An Application Of Conceptual Metaphor In English Vocabulary Acquisition

This paper reviews the theory of conceptual metaphor and explores its application to vocabulary acquisition. Conceptual metaphor, first extensively explored by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson is a systematic cognitive model and metaphorical process of thinking that lies behind much of everyday language and structures the conceptual system. Its essence is to understand or experience one thing in terms of another. So enhancing awareness of conceptual metaphors embedded in the individual words may help second language students to learn vocabulary. This study examined whether enhancing awareness of orientational metaphors of particles facilitates acquisition of words by Chinese English as a foreign language (EFL) students.This dissertation consists of six parts. After a brief introduction in the first part, the second chapter introduces the historical development of vocabulary acquisition in China and analyzes the difficulties in present vocabulary teaching and learning. In the third chapter, the author attempts to analyze the theory of conceptual metaphor, including the definition of metaphor and its classification. The fourth chapter sums up the relationship between metaphor and vocabulary acquisition and puts forward application of conceptual metaphor to vocabulary acquisition. The fifth chapter provides two experiments of the application. One is the teaching of polysemous words:the other is the teaching of figurative idioms. Mechanism of metaphor can give a good explanation to the extension of the word meaning. When students use polysemous words or figurative idioms, they have to pay attention to the metaphorical relationships between different meanings. Students need to comprehend synthetically all metaphorical concepts related to one subject and words and expressions related to one metaphorical concept, so that they can use metaphorical expressions flexibly. The results of experiments are analyzed with a view to identifying variables in the efficacy of pedagogy and providing steps towards concrete classroom applications.