Contributions of cognitive grammar to learning Spanish prepositions: An empirical study with university students of Spanish as a foreign language / Aportaciones de la gramática cognitiva al aprendizaje de preposiciones: una investigación empírica con estudiantes universitarios de E/LE

The perception of prepositions as relational functional units with a secondary role in the creation of meaning has often resulted in a superficial treatment of these elements in the classroom. Their introduction as primarily associated with predetermined functions and expressions usually leads to a memoristic learning that might hinder students’ perception of the logic underlying their use. For this reason, the present study investigates the contribution that the theoretical principles and analytic tools of Cognitive Grammar can make to the description and teaching of Spanish prepositions, on the one hand, and to their learning, on the other. Therefore, I will commence by examining the place that this model occupies in the methodological landscape and its potential to redefine grammatical instruction in communicative terms. Once the most relevant theories on the nature of prepositions and the influence these have on their teaching, I will analyse the approach presented by Cognitive Grammar when it comes to defining these units. Additionally, in accordance with the foundational principles of this model, I will propose a characterisation that reflects the polysemic nature of these elements rooted on a schematic semantic value. Such value is illustrated though a graphic representation that facilitates the students’ understanding of their content, as well as their application to different contexts through metaphorical extension. Subsequently, I will analyse the contributions of this model to the learning of these units through a pilot study and, in a second investigation, I will compare the effects of its applications with those derived from more conventional approaches, such as usage and example lists or exposition to stock phrases containing these elements. Finally, I will finish by examining the results of the conducted empirical studies and how each of the approaches considered contributed to the assimilation and use of prepositions.