Teaching English on a linguocognitive basis: a phraseological aspect

Abstract

Phraseological units are a significant element of English. Being culturally conditioned, these units reflect the peculiarities of conceptualization of reality by native speakers. We substantiate the possibility of teaching the phraseological level of English on a linguocognitive basis within the framework of the communicative-cognitive approach. The importance and prospects of the communicative-cognitive approach to teaching English in the current educational reality has been substantiated. We present experimental studies that prove the high potential of foreign language learning on a linguocognitive basis. Classifications of phraseological units in the English language, proposed both in the field of traditional linguistics and cognitive linguistics, are considered. The study connects idiomatic expressions with cognitive mechanisms such as conceptual metaphor and provides examples of conceptual metaphors in English in relation to respective idiomatic expressions. We describe successful experimental studies on teaching English phraseological units on a linguocognitive basis. The importance of group work in the study of English phraseological units is substantiated and an example of the distribution of roles during group work is provided. The study considers possible difficulties and peculiarities of teaching English phraseological units and suggests ways of overcoming them. The study substantiates the importance of using cognitive linguistics as a linguistic basis for teaching English based on the communicative-cognitive approach.