The Study Of College English Vocabulary Learning Based On Concentual Metaphor Theory

Vocabulary plays an important part in English teaching and learning, and vocabulary acquisition goes all the way through the process of English learning. Therefore, learners have spent a lot of time and energy in memorizing vocabulary. However, the achievements have been far from satisfying. The paper intends to study the English vocabulary learning based on the theory of conceptual metaphor, and put forwards the suggestions for learners in learning English vocabulary effectively. In the book Metaphors We Live By, Lakoff and Johnson (1980) points out that the metaphor is the mapping of one concept from one domain to another which is the mechanism. It facilitates us to understand the abstract concept through concrete concept. According to the relation between the conceptual metaphor and English vocabulary learning, the study proposes two hypotheses:1) The vocabulary learning based on the theory of conceptual metaphor can facilitate the English vocabulary expansion and retention for second language learners;2) The frequency of conceptual metaphor is closely related with the different levels of English materials, and the specific relation is that the more difficult materials contain more expressions of conceptual metaphor. So the metaphor competence of learners plays an important role on their overall ability of the foreign language.The two empirical studies are carried out:the first is the comparison study between the experimental and the control class; the second is to mark the reading passages in the College English textbook to collect the frequency of conceptual metaphor. Finally, all the collected data are processed by the software SPSS16.0and the results all test the above hypotheses. The study also sums up the implications of applying the conceptual metaphor to vocabulary learning from four aspects of polysemy, idiom, cultural implication and words connection. Based on the achievements of other researchers and results of this research, it is hopeful to provide some advice to learners in vocabulary learning.