A Correlation Study On Breadth And Depth Of Vocabulary Knowledge And Metaphorical Comprehension Competence Of L2 Learners

Metaphorical competence,following Hymes' concept of communicative competence,is an important ability of language learners.Danesi(1986)claims that metaphoric competence is a major component of what he terms "conceptual fluency".Metaphorical reasoning is based on concepts and reflection on concepts of encoded knowledge.With practice,learners can approach the level of native speakers.He proposes that learning a language involves a decoding capability in addition to being able to use the target language for processing information in the conceptual system related to figurative language:this is called "conceptual metaphoric competence".The ability to produce and comprehend metaphor is essential in L2 learning,as metaphor can be used to extend thought,compel attention,and clarify ideas.The use of metaphor also enables language learners to express their creativity and originality of thought.However,it was pointed out that few studies are concerned with metaphorical competence of bilingual learners and its impact on the multi-competence of second language learners.The current research project aims to study metaphorical competence following previous investigations.This paper centers on the English metaphor comprehension of English major students and whether it is significantly related to the overall English proficiency.The tools were borrowed from Metaphor Comprehension Test in research of WEI Yaozhang(2007)and SHI Jinfang(2012),the overall English proficiency was measured based on the TEM-4 score,and further explored the relationship between breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge(which can effectively predict the comprehensive ability of language)and metaphorical comprehension competence.The collected data was processed using social science statistical software SPSS 19.0.The results show that(1)there is a significant positive correlation between overall English language proficiency and metaphor comprehension competence,which indicates that the learners' English language level is closely related to their ability to understand metaphors,consistent with previous studies;(2)there exists a significant difference in breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge in the metaphor comprehension.The vocabulary breadth knowledge is significantly correlated with students' metaphor comprehension competence,as well as the depth knowledge of vocabulary;(3)the result of metaphor comprehension shows a low level distribution statistically,indicating that the metaphor competence of students is not generally high and the development is limited.Metaphorical mechanism plays an important role in the continuous development of L2 vocabulary system.Metaphor is an important means to fully understand the meaning and usage of a word in the process of language development.It can be seen that the expansion of English vocabulary breadth has a great effect on the development of learners' metaphorical competence,while the lag development of the depth of vocabulary knowledge has a certain relation with the lack of metaphorical competence.As the previous study shows,the formation of metaphorical competence is an important symbol of successful construction of L2 vocabulary cognition system.Therefore,as the knowledge of lexical breadth expands,we should pay more attention to the cultivation of students' metaphorical competence,which may be of great help for the development of depth of vocabulary knowledge.The results of this study provide some useful suggestions for the development of metaphorical competence as well as the construction of vocabulary cognition system of L2 learners.