Developing L2 learners’ metaphoric competence: a case study of figurative motion constructions

Abstract This study compares two instruction methods (cognitive and traditional) for teaching complex metaphorical motion constructions in Spanish and developing A2+ learners’ metaphoric competence in the L2. The cognitive instruction combined insights from the Conceptual Metaphor Theory with multimodal content and cognitive parameters, whereas the traditional package followed a communicative and formalist approach to language based on most current L2 textbooks. A group of 33 university students from a North American-based College participated in the experiment. Assessment tests were designed inspired by cognitive linguistics tenets and measured learners’ general metaphor comprehension (Task 1) and original production (Task 2), as well as performance in the comprehension (Task 3) and production (Task 4) of change-of-state constructions, thus breaking with the pervading assessment typology for empirical studies in applied cognitive linguistics. The cognitive methodology proved to be significantly more beneficial for all four tasks. Although students who received a traditional instruction improved over time, those from the cognitive group showed statistically higher performance in metaphoric competence and in the comprehension and production of the target constructions. These findings clearly suggest that a cognitive-based instruction, when followed by a consistent assessment, is an effective approach to teaching and learning difficult constructions in the L2.