Conceptual Metaphor And College English Vocabulary Teaching

Metaphor, as a cognition tool of the human beings, is proved to be beneficial in the foreign language teaching; it can especially facilitate the vocabulary teaching and learning. But still it is worth doing much more research on what the metaphor application can contribute to the second language vocabulary teaching and learning in China.This thesis firstly offers a systematic overview of Conceptual Metaphor Theory. Secondly, based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and linguistic evidence, it further reveals the specific significance of metaphor in improving the learning of polysemic words, cultural implications, idiomatic expressions and words in the same semantic field. In addition, an experimental study is involved to measure the effect of cognitive semantic approach to the College English vocabulary teaching in class. The result shows that the introduction of metaphor to College English vocabulary teaching can improve the current English language teaching and it turns the previous dull teacher-centered classroom activity into student-centered teaching methodology. Nevertheless, it takes time for Chinese students to acquire metaphor awareness and teaching English vocabulary through metaphor is not meant as a substitute for any established vocabulary teaching methods, rather, it is a complementary technique that can be integrated with various other approaches.To be brief, vocabulary teaching is a long-term and complicated"project". It not only needs the patience of English teachers and enthusiasm of students but also needs accurate guidance of linguistic theories. We are expected to improve vocabulary teaching with the incorporation of conceptual metaphor.