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Rémi A. van Compernolle (vancomp@cmu.edu) of Carnegie Mellon University is the Center for Advanced Language Proficiency Education and Research (CALPER) Project Coordinator for French and Concept-Based Instruction.

Inspired by Vygotskian sociocultural psychology, a number of recent studies of advanced second language (L2) capabilities have explored concept development. Particular focus has been on concept-based instruction (Lantolf & Poehner, 2014), or CBI, which centers curricular goals around scientific concepts in the form of categories of meaning. This means that instead of designing pedagogical interventions around particular forms, instruction aims to lead learners toward a systematic understanding of the kinds of meanings they can create, and then to connect those potential meanings to relevant forms.

Negueruela (2003), in an early study in a North American context, outlined some of the main principals of CBI. First, high quality explanations of systematic concepts are necessary. These should be focused on meaning rather than impressionistic rules of thumb for the use of forms. Second, the concepts should be materialized in the form of pedagogical diagrams, such as flowcharts, pictures, and even 3-D models, that capture the essence of the meaning potential of the concept. Third, learners should verbalize their understandings in two ways: explaining the concepts as such and explaining their performances through the concepts. Fourth, the concepts should be put into practice through communicative tasks. This involves connecting learners’ developing conceptual knowledge to performance abilities.

An example from my own work in pragmatics (van Compernolle 2014, van Compernolle & Henery, 2014) centers on the teaching of self-presentation, social distance, and power. These concepts are illustrated through second-person address pronouns (e.g., tu and vous in French; tú and usted in Spanish). The concepts are explained in two ways: a small course book, either in paper or in electronic format (e.g., through Blackboard), and teacher-led discussions. The concepts are also illustrated through pedagogical diagrams. For instance, social distance is presented as the difference between two people standing close together (social closeness, solidarity) and two people standing farther apart (social distance, deference) (see diagram below). In each image, the relevant form is provided in order to show students one way in which these categories of meaning may be indexed in language. Learners are asked to explain in verbal or written form how they understand the concepts and how they apply to language use.

Problem-solving and communicative tasks are also included in the pedagogy. Appropriateness judgment tasks prompt learners to choose appropriate forms (e.g., tu or vous) in a variety of social-interactive situations and to explain their choices using the concepts (verbalization). Discourse completion tasks and strategic interaction scenarios can then link conceptual knowledge to the use of language, and this is especially useful if verbalization is made part of the communicative task (e.g., explaining performance after the fact).

You can see the full lesson here: https://sites.google.com/site/frenchpragmatics/lesson-1-tu-or-vous.

References

Lantolf, J. P., & Poehner, M. E. (2014). Sociocultural theory and the pedagogical imperative in L2 education. New York: Routledge.
Negueruela, E. (2003). A sociocultural approach to teaching and researching second language: Systemic-theoretical instruction and second language development. Unpublished doctoral dissertation: The Pennsylvania State University.
van Compernolle, R. A. (2014). Sociocultural theory and L2 instructional pragmatics. Bristol: Multilingual Matters.
van Compernolle, R. A., & Henery, A. (2014). Instructed concept appropriation and L2 pragmatic development in the classroom. Language Learning, 64, 549-578.