Application Of Conceptual Metaphor In English Idioms Teaching

Idioms are important parts of language and culture, which attracts more and moreattention in foreign language teaching and research. In recent years, lots of research hasbeen done from the perspective of conceptual metaphor. However, most of them havefocused on comprehension and retention of idioms and few on acquisition and usage.Based on conceptual metaphor theory, the present study adopts empirical approach todemonstrate the effects of conceptual metaphor on the use of idioms. The researchquestions are as follows:(1)Whether the application of conceptual metaphor can better facilitate learners’idioms acquisition, compared with the traditional method?(2)Whether the application of conceptual metaphor can help learners to make bettermemory effects, compared with the traditional method?(3)Whether the application of conceptual metaphor can foster learners’ metaphorawareness and enhance their metaphoric competence?The participants in the study were students majoring in Information Management andInformation System in their second-year study enrolled in Shandong University of Financeand Economics. They were divided into two groups: the control group and theexperimental group. The research procedure was:10selected idioms were taught to theexperimental group and the control group with different methods; both groups took theimmediate test at the end of instruction and the delayed test three months later. The datafrom the study were analyzed with Independent Sample T-test and Paired Sample T-test,the major findings were presented:(1)The application of conceptual metaphor can better facilitate idioms acquisition;(2)The experimental group has got higher scores than the control group in the delayedtest;(3)Metaphoric competence of learners in the experimental group has been enhancedmuch more than that in the control group.The study has both theoretical and practical significance. Theoretically, the input ofconceptual metaphor can deepen learners’ understanding of English idioms, facilitate their idioms acquisition and usage, and then foster their metaphor awareness and enhancemetaphoric competence. Practically, the study provides a new perspective for Englishidioms understanding and learning, and has an important enlightenment in further teachingand learning.