Center for Language and Cognitive Science Research

The Center for Language and Cognitive Science Research plays a significant role in strengthening the construction of the "new liberal arts", promoting the collaborative development among various disciplines, advancing the innovation of the system of philosophy and social sciences, as well as promoting theuniversity’sinternational development. This platform, with its research achievements, aims to assisttrainingand developing talentsandimprovingscientific research in the philosophical and social sciences from an interdisciplinary perspective.

Thisplatform investigates themechanismsof language acquisitionmainlyfrom cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, and pragmatics. Based on the research findings, itaims to stimulate learners' subjective initiative and guide foreign language teaching.

1. Cognitive Research on Language Acquisition and Teaching

With regard for the lack ofresearch on the mechanisms of language-cognition interaction during the language acquisition process, especially at higher cognitive levels, and for theconsiderable debate about the mechanisms of their influence on different levels of thinking, this platform focuses on metaphor research and categorization research.Specific areas of research in this field include:

(1) To study the impact of context in metaphorical language processing ofa second language, the relationship between metaphor and creativity, and the cognitive processing mechanisms of complex metaphors throughexperimental methods such as eye-tracking, ERP (event-related potential), and other techniques. Thisareaenriches and enhances cognitive exploration beyond the metaphor itself, providing empirical support in terms of diverse samples and big data for the establishment of metaphorical cognitive models. It also provides insights into the understanding of special metaphors and bilingual metaphorical teaching.

(2) To elucidate the transfer mechanisms of conceptual categories and concept representation organization in the brain during vocabulary categorization acquisitionby investigating the mapping relationship between the native language and target language vocabulary categorization patterns of second language learners and cognition. Thisarea explores how to help students establish the mapping relationship between target language vocabulary conceptual categories and cognition, reconstruct vocabulary conceptual category organization patterns, promote students' awareness of learning semantic concept systems, and assist in second language teaching.

2. Research on the Development of Spoken Language and Interaction from the Perspective of Complex Dynamic Systems Theory (CDST)

Complex Dynamic Systems Theory posits that language is a complex system characterized by self-organization, adaptivity, openness, and interconnectedness among its subsystems, with constant interaction and change between them. Recently,researchers have started exploring the interaction and development of language-internal structures, discovering dynamic patterns of interaction where complexity and accuracy alternately compete and support each other. Unfortunately,research on similar topics within China, especially on the dynamic interaction of complexity, accuracy, and fluency in Chinese learners’ spoken English, isstillat an early stage and urgently needs further exploration. The specific research approaches in this field are as follows:

(1) Toconduct interdisciplinary research by integrating theories and methods from complex dynamic systems theory, linguistics, and computational linguistics.Based on the theory of complex dynamic systems, data-driven approaches, computer modeling, data visualization techniques, etc.,are appliedto study in depth the behaviors of spoken language complex systems and the interaction mechanisms among various subsystems within the system.The factors influencing the development of spoken languageare analyzed topropose language development policies for different types of talents, providing theoretical guidance and practicalreference for language research and learning.

(2) To utilize a combination of quantitative and qualitative research methods to investigate the longitudinal development of English interactive competence among Chinese university students. Thisdirection aims to provide empirical evidence for the development of second language interaction/pragmatic competence research in China and the conceptual framework for assessing oral pragmatic competence.

3. Corpus-Driven Academic English Teaching and Research

In the context of the construction of "Double First-Class" universities, the need to enrich domestic and international academic dialogue and enhance the language abilities of students and young scholars in academic contexts has become increasingly prominent. Corpora can be used to observe the language choices established by discourse communities, thereby revealing the essential characteristics of academic language, and providing evidence and references for both teaching and research.This direction strives to overcome the lack of research on the development of academic English competence driven by localized corpora and insufficient empirical teaching assisted by localized corpora in academic English.The specific research approaches in this field are as follows:

(1) To utilize corpus-based quantitative methods in conjunction with qualitative analysis to investigate the developmental characteristics of academic English proficiency among learners in China. The focus will be on language concepts,interpersonal and discourse functions, covering different contexts, domains, and genres of both spoken and written language. At both macro and micro levels, the factors influencing the enhancement of academic English proficiency are explored in depth, providing data and theoretical support for language teaching.

(2) To conduct empirical teaching research on the teaching of academic English by integrating theories of corpus linguistics and theories of foreign language teaching with Chinese characteristics.A Chinese-style academic English teaching modelis exploredto address the separation between learning and application and low production efficiency in localized academic English instruction.

The center has an excellent track record,awell-structured andstrongly-foundedresearchteam, and advanced cognitive neuroscience research equipment, which can sustain its long-term development.