An Empirical Study Of Conceptual Metaphor In College English Vocabulary Teaching

Conceptual Metaphor Theory believes that metaphor is not only a prevalent language phenomenon but also an indispensable cognition tool to human beings. Lakoff & Johnson posed Conceptual Metaphor Theory and they claim that conceptual metaphor, using experiences of one conceptual domain to express experiences of another domain, is a universal phenomenon in human language, in terms of which we both think and act. A large amount of expressions are closely linked with conceptual metaphors for the similarity of the experience that contributes new insights into foreign language vocabulary teaching.Based on Lakoff’s Conceptual Metaphor Theory, this thesis provides conceptual metaphor an empirical study university level of the effects of teaching on Chinese EFL learners’vocabulary learning. The present study included a pretest, vocabulary instruction, two post-tests. 74 first-year non-English from two classes participated. One class was the experimental group; the other was the control group. The experiment was conducted for two months with the metaphorical approach of teaching English vocabulary in experimental group and a comparison with a traditional way in the control group. Tests were used to gather the data; Paired T-test was employed for statistical analysis. Through the interpretation of the quantitative and qualitative results, the following conclusions can be generated.The thesis has found that Conceptual metaphor-based approach can facilitate the learning of metaphorical expressions and it proves to be an effective and systematic vocabulary learning method. Conceptual metaphor-based approach can produce better results in learners’immediate (short-term) and delayed (long-term) retention and recall of the target vocabulary than traditional learning such as rote learning and repetition etc.In all, basing on the analysis of the results of the experimental study, the researcher gives some suggestions of pedagogical implications for vocabulary teaching in college English classroom. On the whole, teaching English vocabulary through metaphor may conform to the trend of English teaching and learning in the near future; teachers and learners should devote more attention to this area.