Students’ Responses to CL-Based Teaching of English Prepositions

Abstract

Purpose: Most EFL textbooks suggest the use of vividpictures and verbal explanations in teaching English prepositions. However, this word class appears in collocations, and rote-learning does not really help learners retain and use this word class successfully. Cognitive linguistics (CL) has implications for English language teaching as it rests against the relationship between the human mind and language. Several experimental studies have aimed to investigate the effects of CL-based treatment on learners’ retention of target foreign or second language. However, most ofthese studies have not placed an emphasis on thelearners’ opinions of CL-based teaching. This currentstudy aimed to collect college students’ responses toCL-based teaching of English prepositions.Research Methods: The study was conducted for four weeks, with a 90-minute session eachtime per week. The students learned the spatial meanings and then the metaphorical meaningsof the ten prepositions above, among, at, behind, beside, between, in, in front of, on, and under.Questionnaires were administered before the study to collect the participants’ opinions of thetraditional teaching (primarily based on vivid pictures and verbal explanations) and after thestudy to collect the participants’ opinions of the CL-based teaching of the prepositions. Theparticipants’ responses to the questionnaires were subject to comparison. Their responses in theinterview after the study provided an in-depth qualitative analysis of the quantitative findingsfrom the questionnaires. Results: All students generally showed positive opinions of thetreatment and believed that the instructions were appropriate and positively affected theirmemories of the prepositions. They especially appreciated the use of image schemas to teachthe semantics of the prepositions. Implications for Research and Practice: Most participantsbecame more confident in both understanding and using the prepositions under CL-basedteaching.