Tracing an L2 Learner's Motion Constructions Over Time: A Usage‐based Classroom Investigation

Informed by cognitive linguistics, this article discusses the learning of second language motion constructions from the perspective of usage‐based linguistics (UBL). It considers how specific motion constructions and their underlying semantic components are expressed and developed over time. The developmental analyses are based on the assumptions of the UBL path of language learning, in which constructions evolve from concrete items to gradually abstract constructions (e.g., Ellis, 2002; Eskildsen & Cadierno, 2007; Tomasello, 2000). The motion constructions and their components are analyzed on the basis of Talmy's (2000) typological framework. The article draws on a longitudinal audio–video database of classroom interaction. Tracing the development of motion constructions in one learner in the corpus over three and a half years, we show that the inventory of motion constructions becomes increasingly productive with emergent patterns building on previous experience.