Abstract
The present paper is situated within the Cognitive Linguistics movement, which
claims that language is associated with certain cognitive abilities. One of them is
the ability to conceptualise a situation at different levels of abstraction. This process
is shown to apply, among others, in the process of forming patterns of metaphorical
extension, as postulated within Cognitive Grammar (Langacker 1987, 1990, 2000b,
2008, etc.). The paper aims to discuss the process of emergence of these patterns
and their pedagogical potential.
In the fi rst part of the paper, the major processes engaged in the emergence of these
patterns are discussed: schematisation and extension. Then, embeddedness of these
schematic structures in bodily experience and culture is emphasised. All these
considerations indicate the schemas’ pedagogical potential in the area of foreign
language pedagogy. The paper is concluded with several suggestions made by the
author about the possible applications of such schematic structures in class.
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