The course aims to familiarize students with problems and methods of analysis in current linguistic theory as they relate to issues of L2 pedagogy. It mainly focuses on the relation between form and meaning, typically addressed in the framework of different theoretical approaches. More specifically, reference is made to Construction Grammar as a usage-based and cognitively-oriented method of the scientific description of English and the investigation of its discoursal, pragmatic, semantic and syntactic aspects. Emphasis is placed on the ways Construction Grammar informs FLT practices through the exploitation of language corpora. The particular topics to be addressed in the course from an analytic and pedagogical perspective include phrasal units such as idioms and collocations, constructions with a pragmatic point, discourse constructions, and genres as constructions.

The course is in the form of seminars, during which students are involved in the analysis of linguistic data (mainly from English, but also from Greek), and the critical assessment and discussion of related theoretical issues that are introduced in class. To this end, weekly readings, exercises and discussion topics are assigned at the beginning of the course.

Students are evaluated in terms of weekly tests and a corpus-based final project in the pedagogical application of Construction Grammar topics introduced during the course. The projects are presented orally in class in peer-teaching sessions. Peer sessions are also peer-evaluated.

The course is evaluated by means of anonymously submitted questionnaires and class discussion.

Instructors: Elly Ifantidou, Kiki Nikiforidou