Thinking for speaking about motion in a second language

Abstract The present chapter discusses Slobin’s (1996) thinking for speaking hypothesis and Talmy’s ( 1985 , 1991 , 2000 ) motion event typology in relation to the field of second language acquisition (SLA). The chapter is divided into four sections. After the introduction, I provide an overview of the theoretical and empirical bases of thinking for speaking in relation to the semantic domain of motion. Then, I classify previous work on motion and SLA on the basis of a series of criteria, and I review some of the main findings of this research. Finally, I suggest future lines of research in this area of investigation.