Nihal Bouabida/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 1  (2020)

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This paper reports on a quasi-experimental study investigating the effects 
of a teaching methodology that combines Cognitive Linguistics (CL) and 
Corpus Linguistics (CrpL) insights on the acquisition of the two sets of 
English spatial prepositions of verticality, over/above and under/below. In 
addition, it is also concerned with learners’ attitudes towards the method 
of instruction. A total of 55 Moroccan first-year university students 
participated in this study, 22 of which were assigned to the experimental 
group, and 26 to the control group. The experimental group received what 
we termed the IPDDL instruction, which involves cognitive representations 
of the prepositions based on Image-schemas, the Principled Polysemy 
model, and Data-Driven Learning. The control group, in contrast, received 
a traditional instruction based on definitions and example sentences 
provided in dictionaries. Participants’ performance was measured with 
pre-, post-, and delayed post-tests in the form of a semantic judgment 
task and a gap-filling task. The findings demonstrate that the IPDDL 
method of instruction was significantly more effective in helping students 
acquire vertical prepositions, and its advantages proved durable posterior 
to two weeks of the instruction period. Thus, this study lends support to 
the applicability of a CL-CrpL-inspired methodology in second language 
instruction. 

keyword

Cognitive linguistics, corpus linguistics, data-driven 
learning, English prepositions of verticality, image-
schemas, principled polysemy model

correSpondence

Phone: -
E-mail: bouabida.nihal@outlook.fr

  
  
  

Article

The Effect of Data-driven Learning & Image-schema-
based Polysemy Networks Instruction on Learning 
Spatial Prepositions of Verticality: The Case of 
Moroccan EFL Learners
Nihal Bouabida1

1Applied Linguistics & ELT, Faculté des Sciences de l’Education, Morocco

Under Liscense of Creative Commons Attributioni-NonCommercial 4.0 International.DOI: https://doi.org/10.25077/ar.7.1.62-70.2020 

I. INTRODUCTION 

Manifold are the possible ways in which the 
spatial world can conceivably be apportioned and 
described. Such descriptions permeate the human 
journey considering their manifestations in a wide 
range of contexts, from locating objects in space 
to reflecting knowledge acquired through terrene 
interactions, and ultimately to reasoning about 
the world (Coventry, 2004). For example, spatial 
terms such as up and down can be used to describe 
the position of entities in space, which could be 
extrapolated through the spatial interaction and 

experience with the world to further refer to a 
state of being (e.g., I feel down). On such grounds, 
discerning how these locative expressions are used 
and understood proves to be a thorny issue. Moreover, 
compared to the myriad of possible meanings that 
could be entertained, prepositional forms are very 
limited in number, and each preposition expresses, 
of necessity, a wide range of meanings (Lam, 
2009). In addition to their tremendous semantic 
potential and diverse collocational properties, 
English prepositions participate in an array of 
morphosyntactic constructions, rendering them a 
notoriously difficult aspect to learn for L2 learners. 62



Nihal Bouabida/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 1  (2020)

With no generalizations emerging, the common 
strategy employed is the learning of fixed and 
relatively isolated structures, rather than flexible 
items within an associated cognitive structure in 
which new information is linked to the previous 
knowledge (Ausubel, 1968, 2000). Another 
compelling aspect of prepositions is echoed in the 
differences in use across languages, which sprout 
from the distinctness of peoples’ perception and 
conception of space reflected in their peculiar use of 
spatial lexis, namely prepositions (e.g., Brugman, 
1983; Hill, 1982). Consequently, they seldom 
have perfect equivalents in other languages. For 
instance, the English front in ‘the front of the tree’ 
designates the part of the tree facing the observer, 
while in Hausa it refers to its other side (Hill, 1982). 
For second language learners, such cross-linguistic 
differences may impinge on the interpretation and 
use of prepositions.

Many approaches to lexical semantics for spatial 
terms have attempted to capture their meaning 
without adequate consideration of how language 
is grounded in the nature of recurrent, everyday 
experiences and observations of the world (Evans 
& Tyler, 2005; Kemmerer 2005; Rocca, et al. 
2019). Traditional accounts have asserted that the 
semantics of English prepositions are, to a large 
extent, arbitrary, and difficult to characterize. In 
other words, the coding of different senses by the 
same linguistic form (e.g., over) is presumably 
coincidental. They are treated as unrelated 
homonyms, much like the form bank is arbitrarily 
associated with both ‘the sides of a river’ and ‘a 
type of a financial institution’. Such a position 
has many ramifications as to the theories of word 
meaning and sentential meaning construction, 
and ultimately, this has crucial implications as to 
the theories of language learning and teaching. 
Pedagogical treatments under this paradigm have 
often resorted to rote learning as the best strategy 
to teach the multiple senses of spatial prepositions 
(Gvarishvili, 2013). 

