Connecting Disciplinary and Linguistic Knowledge in Concept-Based Language Instruction.

This article examines the integration of Concept-based Language Instruction (C-BLI) in a graduate-level legal writing course to connect a discipline-specific discourse-structuring concept—precedent as a source of law—with linguistic features in the interoffice legal memorandum genre. Using cognitive linguistic tools, particularly mental spaces and conceptual blending theory, the intervention employed pedagogical diagrams and dialogic discourse analysis tasks to help multilingual law students from civil law backgrounds engage with the common law concept of precedent and its linguistic manifestations. Findings highlight varied learner engagement, with peer mediation playing a key role in facilitating understanding of symbolic genres underlying legal texts, though challenges remained for some students in linking disciplinary meaning to language use. The study suggests that identifying broadly applicable discourse-structuring concepts is critical for effective C-BLI in discipline-specific contexts and recommends further research on peer mediation and conceptual blending-informed genre analysis in language instruction for specific purposes.