An Application Of Image-Schema-Based Instruction To English Prepositions Teaching In Senior High School

English prepositions are polysemous words.Traditional way of preposition teaching resorts to presenting all the senses of prepositions with corresponding examples.The meanings of prepositions taught through translation-based instruction are scattered and uncorrelated.Therefore,it is arduous for learners to master English prepositions through rote learning.The image-schema-based instruction refers to a new form of vocabulary instruction.Different from traditional translation-based instruction,image-schema-based instruction provides students with schematic representation for the senses of prepositions,attaching scaffolding to students for a deep processing of the target prepositions in learning.Meanings of English prepositions are intuitively presented through image schema and thus the inner relations among all the senses can be comprehended more easily.The present study aims to investigate the effects of image-schema-based instruction on preposition learning for senior high school students.One hundred participants from one senior high school in Xi’an were chosen and randomly assigned to an experimental group and a control group.According to the scores of participants’end-term examination and the pre-test,it can be found that there was no significant differences between the two groups.Preposition on and over were the target words instructed for participants in the two groups with different teaching methodologies.Students in the experimental group were taught by image-schema-based instruction on English prepositions while the control group received a treatment of translation-based instruction.After eight week’s teaching experiment,participants had an immediate post-test in order to explore the immediate effect of the image-schema-based instruction on English preposition teaching in senior high school.Moreover,a delayed post-test was conducted one month later to investigate the delayed effect of the image-schema-based instruction on English preposition teaching.In addition,a corresponding questionnaire survey was administered right after the immediate post-test to find out the students’ attitude towards image-schema-based instruction.The data of the tests were analyzed vertically and horizontally through Independent Samples t-Test and Paired Samples t-Test.Factor analysis and frequency statistics were adopted to analyze the results of the questionnaire.The major findings of the current study can be seen as follows:(1)After teaching experiment,students in both groups have made progress in preposition learning.However,image-schema-based instruction was proved to be more effective in teaching of target English prepositions than the translation-based method according to the students’ performance in immediate post-test scores and delayed post-test scores.Students who received the instruction based on the image schema theory have a better comprehending of the inner relations among semantics of English prepositions.(2)Image-schema-based instruction on English preposition teaching in senior high school has obvious and positive delayed effects.Image-schema-based instruction help learners retain the senses of preposition for a long period of time compared with the translation-based instruction.Accordingly,students’ retention of English prepositions has been enhanced.(3)Students who received the image-schema-based instruction on English preposition learning hold positive attitude towards this new form of instruction.Most of them perceive that image-schema-based instruction can be popularized and used for teaching other polysemous words.