The Applicability Of Conceptual Metaphor In English Writing Processes Of Chinese EFL Learners

Over the past decades, there are a great number of researches on metaphor beyond the limitation of traditional rhetoric. Researchers abroad have made great efforts to explain the omnipresent nature of metaphor. In China, researches on metaphor, though comparatively later, are still on the rise. Researchers, from mere introduction of metaphorical theories begin to try to apply them into various fields. But few systematic researches have been found by the author concerning the relationship between metaphor and English writing.Compared with researches into other language skills, such as listening, speaking and reading, studies on writing, because of its complexity both as a language and a cognitive process, are substantially fewer and later. In the previous decades, despite various teaching approaches being put into use in English writing class, high literalness or nonnative-likeness can still be found in EFL learners'writing tasks. Therefore, the present study, based on the previous researches, focuses on university students'cognitive processes in English writing, attempting to investigate the following groups of correlations: metaphorical competence and English writing ability; nonnative-likeness and metaphorical competence; English writing ability and metaphorical teaching mode.The subjects involved are 50 students in English Department of Sichuan University of Science and Engineering (SUSE) in Zigong, Sichuan Province. This research is composed of two tests before and after the experiment and several intermediate interviews. The statistical analyses employed are descriptive statistics, Pearson's correlation analysis and independent T-test with the assistance of SPSS 13.0.This thesis consists of five chapters: Chapter one is an introduction of both the background and goals of this research. Classical theories and contemporary theories of metaphor along with influential approaches in teaching writing are illustrated in Chapter two. Chapter three reveals the methodology of this research. Results and discussions are put forward in Chapter four. Chapter five wraps up the major findings, implications, and limitations of this research as well as suggestions for further research.