Language and Cognition Seminar - Formulaic Language: Usage, Processing, Pedagogy, and Measurement 

Speaker: Prof Norbert Schmitt University of Nottingham, School of English

Formulaic language (FL) is widespread in language overall, and so is interesting to anyone working with language issues.  

This talk will take a broad view of FL, exploring why it is so widespread and what functions it carries out in language use.  It will then look at language proficiency in terms of FL.  Because FL is so ubiquitous, language proficiency must entail knowledge of FL, in addition to the more commonly considered knowledge of single words and grammar.  This raises issues about how FL is acquired, processed, and used.  

The talk will show how FL is a key component of gaining fluency in a language (both L1 and L2), how we might go about teaching it effectively, and how we might test it.