词汇的认知研究――隐喻在英语多义词教学中的应用

广西师范大学硕士学位论文词汇的认知研究——隐喻在英语多义词教学中的应用姓名：黄兴运申请学位级别：硕士专业：课程与教学论·英语指导教师：覃修桂20080401v2005200230123478SPSS11.5vi123viiACognitiveStudyofVocabularyTheApplicationofMetaphortoEnglishPolysemyTeachingPostgraduate:HuangXingyunGrade:2005Supervisor:ProfessorQinXiuguiMajorFieldofStudy:Curriculum&InstructionOrientation:EnglishTeachingMethodologyAbstractinEnglishVocabularyteachinghasalwaysbeenanimportantcomponentofforeignlanguageteachingandlearning,whilepolysemyconstitutesoneofthemostdifficultaspectsofvocabularyteaching.Foralongtime,agreatmanyofteachersandstudentshavebeentormentedbytheproblemofpolysemy.Uptonow,theystillhavenotfoundanyeffectivewaytodealwithit.Consequently,ithashadnegativeeffectsonforeignlanguageteachingandlearning.Accordingtocognitivelinguists,metaphoristhereferenceofwords’meanings,andmostofthepolysemiesaremotivatedbymetaphor.Asacognitivemechanism,metaphorplaysavitalroleinmeaningextension.Sincemetaphorsharesacloserelationshipwithpolysemy,ifwecouldapplymetaphortheorytopolysemyteaching,theteachingandlearningofitwouldbecomeeasier.Asaresult,itmaynotbeconsideredasaheadacheforteachersandstudentsinvocabularyteachingandlearning.Theattempttoconnectmetaphorstudywithforeignlanguageteachingwasanovelapproach.ItbeganwiththewesternlinguistsCameronandLowin1999.AtthefirstnationalseminaroncognitivelinguisticsinBeijingin2002,theChinesescholarLinShuwulistedthestudyoftherelationbetweenmetaphorandlanguageteachingasoneoftheseventhemesofmetaphorstudy.Fromthenon,moreandmoreattentionhasbeenpaidtothestudyofmetaphorandlanguageteachinginChina.Itisnecessaryforforeignlanguageteachingtoenrichitselfbyadoptingthetheoriesofmetaphor,anditisalsoatrendthattheoriesofmetaphorareappliedtothefieldofforeignlanguageteachingandlearning.Inrecentyears,morethan30academicpapersonmetaphorandlanguageteachingandlearninghavebeenpublishedindifferentkindsofjournals.Theymainlyfocusonthefollowingfourfields:1)thecultivationofmetaphoricalcompetenceinEnglishteaching;2)theapplicationofmetaphorawarenessinEnglishteaching;3)metaphorandcultureteaching;4)metaphorandvocabularyteaching.Inaddition,thereare7M.A.thesesthatexaminemetaphorandvocabularyteaching.Allofthesestudiesexploretherelationshipbetweenmetaphorandvocabularyteachinginamicrosense,withoutspecificallyfocusingonanyviiiconcreteprobleminvocabularyteaching.Asforpolysemy,thereislittlediscussion.Asitiswidelyrecognized,polysemyconstitutesoneofthemostdifficultaspectsinvocabularyteachingandithasacloserelationshipwithmetaphor.Ifwecouldapplythetheoriesofmetaphortovocabularyteaching,theproblemofpolysemywouldbesolvedtosomeextent.Motivatedbythisidea,theauthordesignedthisstudywiththehopeofexploringthefeasibilityofapplyingmetaphortopolysemyteaching.ThisthesischosetwointactparallelclassesfromtheCollegeofForeignStudies,GuangxiNormalUniversitytocarryoutacomparativeempiricalstudy.Toensurethattherenosignificantpre-experimentaldifferencesexistbetweenthetwoclasses,apretestwasdesignedforthembeforetheexperimentbegan.Then,atwomonths’comparativeteachingexperimentwasconductedinordertofindoutwhetherdifferentpolysemyteachingapproacheswouldleadtodifferentvocabularyretention.Intheexperiment,64polysemiesunder8semanticfieldswerepresentedtothetwoclassesthroughdifferentapproaches.ApproachI,teachingpolysemieswithexplicitpresentationofconceptualmetaphorsandexplanationofthemappingsbetweenthemetaphorsourcedomainandthetargetdomainwasadoptedfortheexperimentalclass;ApproachII,teachingpolysemieswithoutexplicitpresentationofconceptualmetaphorsandexplanationofthemappingsbetweenthemetaphorsourcedomainandthetargetdomainwasadoptedforthecontrolclass.Theexperimentlastedfor8weeks,oneweekforeachsemanticfieldofpolysemies.Whenallthepolysemieswerefinished,thesubjectsofthetwoclassesweregiventwopost-tests.Allthedatacollectedinthepre-testandthepost-testswererunbythestatisticalsoftwareSPSS11.5soastopresentsomeobjectivestatisticalevidencesforthequantitativeanalysis.Inaddition,aqualitativeanalysiswasalsoconductedtofindoutstudents’opinionsonthetwoteachingapproaches.Accordingtotheempiricalstudyanditsdataanalysis,thisthesiscomestothefollowingconclusions:1)Itisfeasibletoapplymetaphortopolysemyteachingandtocultivatemetaphoricalcompetenceintothestudents;2)Metaphorcanfacilitatetheunderstandingandretentionofvocabulary.Afterreceivingmetaphortraining,studentsfromtheexperimentclassperformedbetterintheunderstandingandretentionofpolysemythanstudentsfromthecontrolclasswhodidnothaveanytrainingonmetaphortheory.3)Applyingmetaphortopolysemyteachingcangreatlyarousestudents’interestinvocabularylearning.Therearesixchaptersinthisthesis.ChapterOneistheintroduction.ChapterTwoistheixliteraturereview,whichprovidesthebackgroundforthepresentstudybyreviewingthemainstudiesinsomerelevantfields.ChapterThree,thepartoftheoreticalframework,focusesonsomemainconceptsrelatedtothisstudy.ChapterFouristheresearchdesignandprocedures,whichdisscusseshowthehypothesisisputforwardandhowthecomparativeteachingexperimentiscarriedout.ChapterFivepresentsthedataoftheresearchanddisscussionontheresults.ChapterSixistheconclusion,wh