Applying Conceptual Grammar to Advanced‐Level Language Teaching: The Case of Two Completive Constructions in Korean

Abstract

This article introduces conceptual grammar as an approach to the analysis and teaching of grammar in foreign and second language contexts through a combination of paradigms: corpus, discourse analysis, and cognitive linguistics. Although the approach is applicable to virtually any language and any construction within that language at various levels of study, we provide a detailed demonstration using Korean as a model. In particular, we focus on constructions expressing the completive aspect. The Korean system of marking aspect can be quite complex; what renders the Korean completive even more perplexing is the fact that it is expressed through two seemingly similar auxiliary forms, each of which signals different elements in the speaker's or writer's stance vis‐à‐vis the described event. By combining the paradigms of corpus, discourse analysis, and cognitive linguistics, the article demonstrates how a conceptual grammatical approach can render salient the particular discursive and conceptual patterns underlying the target forms. It is designed as a pedagogical tool to guide users to discern both inductively and deductively how native speakers conceptualize these differences and express them morphosyntactically—a perspective that is absent from most existing reference grammars and textbooks. In this article, we present samples of pedagogical materials developed using this model in addition to results of an experiment in which a version of those materials was administered to teachers and students of advanced Korean.