A Study On The Correlation Between Metaphoric Competence And Vocabulary Knowledge Of Non-English Majors

Metaphoric competence refers to the ability to match the surface structure of words or sentences with their deep conceptual structure.The academic research on metaphoric competence mainly focuses on its connotation,necessity and teachability in foreign language teaching and its relationship with individual differences.Judging from the current research results,there are few empirical studies on the relationship between metaphoric competence and vocabulary knowledge or just a single dimension of vocabulary knowledge.Therefore,the deep relationship between metaphoric competence and vocabulary knowledge needs to be further explored.In this study,data from 164 valid testing paper is adopted with non-English majors in China University of Petroleum(East China)as the research subjects.And the quantitative methods(descriptive statistical analysis,linear correlation and linear regression analysis)and qualitative method(interview)are comprehensively used.Through the metaphoric competence and vocabulary knowledge tests of non-English majors,this study aims to study the deep relationship between three aspects of metaphoric competence(competence of recognizing,explaining and producing metaphor)and two dimensions of vocabulary knowledge(breadth and depth)to promote vocabulary teaching with the way of cultivating metaphoric competence.Results of this study are as follows.(1)The overall metaphoric competence of non-English majors is at an average level.As for three aspects of metaphoric competence,the competence of recognizing metaphor is at a medium-to-high level and fluency of explaining metaphor is at a medium level,but the creativity of producing metaphor is at a low level.(2)Non-English majors have a medium-to-high level of breadth of vocabulary knowledge,while depth of vocabulary knowledge is at a middle level,and they perform better in breadth of vocabulary knowledge than in depth of vocabulary knowledge.(3)Though metaphoric competence is significantly and positively related to both breadth of vocabulary knowledge and depth of vocabulary knowledge,it is believed to have a closer correlation with depth of vocabulary knowledge than with breadth of vocabulary knowledge.And in terms of the predicting power of metaphoric competence,it is more powerful in predicting depth of vocabulary knowledge than breadth of vocabulary knowledge.(4)From the perspective of the relationship between the three aspects of metaphoric competence and the two dimensions of vocabulary knowledge,competence of recognizing metaphor is more related to and can better predict breadth of vocabulary knowledge;meanwhile,all the three aspects of metaphoric competence are significantly correlated to and powerful in predicting depth of vocabulary knowledge.The findings of this study not only enrich the empirical research on the relationship between metaphoric competence and vocabulary knowledge,but also provide implications for English teaching,especially for the improvement of non-English majors’ vocabulary learning.