A Study Of The Effect Of Conceptual Metaphor On English Idiom Acquisition

Idioms are an essential part of English vocabulary. "It was estimated that about 3,000 metaphors and 7, 000 idioms are used by adult native speakers per week" (Cooper, 1999). Therefore, the use of idioms skilfully can make English expressions more authentic and communication more successful. However, idioms are still a notoriously difficult area of foreign language learning and teaching.Idioms have already aroused linguists' curiosity due to their special features and particular functions in language. There is a long history in studies on idioms. Generally speaking, there exist two views on idioms, that is, the traditional view and the cognitive view. Traditionally, idioms are regarded as "dead metaphors" and they are noncompositional in nature, which emphasizes arbitrariness of the meaning of idioms. Linguists who hold this view say that idioms are independent of human conceptual system and they are linguistic in nature. In contrast, cognitive linguistics argues that idioms are compositional and they are conceptual in nature. Idioms are semantically motivated by conceptual metaphor, conceptual metonymy and conventional knowledge and conceptual metaphor is the main semantic motivation of idioms.The conceptual metaphor theory, proposed by Lakoff (1980, 1993), provides a new perspective for the study of idiom acquisition. The findings from Gibbs (1990, 1992) showed that idioms are motivated mainly by conceptual metaphors. Kovecses & Szabo (1996) and Li Fuyin (2003) both empirically demonstrated that conceptual metaphor can facilitate the teachability and learnability of idioms, which have made great contributions to the study of idiom acquisition. In terms of the research design, these studies focus on the positive role of conceptual metaphor in comprehension and retention of idioms or in acquisition of the form and meaning of idioms. Based on the conclusions of the previous studies, the present study attempts to explore the effect of conceptual metaphor on idiom acquisition, especially the use of idioms, through an experimental approach.The hypothesis in this study is that idiom learning with conceptual metaphor based approach can be more effective in facilitating the use of idioms in learners' language output than the traditional approach.48 sophomores of English major from Qufu Normal University were involved in the experiment. They were from two natural classes: one class as the experimental group and the other as the control group, which were assigned to using the conceptual metaphor approach with image schema and mental image as the subsidiary means and the traditional approach respectively. Generally, the whole experiment included pre-test as well as follow-up questionnaire, teaching treatment, and the post-test as well as the follow-up questionnaire. The data were analyzed by descriptive statistics and independent sample t-test. The results showed that the experimental group outperformed the control group in the use of the target idioms. Specifically speaking, the experimental group were more inclined to use the target idioms. Thus, it can be concluded that the conceptual metaphor approach is more effective than the traditional approach in facilitating the use of idioms.The present study, as a supplement to the previous studies, further confirmed that conceptual metaphor plays a positive role in idiom acquisition. Finally, based on the findings of the previous studies and the conclusion of the present study, some pedagogical implications are elaborated. They can be helpful in contributing to teaching idioms. Due to the limitations of the study, further exploration in this respect is necessary.