Exploring The Effect Of Functional Geometric Approach On Chinese EFL Learners' Acquisition Of English Spatial Prepositions

English spatial preposition learning has not received due attention in China. Teachers usually take usages of English spatial prepositions as idiomatic usages and require learners to learn by rote. But this collocational approach has led to heavy load of memorization. Functional geometric approach (F-G approach for short) in spatial cognition may address this issue. Findings of F-G approach show that besides geometric factors, function of Ground (prepositional object) also influences the choice of English spatial preposition. Focusing on usages of in and on which are equivalent to"X +shang"in Chinese, the present study intends to investigate the effect of F-G approach on Chinese EFL learners'acquisition of English spatial prepositions with an experiment on learners trained with collocational and F-G approach. Learners exposed to treatment of F-G approach are hypothesized to have better understanding of usages of in and on and show higher tendency to use in and on correctly in a new language situation.Considering that F-G approach is too abstract for ordinary learners, the author makes a detailed analysis of usages of in and on with F-G approach and compares them with shang. The analysis reveals that the classification of Ground's function in English is finer than that in Chinese. As for in and on, the concepts of container and supporting surface are carefully distinguished, while Chinese emphasizes more on contrast between shang and xia, and between li and wai. Since it only takes Ground as a reference point, detailed features of Ground are usually ignored.Two groups of subjects with similar spatial preposition proficiency were treated with collocational and F-G approach respectively. One week later, they took a blank- filling post-test consisted of two parts, which was designed to testify two hypotheses respectively. The independent t-test performed on average scores revealed significant difference for part one, but not for part two. The possible reason for the null effect in part two was that there were too few items in part two. The present study shows that F-G approach can assist Chinese EFL learners with their understanding of English spatial prepositions. It remains unsolved whether F-G approach can help them use spatial prepositions in new language situation.