Detail publikace

Working Memory and Its Role in Cognitive Linguistics

ŠŤASTNÁ, D.

Originální název

Working Memory and Its Role in Cognitive Linguistics

Typ

kapitola v knize

Jazyk

angličtina

Originální abstrakt

Working memory capacity has become a focus of cognitive linguistics (CL) since language is a human cognitive ability, alongside attention, memory, visual and spatial processing, and as such CL occupies a crucial role in the cognitive processes that affect language comprehension and acquisition. Within the framework of working memory capacity, the question of how attention control and second language (L2) comprehension participate in performing various cognitive tasks has been discussed extensively. The chapter addresses the theories of cognitive processing that pertain to memory with particular emphasis on the issue of vocabulary learning and the retention of linguistic expressions in long-term memory. A CL-based approach to the teaching and learning of L2 lexical units and phrases including phrasal verbs, collocations, idioms, or metaphors, is promoted by the cognitive linguists whose findings suggest that the cognitive structure of word meanings and its awareness contribute greatly to successful L2 vocabulary learning. Inspired by previous findings, a small-scale experiment was conducted to compare the efficiency of the CL-inspired teaching method consisting in the explicit instruction on the literal context and figurative meaning of metaphors on the one hand, and the method of memorizing L2 polysemous expressions without specific guidance on their literal meanings on the other hand. The experimental results are reported in this chapter to support the hypothesis that the learners who are aware of how the word meanings are constructed can comprehend and remember L2 lexical units better than the learners without the background knowledge. The outcomes also suggest that via the CL-based approach to the teaching and learning L2 figurative lexis, comprehension and retention of the lexis may be underpinned and stored easily in working memory.

Klíčová slova

Cognitive linguistics; L2 vocabulary knowledge and retention; Metaphor; Second language acquisition; Working memory

Autoři

ŠŤASTNÁ, D.

Vydáno

4. 3. 2024

Nakladatel

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Místo

New York

ISBN

979-8-89113-511-6

Kniha

The Psychology Behind Second Language Acquisition

Edice

Languages and Linguistics

Číslo edice

1

Strany od

25

Strany do

52

Strany počet

28

BibTex

@inbook{BUT188627,
  author="Dagmar {Šťastná}",
  title="Working Memory and Its Role in Cognitive Linguistics",
  booktitle="The Psychology Behind Second Language Acquisition",
  year="2024",
  publisher="Nova Science Publishers, Inc.",
  address="New York",
  series="Languages and Linguistics",
  edition="1",
  pages="25--52",
  isbn="979-8-89113-511-6"
}