APPLYING COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS AND TASK-SUPPORTED LANGUAGE TEACHING TO INSTRUCTION OF ENGLISH CONDITIONAL PHRASES A Dissertation submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences of Georgetown University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics By Natalia Dolgova Jacobsen, M.A. Washington, DC July 30, 2012 Copyright 2012 by Natalia Dolgova Jacobsen All Rights Reserved ii APPLYING COGNITIVE LINGUISTICS AND TASK-SUPPORTED LANGUAGE TEACHING TO INSTRUCTION OF ENGLISH CONDITIONAL PHRASES Natalia Dolgova Jacobsen, M.A. Thesis Advisor: Andrea Tyler, Ph.D. ABSTRACT Due to their internal complexity, English conditional phrases (e.g., “If it rains tomorrow, we will cancel the picnic”; “If John had come to the party yesterday, he would have told you his favorite joke”; etc.) represent a great challenge for L2 learners. Researchers cannot agree on the unified conditional meaning or comprehensive classification of their forms, while most ESL grammar books lack precise explanations of conditionals as a category, relying largely on explanation of form rather than meaning, and ignoring conditional usage patterns in different contexts. On the other hand, cognitive linguistic research on conditionals (Dancygier, 1998; Dancygier and Sweetser, 2005) does address the intrinsic complexity of conditional constructions in a way that could potentially be very beneficial for L2 learners, as it highlights the conditional meaning and its functions in multiple usage contexts. The aim of this dissertation is to address the existing problems in the current state of pedagogical representation and instruction of conditionals by developing and testing methodological solutions, informed both by cognitive linguistic theory and research in task- based pedagogy. iii In this study, elements of cognitive linguistic analysis of English hypothetical conditionals (e.g., “If prices went up, I would sell my car,” (Werth, 1997) from Dancygier and Sweetser (2005) were incorporated into L2 learning materials. The design of the study was quasi-experimental, with three groups (total N=57) participating: two treatment groups (cognitive and task-supported) and one control group that did not receive any instruction on conditionals. The research questions explored the efficacy of different types of instruction (cognitive and task-supported as opposed to task-supported alone) for the L2 development of English conditional phrases, as measured by a posttest and a delayed posttest. Introspective data were collected using stimulated recall. T-test and ANOVA analyses were carried out to measure the progress made by subjects in acquisition of conditionals. Statistical findings (p=0.001) indicate that participants from the cognitive group outperformed the participants from the task- supported and control groups and demonstrated a higher degree of understanding of conditional usage contexts. The analysis provides support for the benefits of using cognitive linguistic analysis of English hypotheticals in L2 learning contexts. iv Acknowledgements First and foremost, this dissertation would not have been possible without the invaluable help from my wonderful committee members. I sincerely thank my advisor and dissertation chair, Dr. Andrea Tyler, for years of mentorship and support. Without your classes on cognitive linguistics and L2 writing and your careful guidance throughout the entire process, I would not have been able to advance my knowledge of cognitive linguistics and the various ways to apply it to second language contexts. Working for you as a research and teaching assistant, I learned first-hand the skills of doing cognitive linguistic analysis and preparing balanced lessons informed by both theory and practice. I am also very grateful for the experience working under your guidance with foreign LL.M students at the Georgetown Law Center. That experience had a profound significance for my development as an applied linguist, as it showed in very direct ways how theory can inform practice and that such connections between theory and practice can be immediately appreciated by learners. It gave a real-world reference for many subsequent projects. Thank you for all of your relentless support over the years. I would not have been able to even think about going into an experimental direction for my dissertation, had it not been for the knowledge I gained from Dr. Alison Mackey. Taking your research methods class during my first semester at Georgetown shaped the way I look at second language research. Being one of your research assistants for a year gave me invaluable experience in data collection, more specifically in analyzing numerical data and in conducting and analyzing retrospective interviews. The whole experience was