(Re)constructing a foreign language: On the perspectives of the application of cognitive linguistics in foreign language teaching

Language has been studied by cognitive science for more than four decades. This paper presents basic elements and principles of constructional grammar, as a theoretical framework which grew up under the auspices of cognitive linguistics some twenty years ago, and which explores the possibilities for their application in foreign language teaching. The constructional approach to learning and acquisition of a foreign language is based on the idea that language is a set of constructions, complex linguistic units which represent paired combinations of form, meaning (and function). By such an attitude, where the knowledge of a foreign language is seen as the knowledge of the constructions of that language (closely linked with cognition and perception) the distinction between grammatical and lexical components of the language fades away and functional component of the use of the language is stressed. In this way the students build up their linguistic, cultural and pragmatic competencies.