An Empirical Study On The Application Of Conceptual Metaphor Theory To The Teaching Of English Vocabulary In Senior High Schools

This article mainly studies the application of conceptual metaphor theory to high school English vocabulary teaching.Vocabulary is an important component of human language.However,in English vocabulary teaching,teachers adopted an isolated,one-sided method while explaining the meaning of vocabulary.Many scholars at home and abroad are also trying to find effective ways to improve English vocabulary teaching.For vocabulary learning,it is important to understand the meaning of words.Rational meaning and associative meaning are the basic properties of word meaning.Compared with traditional formalism linguistics,conceptual metaphor theory holds different views on metaphor and considers it as a mode of thinking or cognitive mechanism.The lexical meaning is also extended on this basis.However,there is still a lack of empirical research based on this theory,and further empirical research is needed to expand.Based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory,This study attempts to explore a new vocabulary teaching model in high school teaching practice,strengthen students' understanding of the meaning of vocabulary,and improve the efficiency of students' vocabulary memorization.This paper aims at answering the following questions:(1)What are the effects of the application of Conceptual MetaphorTheory to the teaching of English vocabulary in senior high school on students with different vocabulary levels in learning English vocabulary?(2)What are the effects of the application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory to the teaching of English vocabulary in senior high school on students' long-term and short-term memorization of English vocabulary?Subjects of this empirical study are the students of class 19 and 20 in grade one in a senior high1 school in An Hui province.Some tests are employed including pre-test and the post-test,vocabulary levels test,a questionnaire,interview and experimental methods.Using the factor analysis,reliability analysis,independent sample t-test and paired sample t-test to have data analysis.This study draws the following conclusions:(1)The application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory in vocabulary teaching has an overall promoting effect on students' vocabulary learning at different vocabulary levels.Students with high vocabulary level have the most obvious effect of promoting vocabulary learning,followed by medium level and low level.(2)The application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory in vocabulary teaching has no obvious effect on promoting short-term memory in English vocabulary acquisition,but has a significant effect on promoting long-term memory.This study provides further empirical research for the application ofConceptual Metaphor Theory in high school English vocabulary acquisition.For students,the application of this theory is beneficial to reduce the burden of vocabulary memory of students,and helps students understand and use vocabulary.For teachers,they have gained new implications in improving high school English vocabulary teaching methods.However,due to various reasons,this empirical research has imperfections in the following aspects:(1)the number of empirical research subjects is not enough;(2)the scope of empirical research is small;(3)the number of available words in empirical research is small.In view of the above deficiencies,the scale and scope can be further expanded in subsequent studies.