A Study On The Application Of Cognitive Metaphor To English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High Schools

Since vocabulary is the basis of language learning,we should at first solve the teaching and learning problems with vocabulary in the process of language acquisition.Nowadays,most English learners still follow the traditional vocabulary learning methods:They memorize the speech sounds,forms and meanings of words mechanically.On one hand,students who are in the acquisition of new words follow no rules or mechanism in memorizing words;on the other hand,teachers ignore the cognitive cultivation of students' vocabulary acquisition in the process of vocabulary teaching.At present,there are few theoretical and practical researches on the aspect of cognitive metaphor.So it is helpful for students to learn English from the cognitive aspect of metaphor.Cognitive metaphor is taken as the starting point to research how to apply cognitive metaphor in vocabulary teaching.This study is to cultivate students' sensibility of metaphor,comprehension of words and expressions,so as to improve their abilities of comprehensive using of the second language.The cognitive metaphor,which leads learners to experience specific and simple things,explores abstract and complex things.Under the guidance of cognitive metaphor,learners understand the metaphor of vocabulary from various levels.Therefore,this study proposes a hypothesis that metaphor can be applied in enhancing students' metaphorical competence and vocabulary level.Based on the researches of learners' exam scores and teaching modes,this study puts forward the following research questions:1.What is the impact of teaching cognitive metaphor on the learners' metaphorical competence?2.What is correlation between cognitive metaphor and students' vocabulary level?This study systematically elaborates the application of domestic and foreign theories of metaphor in vocabulary learning.Then,after analyzing the evolution and function of metaphorical words,this thesis explores the characteristics,classification,working mechanism and lexical relations in metaphor.Experiments are conducted to show some problems that exist in the comprehension and application of vocabulary.SPSS 20.0 software is used to do a T-test when this study finishes conducting data collection of pre-tests and post-tests in the Experimental Class and the Control Class.At last,this research comes to the conclusion that using cognitive metaphor to guide the vocabulary learning makes students enhance their metaphorical competence and vocabulary level.In the process of vocabulary acquisition,students are guided to learn some metaphorical vocabulary learning methods,such as polysemant,idiom,culture connotation and connective memorizing method.In order to make students improve their metaphorical competence and vocabulary level,teachers should pay attention to the teaching of basic meaning and polysemy,and they should cultivate students to choose the correct connotation according to the current situation.Since the contrast data of tests proves that the metaphor improves students' ability of vocabulary cognition,teachers should pay more attention to the teaching of basic meanings,polysemy,idioms and culture connotation of vocabulary at first,and then cultivate students to appropriately choose culture connotation from polysemy in a certain culture background.