While many linguists would argue that this approach 
has been fruitful in modeling the structural aspects 
of language, they also recognize that it suffers 
from several problems, one of which resides in the 
daily usage of language which cannot be simply 
accounted for by the proposed rules, particularly 
in contexts where more than one preposition is 

possible (Matula, 2007). Per contra, Cognitive 
Linguistics (henceforth CL) offers an alternative 
prospect in which prepositions are treated as 
polysemous words, that is to say, that the distinct 
senses associated with a given preposition are 
motivated, and related in systematic and principled 
ways. It proposes that the differences in expressing 
spatial relations across different languages can be 
accounted for in a non-arbitrary fashion (Lakoff, 
1987; Tyler & Evans, 2004, Fillmore & Baker, 
2010). In its investigation of the relationship 
between language, the mind, and socio-physical 
experiences, CL advances a prolific account for 
understanding the usage of prepositions, leading 
to systematization and linkage of their multiple 
senses. Such insights could yield an important 
impact on the methodologies of second language 
teaching and learning.  

The purpose of this study is to present the findings 
of an experimental study developed, to a large 
extent, based on a CL-inspired approach to 
teaching spatial prepositions. The premise is to 
evaluate the effects of a new pathway to teaching 
spatial prepositions that combine pedagogical 
implications of CL-methodology, namely the use 
of image-schema transformations, along with 
the Principled Polysemy (PP) model of English 
prepositions proposed by Tyler and Evans (2003). 
The latter succeeds in uncovering the motivation 
behind previously random-looking groupings of 
meanings and sheds light on the mechanisms of 
meaning change and meaning extension, which 
have been overlooked in traditional accounts and 
pedagogical treatments.  

In conjunction with Cognitive Linguistic insights, 
it is also imperative to accentuate usage-based and 
contextualized instruction as one cannot acquire 
the semantic motivations underlying the various 
senses of spatial prepositions without a dive into 
the environment in which they occur. As such, 
this study postulates the incorporation of Corpus 
Linguistic (henceforth CrpL) prospects through the 
use of corpora in the form of data-driven learning 
(henceforth DDL) (Johns, 1994), because they offer 
a greater terrain of exploration and apperception of 
the relations among different uses of a particular 
word, and the phraseological patterns associated 
with its senses (Boers & Lindstromberg, 2008, 
Chen et al., 2019; Lee & Lin, 2019; Romer, 2011).63



Nihal Bouabida/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 1  (2020)

The study sought to investigate the effectiveness 
of the IPDDL method in helping students learn 
how to use vertical prepositions compared to the 
TRAD method. In addition, the paper investigates 
the extent to which the effects of the IPDDL 
instructional method will prove durable posterior 
to two weeks of instruction. Finally, students’ 
attitudes towards IPDDL-based instruction are 
explored (Kilimci, 2017; Song, et al., 2015; Tyler, 
et al., 2011; Tyler, 2010).

II. METHODS

2.1. Research Design 

The present study adopted a non-randomized 
control group, pretest-posttest design, which is 
defined as a quasi-experimental design that assigns 
identifiable groups of individuals (intact groups) to 
the intervention or comparison condition in some 
non-random way. Matching was used to control 
for the lack of randomization—the researcher 
selected groups that are as similar as possible on all 
important variables that may affect the outcomes 
of the study. 

Additionally, there were no statistically significant 
differences in the pretest, which denotes a greater 
degree of pre-experimental equivalency. Thus, we 
could discount selection bias as a threat to internal 
validity and proceed with the study. Altogether, this 
study employed (for each group) a pre-test, two 
instructional treatments, two immediate post-tests, 
and a delayed post-test along with a questionnaire 
to answer the research queries. The experimental 
group received a CL-inspired instruction (IPDDL) 
that utilizes image-schemas and the Polysemy 
Model of the two sets of English spatial particles 
of verticality, in conjunction with a corpus as 
learning resources. The control group received 
a traditional instruction (TRAD) based on two 
online dictionaries (Cambridge and Oxford Online 
Dictionaries). Seeing that both programs were 
delivered in English as a medium of instruction, 
the intervention was conducted in the English 
language only.  

