A Study On The Teaching Of English Verb-Particle Constructions In Senior High School Based On The Image Schema

The verb-particle construction,also known as phrasal verb,is composed of verbs and particles(prepositions or adverbs).It is an important part of senior high school students’ English learning content.And it often appears as a test point in the examinations such as the College Entrance Examination,which affects students’test results.However,due to its flexibility and polysemy,it has always been one of the difficulties for students to master.Translation,analogy and examples are usually adopted for the traditional teaching methods of verb-particle constructions.Most of the time,students can only memorize their meanings mechanically,which causes the negative teaching effect.In order to improve the present situation,the author introduces the image schema into the teaching of verb-particle constructions,trying to enhance the teaching effect and answer the following research questions:1.What influence does the teaching method based on the image schema exert on the learning of English verb-particle constructions in senior high school?2.What’s senior high school students’attitude towards the teaching of English verb-particle constructions based on the image schema?The study combines quantitative research with qualitative research.Firstly,this study conducts a teaching experiment and undertakes a comparison between the results of the pre-test and the post-test.The author selects two parallel classes in Grade one from Long Cheng senior high school in Longgang district,Shenzhen,as the control group and the experimental group respectively.The number of students in each class is 43,that is,the total number of participants is 86.The gender ratio is similar and the average age is 17 years old.During the 16-week(2018-2-26----2018-6-22)experiment,one lesson was picked out every week for the teaching of verb-particle constructions The control group adopted the traditional teaching method and the experimental group adopted the teaching method based on the image schema.After the teaching experiment,a questionnaire was carried out to investigate students’ attitude towards the teaching of verb-particle constructions based on the image schema in experimental group.Later,15 students from the experimental group received the semi-structured interview conducted by the author for further qualitative research in order to find out the specific reasons supporting the quantitative research results and to explore students’ suggestions for future implementation of the verb-particle constructions teaching method based on the image schema.After the collection of experimental data,the author uses SPSS 20.0 software to test the significance of the experimental results by using independent sample t tests and paired sample t tests.In addition,the qualitative research and analysis software NVivo 10 is used to analyze qualitative data.Through a 16-week teaching experiment,the author obtains the following results:1.The verb-particle constructions teaching method based on the image schema significantly improves students’ scores of the verb-particle constructions in senior high school.2.Students in senior high school hold a positive attitude towards the verb-particle constructions teaching method based on the image schema.Most of them believe that this teaching method can promote their English learning,and put forward specific implementation suggestions such as presenting more examples,grouping cooperative learning in class,organizing teaching games and so on.