The German caused motion and resultative constructions: learning challenges and construction-based teaching methodology

De Knop, Sabine
(2026) Constructionist Approaches to Language Pedagogy (CALPV) — Location: University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway (UiT) (4.March.2026)

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For some years now, Pedagogical Construction Grammar has inspired foreign language learning, which has been defined as ‘construction learning’ (Herbst 2016; Siepmann 2007 and 2015). Some German constructions like the caused motion construction and the resultative construction are frequent in the German press and in oral discourse, but problematic for French-speaking learners as they often have no equivalents in their native language. This is not surprising as French (L1) and German (L2) are characterized by a typological gap (Cenoz 2003; Paradis 1987). Not only is the syntactic structure of the caused motion and resultative constructions unusual in French, but a further issue is the question of which “fillers” (Diessel 2017; Handwerker 2015) can be used in these specific constructions. More specifically, verbs can be used in these constructions and combined with constructional slots which are not part of their valency. Comprehension tests about the caused motion construction conducted with French-speaking learners (Gallez 2016) have revealed that even intermediate or advanced learners have understanding difficulties. Starting from examples collected in German press articles and from the German deTenTen20 corpus of the SketchEngine, the aim of the presentation is, first, to offer a detailed description of these two German idiosyncratic constructions and to define the learning challenges related to them. In a further step the presentation focuses on the teaching of the constructions by proposing a pedagogical method designed not only to foster comprehension but also the acquisition of these constructions. This method is based on data-driven learning (DDL; Gilquin 2021 and 2022), which draws on authentic data from linguistic corpora. The presentation further discusses the design of DDL-based tasks, illustrated with concrete examples of the fake reflexive caused motion construction. With this methodology learners play an active role as they are asked to search for concrete instantiations in corpora and recognize regularities (Gilquin 2021: 230; Krekeler 2021: 161) in the constructional patterns or fillers. Literature Cenoz, Jasone (2003): The role of typology in the organization of the multilingual Lexicon. In Jasone Cenoz, Britta Hufeisen & Ulrike Jessner (eds.), The Multilingual Lexicon, 103-166. Dordrecht: Kluwer. Diessel, Holger (2019): The Grammar Network. How Linguistic Structure is Shaped by Language Use. Cambridge: CUP. Gallez, Françoise (2016): German caused motion constructions with ein-/in: a constructionist teaching methodology for French-speaking learners. Vortrag bei der Konferenz „Constructionist Approaches to Language Pedagogy“ (CALP II) an der Universität Basel im Juni 2016. Gilquin, Gaëtanelle (2021): Using corpora to foster L2 construction learning: A data-driven learning experiment. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 31(2): 229–247. Gilquin, Gaëtanelle (2022): Data-driven learning one’s way through constructions. In Gallez, Françoise & Hermann, Manon (Hrsg.): Cognition and Contrast/Kognition und Kontrast. Festschrift for/für Prof. Dr. Sabine De Knop, 197–209. Bruxelles: Presses de l’Université Saint-Louis Bruxelles. Handwerker, Brigitte (2015): Konstruktionen im L2-Lernformat: Orts- und Zustandsveränderungen in der Rezeption und Produktion des Deutschen als Fremdsprache. In Engelberg, Stefan, Meliss, Meike, Proost, Kristel & Winkler, Edeltraud (Hrsg.): Argumentstruktur zwischen Valenz und Konstruktion, 127–153. Tübingen: Narr/Francke/ Attempto. Herbst, Thomas (2016): Foreign language learning is construction learning: Principles of Pedagogic Construction Grammar. In De Knop, Sabine & Gilquin, Gaëtanelle (eds.): Applied Construction Grammar, 21–52. Berlin: de Gruyter Mouton. Krekeler, Christian (2021): Korpustraining und datengestütztes Lernen im Wirtschafts-deutsch-Unterricht. Zeitschrift für Interkulturellen Fremdsprachenunterricht 26(1): 161–195. Paradis, Michel (1987): The Assessment of Bilingual Aphasia. Hillsdale and London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Siepmann, Dirk (2007): Wortschatz und Grammatik: zusammenbringen, was zusammenge-hört. Beiträge zur Fremdsprachenvermitlung 46: 59–80. Siepmann, Dirk (2015): Fremdsprachenlernen ist Konstruktionslernen. Vortrag beim Kongress der Deutschen Gesellschaft für Fremdsprachenforschung in Ludwigsburg. deTenTen20 corpus of the SketchEngine: https://app.sketchengine.eu
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De Knop, S. (2026). The German caused motion and resultative constructions: learning challenges and construction-based teaching methodology. Constructionist Approaches to Language Pedagogy (CALPV), University of Tromsø - The Arctic University of Norway (UiT). https://hdl.handle.net/2078.5/260111