Theory and Practice from a Cognitive Perspective - Teaching English in Greater China

This book is intended as a theoretical and practical resource for both new and experienced teachers of a second language. It integrates some of the ideas from cognitive linguistics into existing classroom approaches for teaching English as a second language through a series of lesson plans developed by teachers of English from Mainland China and Hong Kong. The lesson plans provide step-by-step instructions for teachers, including resources and an explanation of the theories underpinning each step. These plans, many of which are integrated into specific English as a foreign language textbook units, encourage teachers to be creative by adding or adapting the material they have in order to engage their students. 

Although the main audience is English teachers, the theoretical principles covered are applicable to teachers of any foreign language and the practical examples, provided in the lesson plans, can be easily modified to teach other languages as well. Similarly, it is not just for teachers working in Chinese contexts but for anyone interested in embodied cognition as a teaching approach. I intend these pages to serve as a companion for teachers to reflect on their existing practices, to provide new ideas and to make them aware of the many factors affecting learning.

Renia Lopez-Ozieblo is Associate Professor at the Department of English and Communication of the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. She is a researcher and pedagogue in foreign language teaching and learning, in particular interested in and how the embodiment of new concepts can help language learning. Her main lines of research are gestures in language learners and language teaching from the perspective of cognitive linguistics. She directs a number of projects on these topics. She is co-founder of the Hong Kong chapter of the International Society for Gestures Studies and a member of the AILA ReN research group: Gestures in second language acquisition. Dr. Lopez-Ozieblo is also a member of the Research Center for Professional Communication in English (RCPCE) at Hong Kong Polytechnic University.