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The purpose of this paper is to explore the effective use of the core schema-based instruction (SBI) in a classroom setting. The core schema is a schematic representation of the common underlying meaning of a given lexical item, and was first proposed on the basis of the cognitive linguistic perspectives by the Japanese applied linguists Tanaka, Sato and Abe (2006) as a new teaching approach. The SBI has been expected to contribute to English teaching in a new way that is different from the translation-based instruction (TBI) because the core schemas can lead learners to a more essential and profound understanding. However, the previous empirical research on the SBI has not always shown its effectiveness over the TBI. This paper firstly analyzed its causes with reference to the theoretical features of the core schemas and pointed out two kinds of difficulty for the effective use of the SBI. Then in order to get over the difficulties, it was argued that the SBI should involve a bottom-up language learning process, as insisted in cognitive linguistics as the usage-based model. As the bottom-up process, group work discussion was employed in this study, where learners discuss the core schematic image in a group with its sample sentences which were provided beforehand. This learning style is different from the top-down SBI, where the core schemas are provided prior to sample sentences as almost all the previous empirical studies did. The present study examined the difference in the effects between the bottom-up SBI and the top-down SBI through an experiment conducted to technical college students with the six English prepositions (at, in, on, to, for, with) as material. Based on the results of the former study by the researcher, the present study was designed to add some exercises to the bottom-up SBI group. The results obtained from t-tests and ANOVAs suggested several findings. The findings were that the bottom-up SBI is more effective than the top-down SBI in meaning comprehension and that the effect continues for two months.