2.2. Participants 

A total of 55 Moroccan first-year university students 
participated in this study. All the students major in 

English and pursue the same university program; 
Bachelor of Education (CLE), rendering them 
potential candidates for teacher training colleges 
or for master programs in the country or abroad. 
Moreover, all the informants have been studying 
English as a compulsory subject for at least 6 years 
(M=6.09, SD=2.48). On account of the unfeasibility 
of administering a proficiency test, the researcher 
used the academic level of the participants as an 
indicator of their proficiency level, as every one 
of them was selected based on their Baccalaureate 
grades (i.e. grades obtained in English classes) and 
their performance in the admission interview to 
enroll in the CLE program. 

The students who did not complete the tasks, or 
did not attend the sessions were subtracted. The 
final sample (22 Experimental, and 26 Control) 
comprised 13 males and 35 females, the age of 
which ranged between 18 and 20 (100%). 

2.3. The Corpus 

The British National Corpus (BNC) was utilized 
during the IPDDL sessions, as well as for the 
construction of the tasks. Owing to the richness 
of BNC, which holds about 100-million-word 
assortment deriving out of a wide range of 
sources, performing a query on such a platform 
might be impending. Therefore, considering that 
the participants have never been acquainted with 
a corpus interface before, the researcher resorted 
to AntConc instead of a web-based corpus for its 
easy-to-use and intuitive interface. AntConc is a 
Unicode compliant freeware corpus analysis toolkit 
for concordance and text analysis, developed by 
Laurence Anthony of Waseda University, Japan.

2.4. Data Collection Procedures  

The intervention was carried out over two weeks 
by the researcher as the classroom instructor. The 
TRAD sessions involved the instruction of the 
various meanings and uses of the target prepositions 
through definitions and example sentences provided 
by two online dictionaries, namely Cambridge and 
Oxford Online Dictionaries. However, only the 
meanings addressed in the polysemy networks 
adopted in the study were included to guarantee 
that both groups were introduced to the same items. 
Conversely, the IPDDL sessions entailed the use of 
non-technical cognitive explanations of the senses 
entertained by the concerned vertical prepositions 64



Nihal Bouabida/ Jurnal Arbitrer - Vol. 7 No. 1  (2020)

using the image-schema-based polysemy networks. 
The latter represented the distinct senses of each 
preposition as radiating from a proto-scene in a 
related manner. In addition, the experimental group 
engaged in a data-driven-learning activity whereby 
they consulted the constructed corpus via AntConc 
to investigate the multiple meanings and uses of the 
prepositions in various contexts. Immediately after 
each treatment, both groups completed the relevant 
post-test (either over/above, or under/below tests). 
Two weeks after the experimental implementation 
stage, each group was delivered a delayed post-
test. After the delayed post-test, questionnaires 
were given to the experimental group to evaluate 
the IPDDL method of instruction. The following 
table summarizes the experimental procedure.

III. RESULTS

The present section unfolds the results obtained 
from the statistical analyses we conducted on the 
collected data. In addition to descriptive statistics, 
independent-samples t-tests and one-way ANOVAs 
were employed. For all analyses, the alpha level 
was set at p <.05.

3.1 Pre-treatment analysis

The overall pretest results show that the scores of 
both the IPDDL group and the TRAD group were 
approximately the same. In order to investigate the 
significance of the findings, an independent samples 
T-test was conducted. Normality of the distribution 
was tested beforehand using the Shapiro-Wilk test 
of normality. The reported results indicated that 
the data is normally distributed for both the pretest 
scores of the experimental group (W = .964, p = 
.586), and the control group (W = .976, p = .789). 
Levene’s test for equality of variances showed a 
non-significant difference, thus equal variances 
were assumed. The independent samples t-test 
revealed no significant difference between the 
IPDDL and TRAD groups, t (46) = .107, p =0.915. 
Therefore, we conclude that there is no significant 
difference in the overall knowledge of the English 
prepositions of verticality among the sample 
groups. Stated differently, the two groups were 
comparable in their performance before receiving 
the treatments.

3.2. Between-group analysis 

An independent samples t-test was conducted for 
the pre-, post-delayed post-test results to investigate 
the between-group difference in terms of the effect 
of instruction.

