概念隐喻理论对大学英语词汇教学影响.docx

HIT Graduation Thesis for the MA DegreeAbstractVocabulary plays an important part in English teaching and learning, andvocabulary acquisition goes all the way through the process of English learning.Therefore, students have spent a lot of time and energy in memorizing vocabulary.However, the achievements have been far from satisfying.According to Conceptual Metaphor Theory, metaphor is not only anornamental device used in rhetorical style, but also an indispensable and powerfulcognitive tool for human beings. Metaphor is pervasive in everyday language andplays a central role in semantic change and expansion, so that it bears closerelationship with language acquisition, especially vocabulary acquisition.The present paper is intended as a trial to develop a vocabulary teaching andlearning approach based on Conceptual Metaphor Theory.This paper firstly introduced the related knowledge about ConceptualMetaphor Theory and reviewed the contemporary studies at home and abroadabout vocabulary teaching and learning. This research paper further carried outempirical study concerning verbal phrases, idioms, and proverbs to explorewhether introducing Conceptual Metaphor Theory into TEFL in China cancultivate EFL learners’ metaphorical competence and therefore facilitatevocabulary acquisition.Two intact classes of non-English major freshmen of the same proficiencylevel were chosen as participants in this research with one class as theexperimental class and the other as the control class.The instrument consisted of two copies of teaching materials, one pretestpaper, and two posttest papers. The six weeks’ empirical research was carried outaccording to the following procedure: carrying out pilot study; carrying out pretest-III-HIT Graduation Thesis for the MA Degreeto ensure there was no apparent difference of knowledge about vocabulary andmetaphorical competence between the two classes; instructing of teaching material1 for both classes and carrying out posttest 1 to test whether