Teaching and testing embodied reasoning in FLT: A case study on German motion and localization expressions

Hermann, Manon;Gallez, Françoise
(2024) AFLiCo 9 - “Embodied and Ecolinguistic Approaches to Cognitive Linguistics” — Location: Lyon (15.May.2024)

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Teaching and testing embodied reasoning in FLT: A case study on German motion and localization expressions Keywords: Embodied Teaching, Foreign Language Learning and Teaching, German, motion and localization French speaking learners of German often face challenges due to the typological differences between their mother tongue and L2. In contrast to French, German, as a satellite-framed language, typically encodes (the manner of) motion in the verb and the path of motion in a satellite (Talmy 2000). Accordingly, in German expressions of localization or motion, the verb usually contains manner- information – which is very unusual in French and therefore challenging for French speaking learners. In this presentation, we focus on this „manner-saliency“ (AUTHOR 2013) in two motion and localization expressions in German: First, the caused-motion-construction (1-2) and second noun-verb- phrases with posture verbs (3-4). As illustrated in the examples (1)-(4), the verb encodes manner information (coughing, beating, standing, lying) and contributes to the expression of real or metaphorical motion or localization, see (1-3) and (2-4) respectively. (1) Germ. Er hustet die Postkarte vom Tisch. lit. ‘He coughs the post card off the table.’ (2) Germ. Er wurde ins Koma geprügelt. lit. ‘He was beaten into a coma.’ (3) Germ. Sein Name steht nicht auf der Liste. lit. ‘His name is not on the list.’ (4) Germ. Die Stadt liegt in Trümmern. lit. ‘The city is in ruins.’ This contribution describes the intervention study we carried out at three Belgian universities with the aim of testing an embodied teaching method for these challenging patterns. According to De Knop (2020) the embodiment principle plays an important role when it comes to construct meaning and should therefore be used more consistently in foreign language classrooms. Both the caused-motion construction and the noun-verb-phrases with posture verbs are particularly suitable for an embodied approach because they are grounded in bodily experience and can therefore be visualized and performed (De Knop 2020: 1381). In this way, motion in caused-motion construction can be perceived through visualization and/or gesture and the semantics of posture verbs can be explained in terms of their concrete-physical meaning. However, we also assume that it is not sufficient to restrict embodiment to the teaching level: relying on Llopis-Garcia (2021), we came up with an embodied testing method which is more likely to reveal the conceptualization strategies of the learners. After describing the overall embodied design of our approach (teaching and testing), we address the promising results of the study: It turned out that embodied teaching facilitates a deeper comprehension of both patterns (concrete and abstract) and that students were also able to extrapolate their embodied reasoning strategies to new sentences (AUTHOR 2022). Finally, we discuss some methodological issues and perspectives for further research. 446 words References AUTHOR. 2013. Manner of motion: A privileged dimension of German expressions. In T. Li (ed.), Compendium of Cognitive Linguistics Research, 25-42. New York: Nova Science Publishers. AUTHOR. 2022. Lexikalisierungsmuster zum Ausdruck der Lokalisierung und Fortbewegung im Deutschen: ein didaktischer Ansatz. In: AUTHOR (eds.), Cognition and Contrast/Kognition und Kontrast. Festschrift for/für Prof. Dr. Sabine De Knop, Presses de l'Université Saint-Louis: Brussels, 211-246. De Knop, Sabine. 2020. The embodied teaching of complex verbal phrases with German placement verbs and spatial prepositions. Review of Cognitive Linguistics 18(1). 131-161. Llopis-García Reyes. 2021. Applied Cognitive Linguistics for Meaningful – and Successful! – L2 Language Teaching. 2nd International Conference for YRCL2021. Oral presentation. University of Alcalá. Talmy, Leonard. 2000. Toward a Cognitive Semantics, Vol. 1: Concept Structuring Systems. Cambridge: MA: MIT Press.
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Hermann, M., & Gallez, F. (2024). Teaching and testing embodied reasoning in FLT: A case study on German motion and localization expressions. AFLiCo 9 - “Embodied and Ecolinguistic Approaches to Cognitive Linguistics”, Lyon. https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/213922