Approaching motion in a second language: how bilinguals restructure motion event expressions inside and outside the classroom

Jeanine Treffers-Daller; Fraibet Aveledo

doi:10.1515/iral-2023-0006

Article

Approaching motion in a second language: how bilinguals restructure motion event expressions inside and outside the classroom

Jeanine Treffers-Daller and Fraibet Aveledo

Published/Copyright: February 2, 2023

Published by

Become an author with De Gruyter Brill

Submit Manuscript Author Information Explore this Subject

From the journal International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching Volume 61 Issue 1

Abstract

In this introduction, we focus on three approaches to motion event construal, and explain how the papers in this special issue contribute to ongoing discussions in different fields of research. First of all, in second language (L2) acquisition, researchers ask to what extent L2 learners can separate the different conceptual systems that underpin motion in both languages, and whether there is crosslinguistic influence from the first language (L1) on the L2 or vice versa in the expression of motion. In particular research on gestures in SLA can throw new light on this issue. Second, linguists and psychologists are interested in finding out whether crosslinguistic differences might have an influence on non-linguistic cognition in the motion domain. This might be revealed in experimental tasks where speakers are asked to judge the similarity of film clips in contexts where no overt language is used. The third relevant question is to what extent this conceptually complex domain can be taught. This pespective on motion event construal has received very little attention from researchers interested in Instructed Second Language Acquisition. In the current SI, insights from cognitive grammar are used to explore the teaching of motion event construals to L2 learners, but we hope that the current SI will inspire researchers working in different frameworks to explore the teachability of motion in the classroom.

Keywords: crosslinguistic influence; gestures; metaphorical movement; motion event construal; thinking for speaking

Corresponding author: Jeanine Treffers-Daller, Department of English Language and Applied Linguistics, University of Reading, Whiteknights Campus, Reading, England, E-mail: j.c.treffers-daller@reading.ac.uk

Funding source: School of Literature and Languages

Award Identifier / Grant number: workshop funding from the School Research Fund

Funding source: Centre for Literacy and Multilingualism

Award Identifier / Grant number: Workshop funding from CeLM

References

Adjémian, Christian. 1983. The transferability of lexical properties. In Susan M. Gass & Larry Selinker (eds.), Language transfer in language learning, 250–268. Rowley Mass: Newbury House.Search in Google Scholar

Alghamdi, Amani, Michael Daller & James Milton. 2019. The persistence of L1 patterns in SLA: The boundary crossing constraint and incidental learning. Vigo International Journal of Applied Linguistics 16. 81–106. https://doi.org/10.35869/vial.v0i16.94.Search in Google Scholar

Athanasopoulos, Panos. 2009. Cognitive representation of colour in bilinguals: The case of Greek blues. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 12(1). 83–95. https://doi.org/10.1017/s136672890800388x.Search in Google Scholar

Athanasopoulos, Panos & Fraibet Aveledo. 2013. Linguistic relativity and bilingualism. In Jeanette Altarriba & Ludmila Isurin (eds.), Memory, language, and bilingualism: Theoretical and applied approaches, 236–255. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.10.1017/CBO9781139035279.010Search in Google Scholar

Attwood, Anthony. 2017. Approaching motion in the ESL classroom. [Unpublished PhD thesis University of Reading].Search in Google Scholar

Aveledo, Fraibet & Panos Athanasopoulos. 2016. Second language influence on first language motion event encoding and categorization in Spanish-speaking children learning L2 English. International Journal of Bilingualism 20(4). 403–420. https://doi.org/10.1177/1367006915609235.Search in Google Scholar

Burghardt, Beatrix. 2019. How to design a study: Pushing the visual envelope. In 2017 Second Language Research Forum, 15–32. Cascadilla Proceedings Project.Search in Google Scholar

Bylund, Emanuel & Panos Athanasopoulos. 2015. Televised Whorf: Cognitive restructuring in advanced foreign language learners as a function of audiovisual media exposure. The Modern Language Journal 99(S1). 123–137. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.2015.12182.x.Search in Google Scholar

Cadierno, Teresa. 2008. Motion events in Danish and Spanish: A focus on form pedagogical approach. In Sabine De Knop, Teun De Rycker & René Dirven (eds.), Cognitive approaches to pedagogical grammar: A volume in honour of René Dirven, 259–294. Amsterdam: Benjamins.10.1515/9783110205381.3.259Search in Google Scholar

