Application Of The Conceptual Metaphor Theory In English Science And Technology Vocabulary Teaching

English Science and Technology Vocabulary are difficult for college students to remember and use in reading and writing. Through so many years of study, thousands of researches have been carried out on English vocabulary teaching and learning. Linguists are studying vocabulary teaching from different perspectives both at home and abroad. In the recent decades of years, linguists tend to study vocabulary teaching from the cognitive perspective. The theory of conceptual metaphor provides us with a new guidance to the research on vocabulary teaching and learning. Its working mechanism-mapping between the source domain and the target domain help the vocabulary learners a lot. The theory has been proved a good way for students to remember and comprehend English vocabulary. However, so far there is no study on conceptual metaphor theory in college English science and technology vocabulary teaching and learning. Thus, inspired by this theory, the author carried out an experimental study-applying the conceptual metaphor theory to science and technology vocabulary teaching.An experimental study is carried out. The study was undertaken to find out whether the knowledge of conceptual metaphor theory can help college students learn English science and technology vocabulary better. Two classes of grade two students are chosen as the subjects of the study. One class is control class; the other is the experimental class. The experimental study lasted for a month, all together six classes. The teacher teaches certain STV to the students of the two classes in different ways. Pre-test and the Questionnaire are taken by the students of the two classes before the experimental study. Post-test I was taken by the students of the two classes'right after the six-lesson teaching process; Post-test II is taken a month later without telling the students in advance. In the control class, English science and technology vocabulary are taught in the traditional way. The teacher shows the meanings and example sentences of the words to the students and then asks them to remember them. In the experimental class, conceptual metaphor theory is taught before teaching the new STV. When teaching new STV, the teacher asks the students to analyze the words with the help of CMT. The result of the three tests and the questionnaire are compared and analyzed with the help of SPSS 17.0. The results show that with the knowledge of CMT, the students in EC do better in the post-test. They are better at memorizing STV after the six classes. This gives certain implications to college English teachers; it is a good way to apply the knowledge of CMT into STV teaching.This thesis consists of five parts. Chapter one is the introduction part. It shows the background, the significance and also the layout of the thesis. Chapter two is literature review. It shows the related researches on conceptual metaphor theory and the use of CMT in English vocabulary teaching and learning both at home and abroad. Chapter three is methodology. It is the research design. It introduces the theoretical basis of the study, and it gives out the research questions, research hypothesis, the subjects of the study and the procedures. Chapter four is the results and discussion part. It shows the analysis and the results of the three tests and the questionnaire done in the experimental study. The results are analyzed with the help of SPSS. Chapter five is the conclusion part; it includes the major findings of the experimental study, the limitations of the thesis and the author also gives out some suggestions for further study. The result of the post-tests shows that this method does help the subjects in EC. The knowledge of CMT helps enhance the subjects'short term and long term memory. Therefore, the application of CMT into STV teaching is proved to be an effective way of teaching.