ELJ Issue 2, Vol. 1 December 2015 ISSN 2304-2154
Abstract
Embodied cognition emerged and has spread throughout a wide range of disciplines in the cognitive sciences over the past two decades. This approach
is in stark contrast to the traditional “disembodied” view of cognition that has penetrated deep into the ield of second language acquisition SLA. Over the
same time frame, linguistic relativity has also re-emerged with new empirical indings that point to the plausibility that language inluences thought. In
this paper I argue for the importance of iltering these new approaches to language and cognition into the ield of SLA. An embodied approach within
an SLA framework endorses action learning and using a teaching style that aims to simulate multimodal situations of engagement with the language in a
rich context.
Key words: embodied cognition, SLA, language, linguistic relativity, action learning
1. INTRODUCTION
A resurging interest in linguistic relativity, which holds that the different languages people speak inluence the way they think and conceptualize the
world, has been spreading from the cognitive sciences Gentner Goldin- Meadow, 2003; Gumperz Levinson, 1996; Lucy, 1992 into the ield of SLA
Bylund Athanasopoulos, 2014; Han Cadierno, 2010; Niemeier, 2004. Linguistic relativity proposes that since languages differ in numerous ways,
ENGLISH LINGUA JOURNAL
Issues in English Studies
DSPM Research Lab, Mostaganem University Press
ACTION LEARNING: PUTTING THE MIND BACK INTO THE BODY IN SLA
Brian Birdsell
Assistant Prof., Hirosaki University, JAPAN brianhirosaki-u.ac.jp
people, though attending to the same reality, may perceive it differently
based on the constraints and obligatory features of their respective languages. This view had been widely dismissed by various scholars over the
years for the preferred universalist or nativist stance. Among universalists, language and thought are clearly separable entities and the differences
between languages are supericial for they all share certain universal structures.
Recently the mind’s conceptual architecture has also come into question. This new debate involves emerging research that shows a close relationship
between the body and thought, called embodied cognition. This approach is in stark contrast to the Cartesian view, which suggests that thought is
encapsulated within the individual mind and disembodied Lakoff Johnson, 1999. Linguistic relativity is considerably more viable within an embodied
theory of cognition and provides support to move away from the mind is a computer
metaphor, which is ubiquitously present in SLA theories. In order to address the issue of embodied cognition from an SLA
perspective, I irst provide some background for the traditional view of cognition, which is incompatible with linguistic relativity. Then, I introduce
an embodied approach to cognition and discuss various controversies between these two approaches. Finally, I propose the importance of
integrating an embodied approach into the language-learning environment.
2. INCONGRUITY: LINGUSITIC RELATIVITY AND THE “THE LANGUAGE OF THOUGHT”