Cadierno, Teresa & Lucas Ruiz. 2006. Motion events in Spanish L2 acquisition. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics 4(1). 183–216. https://doi.org/10.1075/arcl.4.08cad.Search in Google Scholar

Casasanto, Daniel. 2015. Linguistic relativity. In Nick Riemer (ed.), The Routledge handbook of semantics, 174–190. London & New York: Routledge.Search in Google Scholar

Colasacco, Marina A. 2019. A cognitive approach to teaching deictic motion verbs to German and Italian students of Spanish. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 57(1). 71–95. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2018-2007.Search in Google Scholar

Daller, Michael H., Jeanine Treffers-Daller & Reyhan Furman. 2011. Transfer of conceptualization patterns in bilinguals: The construal of motion events in Turkish and German. Bilingualism: Language and Cognition 14(1). 95–119. https://doi.org/10.1017/s1366728910000106.Search in Google Scholar

Dimitrova-Vulchanova, Mila & Matthias Weisgerber. 2007. Concept, context and beyond: manner of motion verbs, encoding and relevant bits of information. Southern Journal of Linguistics 29. 52–76.Search in Google Scholar

Goldin-Meadow, Susan. 2000. Beyond words: The importance of gesture to researchers and learners. Child Development 71(1). 231–239.10.1111/1467-8624.00138Search in Google Scholar

Gullberg, Marianne. 2009. Reconstructing verb meaning in a second language: How English speakers of L2 Dutch talk and gesture about placement. Annual Review of Cognitive Linguistics 7(1). 221–244. https://doi.org/10.1075/arcl.7.09gul.Search in Google Scholar

Jiang, Nan. 2000. Lexical representation and development in a second language. Applied Linguistics 21(1). 47–77. https://doi.org/10.1093/applin/21.1.47.Search in Google Scholar

Lakoff, George. 1987. Women, fire, and dangerous things: What categories reveal about the mind. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.10.7208/chicago/9780226471013.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Lantolf, James P. & Xian Zhang. 2017. Concept-based language instruction. In Shawn Loewen & Masatoshi Sato (eds.), The Routledge handbook of instructed second language acquisition, 146–165. London & New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315676968-9Search in Google Scholar

Lantolf, James P., Jiao Xi & Valeriya Minakova. 2020. Sociocultural theory and concept-based language instruction. Language Teaching 54(3). 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0261444820000348.Search in Google Scholar

Larrañaga, Pilar, Jeanine Treffers-Daller, Françoise Tidball & Mari-carmen Gil Ortega. 2012. L1 transfer in the acquisition of manner and path in Spanish by native speakers of English. International Journal of Bilingualism 16(1). 117–138.10.1177/1367006911405577Search in Google Scholar

Laws, Jacqueline, Anthony Attwood & Jeanine Treffers-Daller. 2021. Unlearning the boundary-crossing constraint: Processing instruction and the acquisition of motion event construal. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 60(4). 1089–1118. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2020-0147.Search in Google Scholar

Long, Michael H. 1991. Focus on form: A design feature in language teaching methodology. In Kees de Bot, Ralph B. Ginsberg & Claire Kramsch (eds.), Foreign Language Research in a Cross-Cultural Perspective, 39–52. Amsterdam: John Benjamins.10.1075/sibil.2.07lonSearch in Google Scholar

Lucy, John A. 1997. Linguistic relativity. Annual Review of Anthropology 26. 291–312. https://doi.org/10.1146/annurev.anthro.26.1.291.Search in Google Scholar

Matras, Yaron. 2000. Fusion and the cognitive basis for bilingual discourse markers. International Journal of Bilingualism 4(4). 505–528. https://doi.org/10.1177/13670069000040040701.Search in Google Scholar

Muñoz, Meritxell & Teresa Cadierno. 2019. Mr Bean exits the garage driving or does he drive out of the garage? Bidirectional transfer in the expression of path. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 57(1). 45–69.10.1515/iral-2018-2006Search in Google Scholar

Navarro, Samuel & E. Elena Nicoladis. 2005. Describing motion events in adult L2 Spanish narratives. In David Eddington (ed.), Selected Proceedings of the 6th Conference on the Acquisition of Spanish and Portuguese as First and Second Languages, 102–107. Somerville MA: Cascadilla.Search in Google Scholar

Nirme, Jens, Magnus Haake, Agneta Gulz & Marianne Gullberg. 2020. Motion capture-based animated characters for the study of speech–gesture integration. Behavior Research Methods 52(3). 1339–1354. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13428-019-01319-w.Search in Google Scholar

