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TEFL In China: The Effects Of Teaching Metaphor On Learners' Vocabulary Learning Strategies And Thinking Modes

Posted on:2007-10-15Degree:DoctorType:Dissertation
Country:ChinaCandidate:H G WangFull Text:PDF
GTID:1115360182498190Subject:English Language and Literature
Abstract/Summary:PDF Full Text Request
This research sets out to make an exploratory study of the effects of teachingmetaphor on university-level Chinese EFL learners' vocabulary learning strategies andthinking modes, especially as these relate to learners' divergent thinking skills (DTS).The research offers an approach to teaching Chinese EFL learners that leads themaway from dependency on their age-old preference for rote learning (RL) to learningby high-order thinking modes. Based on the literature (e.g. Gu & Johnson, 1996),there is a widely held belief that Chinese EFL learners rely on RL, especially forvocabulary learning, and that they are, in general, passive learners. RL can be positive,especially at the beginning level of EFL learning. However, at the higher level oflearning, i.e. in higher education, the negative effects of RL far outweigh its positiveones.Surprisingly, researches on the cognitive styles of Chinese EFL learners (e.g. G. L.Nelson, 1995) suggest that Chinese learners are generally inclined to be globallearners, that is, to learn by relational thinking more than by analytical thinking. Fewresearchers have ever attempted to deal with this apparent paradox: Chinese learnersare global learners but are traditionally taught through rote-learning. The researchintends, to some degree, to explore the likely causes of this paradox and to proposeways to resolve it.The issue of thinking modes in TEFL research and teaching has long been neglectedby researchers. Yet, thinking defines us. In view of FL teaching and learning, allactivities, without exception, involve some type(s) of thinking. In other words,thinking underpins learning and therefore, the issue of thinking should not and cannotbe ignored. Given the inner-relatedness between metaphor and divergent thinkingskills, the researcher examines this elusive issue called thinking, to be exact, the issueof the cultivation of divergent thinking skills in university-level Chinese learners ofEFL.The main hypothesis of this research is that teaching metaphor to Chineseuniversity-level EFL learners will make them less dependent on RL, improve theirmetaphoric competence and facilitate the cultivation of their divergent thinking skills.Grounded in this hypothesis, four specific research questions are raised:(1) Will teaching metaphor to EFL learners significantly change their vocabularylearning strategies?(2) Will teaching metaphor to EFL learners significantly improve their acquisition of'advanced vocabulary usages' (polysemes, idioms and proverbs)?(3) Will teaching metaphor to EFL learners significantly improve their metaphoriccompetence?(4) Will teaching metaphor to EFL learners significantly improve their divergentthinking skills?Four null hypotheses (NHs) based on the above four research questions are putforward:NH1: There is no significant difference in vocabulary learning strategies betweenstudents who are explicitly taught how to deal with metaphor and students whoare not taught.NH2: There is no significant difference in the acquisition of polysemes, idioms andproverbs between students who are explicitly taught how to deal with metaphorand students who are not.NH3: There is no significant difference in metaphoric competence between studentswho are explicitly taught how to deal with metaphor and students who are not.NH4: There is no significant difference in divergent thinking skills between studentswho are explicitly taught how to deal with metaphor and students who are not.The aims of the research are: (1) to explore the historical background to Chinese EFLlearners' preference for RL strategies, focusing on the negative effects of RL withregard to learner empowerment and the aim of developing autonomous learners at thelevel of higher education;(2) to propose a learner-centred, thinking-based approach toTEFL for college-level Chinese EFL learners by introducing metaphor into TEFL;(3)to conduct the teaching experiment to investigate and answer the questions andhypotheses of the proposed approach;(4) to offer insights to EFL teachers/researcherswho are interested in Chinese EFL learners' learning strategies and memorystrategies.The data for the research was mainly obtained through three instruments ---questionnaires, vocabulary tests and think-aloud procedures. The subjects were 60Chinese learners of English in the English Department of Shenyang University ofTechnology (SUT), Shenyang, China, 30 of which constituted the experimental group(EG) and the others, the control group (CG). The collected data from the instrumentswas given descriptive and interpretive analyses, based primarily on the results of theSPSS statistical program.The main hypothesis of the research has been supported by the results of bothquantitative and qualitative data analyses. The findings of the research indicate thatsubjects in both EG and CG hold positive beliefs about RL in EFL vocabularylearning, prior to the intervention (the teaching of metaphor to the EG). However,after the intervention, the subjects in EG changed their beliefs about RL significantlywhile the subjects' beliefs in CG remained almost the same as before the intervention.The results also suggest that there is a significant difference in memory strategiespreferences between the learners who hold positive beliefs and those who holdnegative beliefs about RL.The findings of the research also indicate that prior to the intervention, the subjects inboth groups shared a lot in common in their acquisition of polysemes, idioms andproverbs, and in their overall metaphoric competence and in their divergent thinkingskills. After the intervention, statistically significant differences arose with regard tothese three aspects among the subjects in EG when compared with subjects in CG.Based on the results of the data analyses, it is concluded that the four null hypothesescan safely be rejected and that the main hypothesis together with its four specificresearch questions have all received positive support.
Keywords/Search Tags:TEFL in China, Metaphor, Vocabulary Learning Strategies, Thinking Modes
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