The independent t-test conducted on the post-
test scores between the experimental (M =36.63) 
and the control group (M =32.73) indicated a 
statistically significant in favor of the experimental 
group, t (46) =2.605, p =.012. The strength of 
the relationship, as indexed by eta squared, was 
η2

 =0.13. This suggests that 13% of the variance 
can be accounted for by the independent variable. 
Therefore, the null hypothesis of no significant 
differences between the IPDDL and TRAD groups 
in learning vertical prepositions is rejected.

Similarly, an independent t-test was conducted 
on the delayed post-test scores between the 
experimental (M =35.09) and the control group (M 
=32.65). The results indicated a non-statistically 
significant difference between the groups, t (46) 
=1.504, p =.139.

3.3. Within-group analysis

To investigate the significance of the within-group 
differences regarding the effect of the instructional 
treatments on each groups’ performance, the one-
way ANOVA test was conducted on the control and 
the experimental data.

First, the assumption of homogeneity of variances 
was tested and satisfied based on Levene’s F test, 
F (2,63) =.444, p =.643. Afterward, a one-way 
ANOVA was conducted to compare the effect of the 
IPDDL method of instruction on the performance 
scores of the experimental group in the pre-, post-
, and delayed post-tests. The results yielded a 
statistically significant effect, F (2,63) =9.381, p 
=.000. The strength of the relationship, as indexed 
by eta squared partial, was η2partial =0.22. Thus, 
22% of the variance could be accounted for by the 
independent variable. To further explore where 
the differences occurred, posthoc comparisons 
using the Tukey HSD test were conducted. Tukey 
revealed that the mean score for the post-test (M 
=36.63, SD =4.655) was significantly different 
than the pre-test (M =30.86, SD =4.234). However, 
the delayed post-test condition (M =35.09, SD 
=4.819) did not significantly differ from the post-
test condition. 65



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This suggests that the positive trajectory is sustained 
to the delayed post-test stage, though a slight 
decrease in overall scores is evident. Therefore, the 
null hypothesis of no effect of the method on the 
retention of the target prepositions for two weeks 
is rejected.

Similarly, the assumption of homogeneity of 
variances was tested for the control group results 
and satisfied based on Levene’s F test, F (2,75) 
=.951, p =.391. Furthermore, a one-way ANOVA 
was conducted to compare the effect of the TRAD 
method of instruction on the performance scores 
of the experimental group in the pre-, post-, and 
delayed post-tests. The results indicated a non-
statistically significant effect, F (2.75) =1.140, 
p =.325. Thus, no observable change in group 
performance was evident for the control group 
throughout the study period.

The results from the two different instructional 
interventions (TRAD versus IPDDL) indicated 
that IPDDL instruction was effective, as evidenced 
by the statistically significant improvement in 
students’ scores over time. In addition, the effects 
of the IPDDL method on the acquisition of the 
target prepositions proved durable posterior to two 
weeks of the instruction period.

3.3. Questionnaire results

The follow-up survey addressed four aspects of 
students’ attitudes towards the IPDDL method of 
instruction: (a) the perceived effects of polysemy 
networks on prepositions learning; (b) perceived 
effects of image-schemas on prepositions learning; 
(c) perceived effects of DDL on prepositions 
learning; and (d) perceived problems in using DDL 
activities. 

Overall, the majority of the students perceived 
the IPDDL method as useful in learning the target 
prepositions of verticality. 97.35% of the students 
evaluated the image-schema-based polysemy 
networks as helpful resources for the acquisition of 
the senses of each preposition and for raising their 
awareness as to the differences associated with the 
intricate meanings of the target words. In addition, 
many expressed that such resources helped them 
retrieve the meaning of the various senses of the 
target words from memory. Furthermore, the use 
of polysemy networks was deemed more desirable 
than dictionary definitions and examples. 

Despite the acclamations regarding the DDL 
activities, students expressed a different viewpoint. 
84.2% of the students described DDL activities as 
effortful and conceded a difficulty in conducting 
corpus queries due to the cut-off sentences and 

Fig.1. Comparison of group performance by pre-test, post-test, and delayed post-test.

66



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incomplete contexts. Additionally, 57.9% reported 
some difficulty in studying concordance lines due 
to unfamiliar vocabulary in the sentences. Despite 
the contrary, 57.9% of the responses revealed that 
students do not perceive DDL activities as time-
consuming and boring.

