Different time concepts in the classroom. From monologue to dialogue: space

Abstract

This paper explores, taking as its starting point cognitive variables, the essential function which affective variables have in the teaching of foreign languages. The conceptual transposition a reorientation required to acquire a second language involves distinguishing different philosophical concepts about space and time. From the 1970s and on, the linguistic requirements of teaching a language have taken a Kantian turn. Together with the principles of pragmatics and interculturality, it is important to work with concepts such as perception, disposition, motivation, intuition, level of empathy, and fear. Bearing in mind that these are complex factors which have a great impact on the process of immersion in a foreign language, it is worth asking if they are just temporal. The actual learning process, involving self-study, requires additional support to focus the learner’s resources and encourage them to immerse themselves in and identify with the culture associated with the language they are learning. These areas are in the critical period, especially in the post-Kantian critical, empirical thresholds that shape our thinking and guide the choice of exercises. Our study aims 1) to refl ect on the diff erent conceptions of time (as inner meaning, cognitive time) underlying foreign language teaching; 2) to explore whether is it possible to develop a methodology based just on time, therefore leaving, space to one side or, in contrast, whether it is space which rules over time in the process of foreign language acquisition.