A Study Of The Correlation Between Metaphoric Competence And Different Genres’ English Reading Proficiency In Senior High School

Cognitive theory points out that metaphor is not only a linguistic phenomenon, but a way that we think and act. Conceptual metaphor theory reveals the correlation between metaphor, language and cognition. Therefore, metaphors play a significant part in language learning. Metaphoric competence as the third competence functions as a supplement for linguistic competence and communicative competence. The two major features of metaphoric competence: analogical reasoning and divergent thinking are regarded as essential ways of everyday problem-solving, especially of language learning. Although the metaphoric competence is important, the studies on it are not comprehensive. Few studies on the correlation between metaphoric competence and reading proficiency have been conducted, especially related to reading genres.This study focuses on the correlation between senior high school students’ metaphoric competence and different genres’ English reading proficiency. There are totally eighty-eight senior high students taking part in the test. The instruments include the metaphoric competence test adopted from Littlemore’s metaphoric competence test and the reading proficiency test chosen from the college entrance examinations consisting of four reading genres, and there are some metaphoric expressions in the reading materials. The former is used to test the students’ metaphoric competence and the latter is to measure the students’ reading proficiency. And the data of tests are analyzed by SPSS 16.0. According to the tests’ results, the main findings are as follows:(1) The senior high school students’ metaphoric competence is in a lower level and the students’ reading proficiency is not satisfactory.(2) The subjects’ metaphoric competence and their reading proficiency positively correlates with each other significantly, which means that the students’ reading proficiency has a close relation with their metaphoric competence.(3) The correlation between metaphoric competence and reading proficiency of different genres is different. Metaphoric competence has closer correlation with argumentation and exposition.The study provides some pedagogical implications on senior high school students’ English reading. Teachers should cultivate students’ metaphoric awareness and then enhance students’ metaphoric competence. Students should put the metaphoric knowledge into their reading study and then improve their English reading proficiency.