Institution: PhD
Degree Date: 2025

Dissertation Title: Improving the Applicability of Applied Cognitive Linguistics: Towards a process-oriented approach involving practitioners

Dissertation URL: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/387892688_Improving_the_Applicability_of_Applied_Cognitive_Linguistics_Towards_a_process-oriented_approach_involving_practitioners

Dissertation Director(s): Aliyah Morgenstern (Sorbonne Nouvelle) and Dominique Legallois (Sorbonne Nouvelle)

Dissertation Abstract:

Cognitive Linguistics (CL) has been gaining momentum in language teaching research. Despite the increasing theoretical as well as empirical evidence, little is percolating to the actual classroom. In the context of this dissertation, such failure is believed to stem from the adoption of a product-oriented, rather than process-oriented, approach to implementation. To explore this hypothesis, this dissertation starts by outlining the values and flaws of a cognitive-pedagogical approach to language teaching and learning. The idea is to underscore the congruence between CL insights and the language classroom as well as point out some of what Cognitive Linguistics can and should do better to impact language teaching. For the empirical part of this study, the dissertation starts by offering a principled content analysis of some published teaching materials inspired by CL. In a second phase, elements of a Cognitive Grammar approach to the Count/Mass Distinction were incorporated into L2 learning materials. The usability of this material was then put to the test of foreign language teachers in French-speaking Belgium. The data was gathered through focus group discussions with pre-service teachers (n=11), via an online survey (n=203) as well as through an exploratory case study with classroom observation and pre-/post-observation interviews with a practicing teacher. While reinforcing the potential of Cognitive Linguistics for language teaching, our data also points to the necessity of adopting a more ecological approach to the implementation of ACL findings, i.e., an approach that engages with existing practices and beliefs. This dissertation ends with a principled proposal for future applications of Cognitive Linguistics to produce grammar teaching materials that better align with the ELT ecosystem.