Bayesian insights into cognitive grammar teaching: a stage 1 registered report

Journal article

This study evaluates the effectiveness of two cognitive linguistics-inspired pedagogies— Cognitive Linguistics-Inspired Pedagogy (CLIP) and Concept-Based Language Instruction (C-BLI)—for teaching English if-conditionals to L2 learners. Both approaches direct learners’ attention to relevant form–meaning cues but operationalise cue focusing differently: C-BLI integrates it with overt verbalisation, requiring learners to articulate conceptual meanings, whereas CLIP prioritises rich, conceptually motivated input without obligatory verbalisation. A test-only group is included to isolate effects of repeated testing. Using a pre– post–delayed design, the study assesses learners’ implicit and explicit, receptive and productive knowledge of Types 1–3 and examines transfer to untaught Type 0 conditionals. A novel head-and-shoulders diagram supports learners’ understanding of time, certainty, and epistemic stance. Quantitative data from three assessment tasks will be analysed using Bayesian mixed-effects models, and qualitative analyses of verbalisations will trace conceptual development. The study informs debates on verbalisation and demonstrates the value of Bayesian modelling for L2 intervention research.

Authors: Wong, MHI; Marsden, E

• Publication status: Accepted
• Peer review status: Peer reviewed
• Publisher: Wiley
• Journal: Language Learning
• Acceptance date: 2026-06-02
• EISSN: 1467-9922
• ISSN: 0023-8333
• Language: English
• Keywords: if-conditionals; cognitive linguistics-inspired pedagogy; concept-based