Usage-Based Theory of Language and Usage-Based Instruction

The goal of this article is to describe Usage-Based Instruction (UBI), an innovative approach to teaching interpersonal communication in foreign languages. The UBI was inspired by Usage-Based view of language shared by such disciplines as Cognitive Linguistics, Cognitive Psychology, Construction Grammar, Usage-Based Grammar, and Artificial Intelligence. This approach has been used for a number of years by the Foreign Language Program at a small private Mid-Western university in teaching students to orally communicate in foreign languages in beginning foreign language courses. Students taught by the UBI demonstrate better performance, higher fluency, better accuracy and greater language gain than students taught by a more conventional, textbook-approach. In addition to this, they are more engaged in the learning process and consequently are more motivated to continue foreign language study.