A Study Of Metaphorical Languages In High School English Textbooks

The metaphor has been widely used in many fields,including philosophy,cognitive science,psychology,and pedagogy.Since the 1980 s,research on metaphorical language in textbooks has attracted the academic interest of many scholars.Many efforts have been made to investigate the metaphorical language in college English textbooks and high school English textbooks.With the recent publication of the new edition of textbooks,studying the metaphorical language in depth based on the new textbooks is still worthwhile.In this thesis,the researcher has investigated the metaphorical language in the General High School English Textbook(People’s Education Edition)and Senior High English Textbook(Yilin Edition)based on the conceptual metaphor theory proposed by Lakoff and Johnson and the textbook evaluation theory proposed by Cunningsworth.Notably,the former version of textbooks is one of the most widely used in many provinces.In contrast,the latter is considered one of the most challenging materials for high school students.The researcher tries to find the answers to the following questions by collecting and analyzing the metaphorical language on the first three volumes:(1)What numbers and types of metaphors are in the textbook according to Lakoff and Johnson’s classification theory? What is the distribution? Is there a certain trend from volume one to volume three?(2)What are the similarities and differences of metaphors in the two textbooks?(3)Are there any materials that can be used to conduct ideological and political education? If any,how to conduct it with the help of metaphors?The research procedure was as follows: firstly,the researcher read through all the articles to grasp the main idea.Secondly,the researcher identified the metaphorical language in the textbooks with the criterion of Metaphor Identification Procedure.Thirdly,the researcher collected metaphorical language and conducted qualitative and quantitative analyses.The following conclusions were drawn:(1)In terms of the total number,the metaphorical language in the Senior High English Textbook(Yilin Edition)is far more than that in the General High School English Textbook(People’s Education Edition),probably because the former,as the textbook for the highly educated regions in China,is more concerned with authenticity while the latter focuses more on normative.In terms of metaphor categories,the number of ontological metaphors is the largest,followed by structural metaphors and orientational metaphors.From volume one to volume three,there is no obvious upward or downward trend in the two sets of textbooks.(2)From volume one to volume three,the number of metaphors in the Senior High English Textbook(Yilin Edition)tends to decrease and then increase.The number of metaphors in the General High School English Textbook(People’s Education Edition)shares the same characteristic.The point of difference is that the latter is much less volatile.(3)The metaphorical language in the textbooks contains necessary materials for ideological and political education for high school students.Hence,paying attention to the metaphors in the textbooks is essential for ideological and political education.Teachers should conduct ideological and political education with the help of metaphors.It is believed that the findings can make teachers draw attention to metaphors to make some suggestions for teaching English in middle school.