IV. DISCUSSION

The effect of IPDDL on the acquisition of spatial 
particles

With respect to the first research question, findings 
indicate that both the IPDDL and TRAD groups 
benefited from the two types of instruction they 
were exposed to. However, the IPDDL group 
achieved significantly higher scores. These results 
suggest that the image-based polysemy data-
driven learning approach was more effective in 
comparison to the traditional approach.

Our findings support the contention that learners will 
acquire extended meanings better than unrelated 
meanings, and further substantiate the advantages 
of a cognitive and corpus linguistics inspired 
instruction. It is important to note that the acquisition 
of spatial prepositions calls for the categorization 
of spatial relations in consonance with the spatial 
cognitive norms conventionalized in the language. 
Consequently, the learning of spatial particles in a 
second language requires a reconstruction of the 
spatial system in the cognitive schemata following 
the target language’s categorization of spatial 
configurations, together with the language-specific 
conventions for mapping forms and meanings, and 
the communicative contexts that impact linguistic 
structures (Achard, 2004; Taylor, 1993). Such a 
process may not be evident using the memorization 
of a list of uses. Rather, learners can develop a 
greater awareness of, and uncover the motivations 
behind, the meaning chains associated with 
spatial prepositions through the conceptualization 
of prepositional uses as the product of general 
cognitive strategies (Lam, 2009). 

In its conversion of image-schemas, principled 
polysemy networks, and data-driven learning, the 
IPDDL method offers a prolific and systematic 
foundation for the acquisition of spatial 
prepositions. It abridges significantly the amount 
of arbitrariness traditionally associated with 

spatial prepositions. Consequently, it reduces the 
need for rote learning on the part of the second 
language learner. Moreover, the representation of 
the senses as systematically connected gestalt-like 
scenes and graphic illustrations proved useful for 
both the language teacher and the second language 
learner. Furthermore, “the model draws heavily 
on the notion of the experiential basis of meaning 
and represents the extended senses as arising from 
observations of the external, spatio-physical world, 
it reflects the learners’ own experiences with the 
world” (Evans & Tyler, 2004).  Thus, by virtue 
of its provision of a coherent fundament derived 
from their own observations of the world, it allows 
learners to infer the meanings of unfamiliar uses of 
prepositions. This is accentuated as well through 
the integration of corpus activities through the 
data-driven learning approach, which emphasizes 
learners’ exploratory and discovery learning. 

The cognitive explanations were further exploited 
in the investigation of concordance lines. This 
helped learners discover the lexical collocations 
and prepositional colligations associated with the 
target words. As explained in the Methodology 
chapter, the study employed a constructed corpus 
imported through AntConc, instead of the use of 
a full web-based BNC corpus, intending to ensure 
a centralized investigation and obviate a wild-
goose chase and frustration. The findings indicate 
that IPDDL can be an effective alternative in the 
acquisition of spatial prepositions.

Conversely, the control group showed insignificant 
gains from their exposure to the traditional method. 
This could be attributed to insensitivity towards 
this kind of instruction as they had experienced 
similarly learning the target prepositions before. 
However, it could also be attributed to the nature 
of the instruction, which includes dictionary 
definitions and examples, and relied mainly on rote 
learning techniques. Such a method precludes an 
effort to integrate new knowledge with relevant 
prior knowledge held in cognitive structures 
(cf. Ausubel, 2000). Furthermore, it lacks a 
comprehensive analysis of the different senses 
of prepositions and causes unstable learners’ 
improvements (Cho, 2010). Therefore, the TRAD 
group were arguably not able to recall all the senses 
that had been taught.67



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The effect of IPDDL on retention of spatial 
particles

Concerning the second research question, the 
findings indicate that the IPDDL treatment gains 
proved durable after two weeks of the period of 
instruction. That is, the positive trajectory was 
sustained to the delayed post-test stage, though a 
slight decrease in overall scores was evident. 

This is congruous with conclusions drawn from 
studies in cognitive psychology. These demonstrate 
that the retrieval of information is facilitated when 
there is an organizing structure that establishes a 
relationship among the items, given that such a 
systematic structure can provide alternative routes 
that instigate the information desired. Therefore, 
calling attention to the complex form–meaning 
mappings associated with prepositions may 
contribute to their retention and recovery, and lead 
to meaningful and more successful learning.

