The Application Of Conceptual Metaphor Theory In English Teaching And Learning

Comparatively speaking, Conceptual Metaphor Theory advanced by Lakoff and Johnson is a systematic and complete theory of metaphor. This theory revolves around the relationship of metaphor, language and cognition. Metaphor is a basic human thinking way or cognitive process and it is pervasive throughout everyday language structuring not only how we talk, but also how we think and act, and most of our ordinary conceptual system is metaphorical in nature. The core of Conceptual Metaphor Theory is that metaphor is a cognitive process of understanding one thing in one domain with experience of another thing in another domain. Language is a product of human cognition, and metaphor is a cognition tool. Based on Lakoff and Johnson's theory, the author of this thesis believes it is of great importance and necessity to study the role of metaphor, especially conceptual metaphor, in foreign language teaching and learning.The author first makes a brief introduction of Conceptual Metaphor Theory, including its formation, its definition of conceptual metaphor and its limitations, then in the subsequent parts discusses the cognitive nature of metaphor, the working mechanism of metaphor, the classification of metaphor, the features and functions of metaphor, and the development of Conceptual Metaphor Theory in the applied field of language teaching: conceptual fluency and metaphoric competence. In view of the limitation of Lakoff's theory on cross-cultural study, and especially its inadequate application in English teaching and learning in China bearing cross-cultural characteristics, the author makes a comparison of conceptual metaphors and their linguistic representations in English and Chinese. Since the close relationship of metaphor, language and cognition has made the similarities and differences between English and Chinese expectable, the author is devoted to making the comparison systematic by following the three types of conceptual metaphors classified by Lakoff: structural metaphors, ontological metaphors and orientational metaphors, aiming to prove that it is a practical and feasible way to teach English culture through metaphor. Based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the comparison between English and Chinese in terms of conceptual metaphors, the author devises some methods to apply the Conceptual Metaphor Theory to English teaching and learning in three aspects: vocabulary teaching, culture teaching and English reading comprehension teaching. In vocabulary teaching, we can use metaphor to explain the expansion and extension of meanings, to identify idioms conveying similar meanings. In culture teaching, we can either explain cultural points under each language point, or reveal the cultural system of English-speaking peoples by analyzing a conceptual metaphor, its submetaphors and their linguistic representations. In reading comprehension teaching, we can adopt a top-down way to grasp the main idea of an English reading and further acquire knowledge of a certain field, instead of the traditional bottom-up way which centers on isolated language points like words and grammar.