چکیده:
Cognitive linguistics gives the most inclusive، consistent description of how language is organized، used and learned to date. Cognitive linguistics contains a great number of concepts that are useful to second language learners. If-clauses in English، on the other hand، remain intriguing for foreign language learners to struggle with، due to their intrinsic intricacies. EFL grammar books are paying focal attention to present explanations of if-clauses in terms of their form not meaning، hence not giving attention to their contextual meaning usage. Cognitive linguistic insights on if-clauses discuss their complexity in such a way that could be very beneficial for L2 learners. This study aims to investigate the effect of two different ways of teaching (cognitively-oriented and task-oriented) on learning English if-clauses. A sample of 60 non-English postgraduate students in three groups، two experimental groups (cognitively-oriented and task-oriented) and one control group participated in our study. The results indicated that participants from the cognitively-oriented group performed better than those in task-oriented and control groups and proved a higher degree of comprehending English if-clauses in different contexts. The findings have implications for curriculum and materials developers، as well as the English language teachers in incorporating insights from cognitive linguistics in second language materials.
خلاصه ماشینی:
This study aims to investigate the effect of two different ways of teaching (cognitively-oriented and task-oriented) on learning English if-clauses.
Taking the majority of grammar books and other pedagogical materials into account, English language learners are suffering in two different ways: (a) they receive teaching that is not in fact related with current linguistic theory, and (b) the dominant methods of teaching do not produce a contextualized and usage-oriented description of if-clauses.
Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies,Vol 6, No 1, 2014 In this study, the purpose is particularly to deal with the issues more commonly encountered in the current state of affairs in the teaching of English if-clause constructions by formulating and evaluating certain methodological solutions with the use of cognitive linguistic insights and the latest developments in second language acquisition research.
Incorporating Cognitive Linguistic Insights H2: Task-oriented teaching accompanied by cognitively-oriented insights does not have any significant effect on EFL learners' development of if-clause constructions?
Descriptive statistics of scores on all three tests, as well as inferential statistical analyses conducted in regard to all three groups revealed that the group that received task-oriented teaching with cognitive aspects significantly outperformed the Iranian Journal of Applied Language Studies,Vol 6, No 1, 2014 control group on both the posttest and the delayed posttest.
Accordingly, the present study aimed to address this gap by investigating the effectiveness of incorporating the cognitive analysis of English if-clauses to second language teaching through focusing on form and the use of task- oriented language teaching.