Nevertheless, the analysis of the delayed post-
tests of the experimental and control groups did 
not yield significant results. These contradictory 
findings could be an indication that the very limited 
treatment time (one hour per week for two weeks) 
was arguably far from sufficient to establish long-
term learning. Thus, an increase in treatment 
duration could yield better results. An alternative 
interpretation of these findings could be attributable 
to the effect of L1 (conceptual) interference on L2 
learning of spatial prepositions since languages 
differ significantly in the way they carve up and 
classify spatial configurations. 

In addition, first languages are often woven, 
cognitively entrenched, and more frequent in 
comparison to second languages. For this reason, 
the influence of L1-specific patterns of mental 
constructions, and expressions that bilinguals are 
routinely exposed to in the dominant language 
prevails. Thus, being more substantiated, L1 
patterns of conceptualization may resurface 
while using the second language. Subsequently, a 
longer period of instruction is needed to reinforce 
L2 spatial conceptualizations and construals of 
the various senses entertained by English spatial 
prepositions of verticality. 

Learners’ attitudes towards IPDDL

The results concerning the effects of the IPDDL 
method were reinforced with insights from the 
qualitative data elicited through participants’ 
responses to questionnaires that targeted 
perceptions and attitudes towards the method. As 
reflected in the questionnaire, the experimental 
group perceived the IPDDL method as helpful for 
the acquisition of English spatial prepositions of 
verticality. 

Overall, the DDL activities were evaluated, in 
general, as instrumental assets for acquiring the 
targeted prepositions of verticality (i.e., learning 
meaning, collocation, and usage patterns of words). 
This aligns with previous research (e.g., Boulton, 
2010), which asserts that DDL can be an effective 
approach in helping learners discover and retain 
lexico-grammatical patterns.  In addition, DDL 
activities pave the way for a usage-based learning 
approach, which fosters exemplar-based learning 
and increase students’ generation, and retention, of 
more accurate patterns.

Notwithstanding the acclamations, the nature of 
corpus exploration can pose difficulties to novice 
DDL learners as attested in many DDL-based 
studies. For instance, the technical knowledge 
required, the cut-off sentences as well as the 
unfamiliarity of vocabulary encountered in the 
concordance lines may be problematic, but not 
insurmountable. These issues were accounted for in 
so far as possible through the use of a constructed 
corpus imported in AntConc instead of the 
complete British National Corpus. As per Boers and 
Lindstromberg’s (2008) suggestion, constructing a 
corpus through the selection of the concordance 
lines beforehand may control for the complexity of 
the vocabulary that learners will be exposed to, and 
thus it can reduce the unnecessary cognitive load 
that may impinge on their learning as well as spare 
them from what may become a time-consuming 
and laborious task. Furthermore, AntConc offers 
a user-friendly interface that requires very little 
maneuvers to operate. Moreover, it allows users to 
expand the concordance lines to reveal more words 
as desired. Still, 64.51% of the responses indicated 
that the difficulties were present regardless. For 
these reasons, a more meticulous DDL method is 
in order. 68



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V. CONCLUSION

In broad outline, the study sought to investigate 
three issues: whether the IPDDL method was 
more effective a method in helping students learn 
how to use vertical prepositions compared to the 
traditional method which relied on dictionary 
definitions and examples; and whether the IPDDL 
effects proved durable posterior to two weeks 
of instruction. The study suggests that IPDDL 
significantly more effective in helping students 
acquire vertical prepositions. Moreover, the results 
indicated that IPDDL’s advantages proved durable 
posterior to two weeks of the instruction period. 
However, it should be kept in mind that these results 
need further verification; we concluded that the 
time allocated to the treatment was not sufficient 
to assert the effects of the method on retention. 
Furthermore, a substantial number of students 

experienced some difficulty with regards to the 
DDL activities. Hence, we call for the development 
of a more rigorous DDL implementation method.

At large, English prepositions have long posed a 
perennial challenge for second language learners 
and language teachers alike, as attested in several 
studies related to the teaching and learning of 
prepositions (Boquist 2009). The reasons are 
multifold. We presume that much of the plight 
is attributed to the lack of importance devoted 
to prepositions in ELT coursebooks, though they 
play a prominent role in language use. This is 
further aggrandized through the unsystematic 
descriptions adopted in learning resources. Thus, 
a CL-CrpL approach may supply a usage-based 
and contextualized instruction, as well as a more 
adequate and systematic framework of English 
spatial particles for EFL/ESL teachers and learners.

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