A Corpus-based Study On The Use Of Metaphors By Chinese English Majors In Their English Writing

The present study draws hint from the studies abroad and takes the initiative to apply the corpus-based method to detect metaphor use (production) in English writing by Chinese English majors.This study attempts to answer the following four questions:1. What is the average rate of metaphor use in the writing by Chinese English majors?2. How does metaphor use in the writing by Chinese English majors vary across four grades?a. What is the average rate of metaphor use in each grade?b. How does the use of open-class metaphor and closed-class metaphor vary across four grades?c. How do the five most frequently used metaphors vary across four grades?3. How does metaphor use in the writing by Chinese English majors vary across three genres (argumentation, narration and exposition)?a. What is the average rate of metaphor use in each genre?b. How does the use of open-class metaphor and closed-class metaphor vary across three genres?c. How do the five most frequently used metaphors vary across three genres?4. What is the rate of metaphor errors in the writing by Chinese English majors?The data used in this study were 366 English compositions (104,042 words in total) chosen from the SWECCL (Spoken and Written English Corpus of Chinese Learners). The 366 texts fall into three genres, argumentation, exposition and narration, and were written by English majors from four grades.The metaphors used in these compositions were identified mainly according to Pragglejaz Group’s MIP (Metaphor Identification Procedure). Littlemore’s classification of open-class metaphor and closed-class metaphor was also adopted. Wordsmith Tools was used to find the frequencies of metaphors. SPSS was used for the statistical analysis.After detailed analysis, the following findings were generated:1. Chinese English majors were still at a preliminary level when it comes to metaphor use in English writing. They produced a quite limited number of metaphors in English writing with an average of 8.63 metaphors per 100 words.2. Such two variables as grade and composition genre were both correlated with the rate of metaphors used in English writing. Generally speaking, metaphor use increased steadily with grades. With regard to the three genres, metaphor use increased significantly from narration to exposition and from exposition to argumentation.3. Open-class metaphors conspicuously outnumbered closed-class metaphors across four grades and in three diverse genres. In addition, the use of both open-class and closed-class metaphors corresponded to the overall trend of metaphor use across four grades and in three genres.4. Verbs and prepositions substantially outnumber any other word class as the most frequently used open-class metaphors and closed-class metaphors in whichever grades or composition genres.5. The rate of metaphor errors decreased with grades but rose from narration to argumentation and from argumentation to exposition. Besides, metaphors of inappropriate collocations, prepositional phrases in particular, account for the largest proportion (68.5%) in the two types of metaphor errors.The present study has the following implications.Theoretically, the present study provided a modified method of metaphor identification. The modified metaphor identification method may be helpful for future research.Pedagogically, the research findings shed light on the enrichment of the scoring criteria on English writing. For instance, when it comes to narration and exposition writing, the quantity as well as the types of metaphor use may also be taken into account as one of the grading criteria.Besides, teachers are advised to cultivate learners’ metaphor awareness so as to boost second language metaphoric competence because metaphoric competence is an important part of second language competence.