This study investigated the effectiveness of cognitive linguistics-based instruction (CLI), as compared to that of traditional instruction (TI), in classrooms where English present and past tenses were taught to Chinese learners of English as a foreign language (EFL). Seventy-nine non-English major freshmen at CEFR B1 level from a Taiwan university were divided into two groups: the CLI group (N = 41) and the TI group (N = 38). In CLI, the cognitive notion of immediacy/non-immediacy for the present/past tenses and how prototypical and peripheral senses of the English tenses are tackled in cognitive linguistics were introduced, and then interpretation tasks were given for familiarizing learners with the previously learned information. In TI, language facts were explained through grammatical taxonomies, such as generics encoded with simple present, and past events encoded with simple past, followed by interpretation tasks. To measure learning outcomes, a pretest, a posttest, and a delayed posttest were conducted one week before, one week after, and five weeks after the teaching intervention. A questionnaire was also given to explore learners’ learning awareness about English tense teaching. Results revealed that CLI could be a more efficient teaching method for tense selection than TI in both short- and long-term learning outcomes. In addition, learners receiving CLI, provided with tools for prospective autonomous learning, may make consistent progress, construct an ability to observe pragmatic contexts, and build better cross-linguistic awareness. These findings suggest positive implications for EFL teachers and researchers in integrating cognitive linguistics with grammar teaching.
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