Cultivation Of Metaphorical Competence For Non-English Majors

The central approach of traditional foreign language teaching in China is to impart knowledge of vocabulary, grammar and other knowledge-oriented information rather than skill-oriented information. Language learners often employ rote learning method which heavily relies on repetition, imitation and memory. Language learners, trained by this model, lack the ability to communicate with others in authentic situation.To solve this problem, cognitive linguists brought forward the concept of metaphorical competence. As far as I am concerned, metaphorical competence refers to the ability to identify, understand both conventional and unconventional metaphors at lexical, grammatical and discoursal level, the ability to produce unconventional metaphors at lexical, grammatical and discoursal level, and the ability to think up a plausible meaning rapidly and under pressure. Metaphor has been studied by scholars for more than two thousand years. In the classical theory, metaphor is viewed as a rhetorical device to achieve stylistic effects and to be used in poetry only. With the development of cognitive linguistics in recent years, metaphor is not merely regarded as a figure of speech, but a figure of thought. Our language, even our conceptual system, in nature is metaphorical. Therefore, the essence of foreign language teaching is the cultivation of language learners' metaphorical competence.This thesis is concerned with the relationship among linguistic competence, communicative competence and metaphorical competence, and the implications of metaphor on foreign language teaching. On the one hand, the improvement of metaphorical competence will enable students to improve their English learning capacity. Therefore, it helps students decide what learning strategies to be utilized in learning English. On the other hand, teachers should make efforts to increase students' awareness of metaphor and use appropriate teaching strategies in their teaching practice. The conclusions from the discussions in the thesis are as follows:a. Linguistic competence, communicative competence and metaphorical competence are three concepts brought forward by different linguists from different perspective. They are interactional, interrelated and complementary.b. A survey was made in order to investigate metaphorical competence of Chinese college students of non-English major. It is revealed that they are not metaphorically competent at metaphor identification, understanding and production.c. To learn a target language requires the learning of target language metaphorical system, which will facilitate learners' foreign language learning. Metaphorical competence should be cultivated in foreign language teaching.d. To cultivate language learners' metaphorical competence requires the learning of metaphor at lexical, grammatical and discoursal level.e. Foreign language teachers should also pay close attention to students' individual differences and their learning styles in the language.This thesis is of both theoretical and practical significance. It may further develop the studies on metaphors, and enrich the metaphorical language teaching theories. Moreover, it may upgrade language learners' ability to acquire native-like conceptual fluency, and further facilitate their foreign language learning.