Prof. Marjolijn Verspoor

University of Groningen, Netherlands

  • Biographical Sketch
  • Talk Title and Abstract

Marjolijn Verspoor is Chair of the Department of English Language and Culture of the University of Groningen. Her recent work includes the development and application of the Dynamic System Theory in SLA and multilingualism. Her research interests also include effects of bilingual education, effects of cognitive insights into second language development, processing, and teaching, and cognitive linguistic approach to English complementation.


Title:
A dynamic usage based view of language and L2 teaching

Abstract:
How language is viewed has implications for L2 teaching. A dynamic usage-based (DUB) approach views language as fundamentally symbolic and linked to general cognitive processes such as perception, attention, categorization and schematization. Language consists of a large array of conventionalized form-use-meaning mappings (FUMMs) at different dynamically interacting linguistic levels: phonemic, morphemic, lexical, phrasal, and clausal (Langacker 2000). Therefore, language is not an analytical, modular system that it is built up piece by piece but a dynamic and holistic system in which all aspects (linguistic, contextual, interpersonal) in discourse contribute to create meaning. Language learning is seen as input-driven and experientially-based and is shaped by the particular language patterns a given speaker is exposed to (Ellis, 2002). Conventional units are abstracted from specific usage events (Langacker, 2008). Language development is thus seen as a gradual, dynamic bottom-up process, proceeding from an initial heavy reliance on concrete items (item-based) to more abstract linguistic schema, and this process is dependent on the frequencies with which particular linguistic units are encountered in the input. Implications for pedagogy are that in teaching an L2, we should initially focus on target L2 input: the pronunciation and intonation of phrases, the use of words, formulaic expressions, conventionalized ways of saying things, in which grammar and syntactic patterns are shown meaningfully. There is no primacy for syntax nor grammar, so we should not build a syllabus around it, nor waste too much time on it. This paper will review a few recent studies that show the efficacy of teaching methods that are in line with such a DUB view of language. 

Ellis, N. C. (2002). Frequency effects in language processing. Studies in second language acquisition, 24(02), 143-188.

Langacker, R. W. (2000). A dynamic usage-based model. In Usage-based Models of Language, Michael Barlow, and Suzanne Kemmer (eds.), 1–63. Stanford, California: Center for the Study of Language and Information Publications

Langacker, R. W. (2008). The relevance of Cognitive Grammar for language pedagogy. In Robinson, P., & Ellis, N. C. (Eds.). Handbook of cognitive linguistics and second language acquisition. Routledge. P. 7-37.