Papafragou, Anna, Justin Hulbert & John Trueswell. 2008. Does language guide event perception? Evidence from eye movements. Cognition 108(1). 155–184. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cognition.2008.02.007.Search in Google Scholar

Papafragou, Anna & Stathis Selimis. 2010. Event categorisation and language: A cross-linguistic study of motion. Language & Cognitive Processes 25(2). 224–260. https://doi.org/10.1080/01690960903017000.Search in Google Scholar

Pavlenko, Aneta (ed.). 2009. The bilingual mental lexicon: Interdisciplinary approaches, vol. 70. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.10.21832/9781847691262Search in Google Scholar

Plonsky, Luke. 2017. Quantitative research methods. In Shawn Loewen & Masatoshi Sato (eds.), The Routledge handbook of instructed second language acquisition, 505–521. London & New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781315676968-28Search in Google Scholar

Pulvermüller, Friedemann & Luciano Fadiga. 2010. Active perception: Sensorimotor circuits as a cortical basis for language. Nature Reviews Neuroscience 11(5). 351–360.10.1038/nrn2811Search in Google Scholar

Ringbom, Håkan & Scott Jarvis. 2009. The importance of cross-linguistic similarity in foreign language learning. In Michael H. Long & Catherine Doughty (eds.), The handbook of language teaching, 106–118. Chichester: John Wiley & Sons.10.1002/9781444315783.ch7Search in Google Scholar

Ro, Eunseok & Hyunwoo Kim. 2021. The effects of extensive reading on young Korean students’ construction development. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 60(4). 957–981. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2019-0076.Search in Google Scholar

Sato, Masatoshi & Shawn Loewen (eds.). 2019. Evidence-based second language pedagogy: A collection of instructed second language acquisition studies. London & New York: Routledge.10.4324/9781351190558Search in Google Scholar

Slobin, Dan I. 1987. Thinking for speaking. In Jon Aske (ed.), Thirteenth Annual Meeting of the Berkeley Linguistics, vol. 13, 435–445.10.3765/bls.v13i0.1826Search in Google Scholar

Slobin, Dan I. 1996. Two ways to travel: Verbs of motion in English and Spanish. In Masayoshi Shibatani & Sandra A. Thompson (eds.), Grammatical constructions: Their form and meaning, 195–217. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/oso/9780198235392.003.0008Search in Google Scholar

Talmy, Leonard. 2000. Toward a cognitive semantics, vol. 2. Cambridge: MIT Press.10.7551/mitpress/6847.001.0001Search in Google Scholar

Treffers-Daller, Jeanine. 2012. Thinking for speaking and linguistic relativity among bilinguals: Towards a new research agenda. In Sandra Benazzo, Eva Soroli & Monique Flecken (eds.), Typological perspectives on language and thought in L2. Special issue of Language, Interaction and Acquisition, vol. 3, 288–300.10.1075/lia.3.2.06treSearch in Google Scholar

Treffers-Daller, Jeanine, Sheikha Majid, Yap NgeeThai & Naomi Flynn. 2022. Explaining the diversity in Malay-English code-switching patterns: The contribution of typological similarity and bilingual optimization strategies. Languages 7(4). 299. https://doi.org/10.3390/languages7040299.Search in Google Scholar

VanPatten, Bill. 2015. Foundations of processing instruction. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching 53(2). 91–109. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2015-0005.Search in Google Scholar

VanPatten, Bill & Teresa Cadierno. 1993. Input processing and second language acquisition: A role for instruction. The Modern Language Journal 77. 45–57. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1993.tb01944.x.Search in Google Scholar

Vulchanova, Mila, Liliana Martinez & Valentin Vulchanov. 2012. Distinctions in the linguistic encoding of motion: Evidence from a free naming task. In Mila Vulchanova & Emile van der Zee (eds.), Motion encoding in language and space, 11–43. Oxford: Oxford University Press.10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199661213.003.0002Search in Google Scholar

Whorf, Benjamin. 1956. Language, thought, and reality. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Search in Google Scholar

Received: 2023-01-11

Accepted: 2023-01-12

Published Online: 2023-02-02

Published in Print: 2023-03-28

You are currently not able to access this content.

Articles in the same Issue

https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2023-0006

Keywords for this article

crosslinguistic influence; gestures; metaphorical movement; motion event construal; thinking for speaking