Conceptual Metaphor Theory And College English Vocabulary Acquisition

The study of metaphor has a very long history. Traditionally, metaphor, as a linguistic phenomenon and a feature of language, is viewed as a decorative addition to language which is used in poetry or other literary works. Due to a deviant language phenomenon, the research of metaphor was once ignored. While with the multi-disciplinary development of metaphor in the recent decades, its meaning has been broadened. Metaphor is not only a matter of language, but one of the basic cognitive mechanisms, so it now attracts a great deal of attention from the linguists. The Conceptual Metaphor Theory, posed by Lakoff & Johnson, is a systematic and influential theory. They claim that conceptual metaphor, using experiences of one conceptual domain to express experiences of another domain, is a universal phenomenon in human language, in terms of which we both think and act. In this way, people communicate with each other and experience the world around. Lakoff, Johnson and Turner (1980,1987,1988) state that about 70%of our everyday language is metaphorical and the human language is metaphorical in nature. Closely connected with human's cognition, conceptual metaphor provides reasonable explanations for language innovation as well as development, and offers a new angle for English vocabulary acquisition.Vocabulary plays an essential role in foreign language learning. As a core part of language learning, vocabulary acquisition should be stuck to all the way through the process of English learning. Nowadays many non-English majors complain that a lot of time has been spent on English vocabulary, but little has been gained. How to tackle this problem? Scholars at home and abroad think that metaphor is an important process of expanding word meanings and English vocabulary evolves from the basic ones. Therefore, after learners have mastered some basic vocabulary, they can learn about some knowledge of conceptual metaphor and are able to infer word meanings in a metaphorical cognitive way. In the process of metaphor, English thinking can be developed and the efficiency in vocabulary acquisition can be improved as well. This could be a promising exploration. After the introduction of conceptual metaphor's definition, working mechanism, classification and so on, the research aims at testifying whether the application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory to college English acquisition can facilitate vocabulary learning. The author carries out an experiment for about a month in two classes from Gannan Teachers' College, the result of which indicates that college English teaching and learning combined with knowledge of conceptual metaphor can facilitate learners' retention of words and improve their ability in vocabulary extension.