Apply Theory Of Conceptual Metonymy To College English Reading Class: An Experimental Study

Reading is one of the most important means of obtaining information and English reading is a major aspect of English language teaching. Many Chinese students find it hard to do English reading comprehension or read English articles even after years of learning. It is claimed by some linguists that students'interest in English will be aroused and their English reading proficiency will be improved significantly as their metonymic competence is well developed. This thesis sets out to apply the theory of conceptual metonymy to the practice of college English reading instruction in order to test the validity of Wei's hypothesis. Meanwhile the project attempts to explore the way of designing English reading instruction with the assistance of the theory of cognitive linguistics in order to improve the effectiveness of the classroom teaching of reading.This project is basically a quasi-experimental research. The thesis which is based on the theory of conceptual metonymy in the framework of cognitive linguistics, adopts a combination of quantitative analysis and qualitative analysis.The major findings of the study include the following aspects:1) By introducing theory of conceptual metonymy, students'internal interest in English has been aroused and motivation of learning English has been promoted.2) After the instruction of conceptual metonymy in reading class, students'awareness of metonymy has been raised and they become active readers. Furthermore, their metonymic competence has been promoted largely.3) Students'interest being aroused and their metonymic competence being promoted have had some positive effects on improving students'reading proficiency. From the analysis of the post-test for reading comprehension, we find students in experimental group have made significant progress compared with their pre-test.4) Analysis of the result of this experiment indicates that it is feasible to combine the traditional method of reading instruction with the way under the guidance of cognitive linguistics, specifically, to apply theory of conceptual metonymy to college English reading class in this study.This research has provided evidence that it is feasible to apply cognitive theories to ESL class. It may enrich the range of applied research in the area of reading instruction in terms of cognitive linguistics. The experimental teaching procedures and activities of applying conceptual metonymy to reading class may provide experiences for EFL teachers with the methods of how to arouse students'interest and promote their motivation in English learning with the aid of cognitive theories.