scaffolding in children’s questions: Implications for (preschool) language assessment from a usage-based perspective
- Destabilisation, IL variation and restructuring in foreign language learning
- Gesture as a window onto conceptualization in multiple tasks: Implications for second language teaching
