The Application Of Conceptual Metaphor Theory In The Teaching Of College English Reading

It is well known that the teaching of reading is the core content and plays predominant role in the whole English teaching. But for quite a long time, we haven't harvested satisfactory results both in the teaching and learning of reading. A scientific and effective theory is urgently needed to guide and break this problem which bothers the teaching of reading. According to Lakoff and Johnson's conceptual metaphor theory, metaphor is not just a language phenomenon or rhetoric instrument in literary works, fundamentally speaking, metaphor is human being's cognitive tool and way of thinking with universal existence in human's thinking and action. If college English teachers could give the students some effective guidance on the conceptual metaphorical competence, we will be able to improve the students' metaphorical awareness, thus improving the students' reading comprehension ability, thus making conceptual metaphors play its deserved role in the whole the teaching of college English reading. The paper makes empirical research on the application of conceptual metaphor theory into college English the teaching of reading and the impact on non-English major college students.This study firstly introduces relevant knowledge about conceptual metaphor theory and also makes a brief flashback to the previous studies in this field. And then the author classifies and explains the different kinds of conceptual metaphors occurred in New Horizon College English. Based on the detailed examples, it is proved that metaphor can be seen universally in the textbooks. Students'metaphorical awareness and reading proficiency can be improved with the combination of conceptual metaphor theory. A one-semester-long experiment is hence made on this hypothesis, focusing on the practice of conceptual metaphor theory applied in English the teaching of reading. The subjects,60 sophomores from a third batch college in Nanjing, were classified into two classes. For experimental class, relevant conceptual metaphor knowledge was introduced in class and the teaching materials were arranged according to conceptual metaphors while the control class was taught by traditional method and the teaching materials were designed according to the topics in the texts. Pretest, immediate rest and one-week delayed test were adopted to test the immediate and retentive effect that the application of conceptual metaphor theory played on student'reading ability.Based on the data analysis, the following conclusions are arrived:(1) The introduction of conceptual metaphor theory can stimulate student's exploration desire and curiosity;(2) metaphorical awareness and metaphorical ability should be cultivated with long time's devotion and cannot be improved overnight;(3) metaphorical awareness is closely interrelated with reading proficiency. Relatively speaking, the stronger the metaphorical awareness is, the better the reading proficiency is.In a word, according to the experiment, the author expect to provide certain references for future's application of conceptual metaphor theory into college English the teaching of reading and effectively improve the teachers'teaching result and students'reading ability.