incredibly important for informing the study design of this dissertation. On a personal note, I appreciate your support and understanding during the hardest of times when my husband was losing his fight with cancer. If v you had not been so supportive to me during that incredibly difficult time, I doubt I would have been able to stay on track towards completing my degree. Dr. Andrea Révész has been a source of inspiration for me both professionally and personally. I will never forget the “a-ha” moment I felt when I started your class in Task-Based Language Teaching in the fall of 2007. Your class was instrumental for my overall research orientation that theory should inform practice; learning about the whole range of task-based language teaching issues made me feel I finally found the knowledge about the necessary instruments of adapting theory to practical needs of learners. Your own research has been the example of utter precision in pedagogy. Our conversations at EuroSLA 2011 and your feedback on my tasks were invaluable for continuing with the process of my data collection. Personally, I greatly appreciated several of our Skype conversations when you were always encouraging me to not lose my spirits and try to move on both professionally and personally. Your support and kind guidance have meant the world to me. I would like to thank Dr. Rusan Chen of CNDLS at Georgetown University and Luke Amoroso of the Georgetown Linguistics Department for their help with carrying out the statistical analyses for this dissertation. The data collection for this dissertation would not have been possible without the kind support of Dr. Shoko Hamano, the director of the Language Center at George Washington University. Her guidance and relentless support regarding the IRB process were truly invaluable for completion of this study. Thank you for taking the IRB training for the purpose of allowing my data collection to happen. I would not have been able to obtain my data without your assistance. vi I would also like to thank other GWU colleagues who supported the data collection process in a number of ways: Dr. Charles Mueller, Sevtap Karaoglu, and Ikuko Turner. Being a non-native speaker of English and dealing with teaching of English conditionals, I had to ensure my intuitions and decisions regarding the contents of materials would reflect authentic usage patterns and would appear sensible to native speakers. My colleagues at the Center for Applied Linguistics were instrumental in helping in that regard. I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all CAL folks who supported me throughout the dissertation process and/or provided valuable feedback regarding my materials: Carolyn Adger, Aileen Bach, Jim Bauman, Sophia Birdas, Annie Donovan, Annie Duguay, Daniel Ginsberg, Jen Himmel, Deborah Kennedy, David Macgregor, Lindsey Massoud, Sarah Moore, Joy Peyton, Francesca di Silvio, Olesya and Jeff Warner, Bryan Woerner, Tiffany Yanosky, Sarah Young, Annette Zehler. And of course, I need to thank all former and current (as referenced by the time of data collection) students in the EAP program at George Washington University who helped pilot and conduct this study. This dissertation would not have been possible without your kind consent to participate in this study. Thank you! On a personal note, this dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my late husband, Don. He always provided amazing support and help during my doctoral studies, encouraging me to keep working towards my goals and strive to be the best person and linguist I can possibly be. This dissertation would not have been possible without his paramount positive influence on my life and work. I also want to express sincere gratitude to my family: in particular, to my mother, Valentina Dolgova, who has always been there for me during the darkest of times after losing my vii husband, and to my sister and brother, Olga Dolgova and Sergey Dolgov. I am also incredibly lucky to have friends whose kind support and humor have inspired me to keep going despite my immense loss and who provided the much needed laughter and good times throughout the entire dissertation process. I would particularly like to thank Luke Amoroso, Sophia Birdas, Maria Bulgakova, Marcos Carvalho, Daniil Davydoff, Emily Evans Fanaeian, Marissa Fond, Mika Hama, Stephanie Gyamfi, Irina Kareva, Anup Mahajan, Natalia Mironova, Elena Muehlenbeck, Jennifer Novak, Yulia Richardson, Rebecca Sachs, Frankie Sanderson, Sheena Shah, Gulnaz Sharafutdinova, Kerstin Sondermann, Ana Taboada & Rusty Barber, Tatyana Vdovina. I would not have been able to do this without all of you. Thank you. viii This dissertation is dedicated to the memory of my husband Don Jacobsen. ix TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION: