The workshop will be hosted in the Civic Centre.  Please refer to the map

In association with

and the

 Arts and Humanities Research Council

 

 

10^th September, 2007 Newcastle Civic Centre, Newcastle

 

Organisers

Professor Kenny Coventry, Dr. Berenice Valdes-Conroy, Cognition and Communication Research Centre, Northumbria University, UK

Dr. Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes, Plymouth University, UK

Overview

Spatial language, such as asking directions for places in large scale space, or asking where a misplaced object is in small scale space, constitutes part of the basic fabric of language. Research into spatial language has recently been a hotbed of activity, including much work showing that languages vary greatly in how they carve up space. Furthermore, it is often noted by researchers and practitioners in second language learning that spatial language, and spatial adpositions in particular, present a particular challenge for the second language learner.

 

The focus of this workshop will be to bring together work on SLA and spatial language with a view to characterizing the processes and constraints that affect the acquisition of L2 in this important domain.

 

Attendance is free and contributions to the workshop will be collected into a special issue of a journal or a book.

 

 

Programme

 

9.30am Welcome – Kenny Coventry, Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes and Berenice Valdes

 

10am Teresa Cadierno, Motion across spatial boundaries: Does the learners' L1 make a difference?

 

10.35am Alejandra Donoso Spatial references in advanced learners of Spanish

 

11.10am COFFEE

 

11.45am David Stringer Investigating PPs in interlanguage: A lexicalist turn.

 

12.25pm Kenny Coventry, Pedro Guijarro-Fuentes and Berenice Valdes Second language acquisition of spatial language in English and Spanish.

 

1pm LUNCH

 

2pm Andrea Tyler Accounting for Second Language Learning Challenges in Learning Spatial language: The Case of Russian za and English Prepositions

 

2.35pm Mark Tutton More than words: a gesture-based approach to understanding how speakers encode spatial relationships

 

3.10pm Mila Vulchanova L1 path encoding strategies in the L2

 

4pm-5.30pm Discussion Session (details to be confirmed)

 

 

 

Map: