An Experimental Study On The Effect Of Conceptual Metaphor Theory Based-Vocabulary Teaching On Senior Students’ English Vocabulary Learning

Metaphor is everywhere in our life.Lakoff and Johnson(1980)argued that metaphor is not only a common means of everyday language and thinking,but also means of understanding the self and the world.It is irreplaceable and we use it subconsciously and automatically.Language consists of three elements,that is,form,sound and meaning.The correct usage of language is closely relative to the vocabulary of the learners,which has an impact on the development of other language skills,like listening,speaking,reading and writing.However,during the language teaching in senior high school,due to the high density and low repetition rate of the vocabulary,the pressure of the college entrance exam,the cultivation of the vocabulary competence is always ignored,which will definitely lead to the depression of the students.During these years,some experts and scholars have been devoted in the studies of vocabulary teaching and have achieved a lot.Since 1970 s,cognitive linguistics has proved that the development of language has a close relation with the cognitive ability of learners.The application of the conceptual metaphor to English vocabulary teaching can reduce the difficulty in learning,promote the understanding and develop the capacity of vocabulary.Therefore,vocabulary learning can not be separated from metaphor.The literature review revealed that the studies on this metaphor based English vocabulary teaching method is mostly applied to the college teaching,but rarely on the senior school teaching.In this context,the author of this thesis attempts to apply metaphor theory to vocabulary teaching in senior school with the experimental research to verify the following two research questions:1.Can the conceptual metaphor theory based vocabulary teaching facilitate the learners’ competence of vocabulary learning?2.If yes,how is the vocabulary learning competence affected?The author carried out a 12-weeks experimental research among 111 students in senior one of Memorial middle school in Huadu District,Guangzhou.All the students were randomly assigned to two groups.In order to meet the needs of the experiment,the author divided the two classes into the experimental group and the control group.The research tools are tests(pre-test and post-test),questionnaire and interview.Before the experiment,the two classes were given a questionnaire to understandthe current situation and methods of learning English vocabulary.Then,two more pre-tests,the regional entrance test and Vocabulary Level Test by Nation,were carried out to see whether the students in different groups have the same English level.After the pre-tests,the same teacher adopted different vocabulary teaching methods in the two groups with the same teaching materials.In the control group,the traditional vocabulary teaching method was used,focusing mainly on the pronunciation,word form and meaning of words,and use of words in sentences and texts.In the experimental group,the concept of metaphor was applied to the teaching of vocabulary,which was gradually made to become the students’ ability of learning.After twelve weeks’ experiment,four post-tests were carried out among students in the two groups respectively,including the final exam and Vocabulary Level Test by Nation,the multiple choice exercise about the understanding of the polysemous words and the reading exercise about the understanding of vocabulary related to cultural connotation.The first two aim to make a better contrast with the pre-tests in the same aspect.The later two(AppendixⅣ&Ⅴ)are added to test if there is any significant difference of the vocabulary learning competence of all the participants in both groups.In addition,there was an interview for the students in the experimental group to see whether the conceptual metaphor had an impact on vocabulary learning.The experimental results showed that in the final examination,the average of experimental group was 101.6,while the control group was about 96.13;in the vocabulary level test,the vocabulary of both groups was improved,but the improvement of the experimental group was more significant;in the post-test related to the understanding of cultural connotations and the polysemous words in the text,the accuracy of the experimental group is higher than that of the control group.All the data indicated that the application of conceptual metaphors has a positive impact on students’ English vocabulary learning,and it brings out some enlightenment to practical teaching.If teachers can understand polysemy and cultural connotation of vocabulary teaching,and consciously use metaphor to guide the students to find out the various senses of the polysemous words and understand the cultural connotation,it will have a multiplier effect on the vocabulary learning.