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題名 Teaching English Idioms as Metaphors through Cognitive-oriented Methods: A Case in an EFL Writing Class
作者 賴惠玲
Lai, Huei-ling
貢獻者 英文系
關鍵詞 idioms;metaphors;conceptual metaphors;metaphoric mappings;EFL
日期 2013.06
上傳時間 6-Dec-2013 12:26:21 (UTC+8)
摘要 Idioms have long been regarded as problematic for L2 learners due to the arbitrariness of their meanings and forms. Traditional methods of teaching idioms focus on rote learning and memorization. Recent developments in cognitive linguistics research have considered idioms as analyzable expressions which are motivated by conceptual metaphors and whose meanings can derive from associations between source and target concepts. Believed to be imageable and comprehensive, idioms should be learned through the process of raising L2 learners’ awareness of conceptual metaphors behind these expressions. Nevertheless, these methods fail to notice culture entailments embedded in conceptual metaphors. Especially for FL learners who share neither common cultural background nor living environment with the target language users, difficulties resulting from transferability between L1 and L2 idioms owing to cultural similarities and differences may be serious. To bridge the gap between idioms and conceptual metaphors caused by cross-cultural differences, this study suggests a teaching method by incorporating the idea of metaphoric mappings. A case study was conducted in an EFL writing class to investigate the effect of the methods. Essays written by the students before and after the instruction were analyzed. Results showed that the students increased frequencies of using not only common idiomatic expressions but also creative analogies comprising vivid images based on the conceptual metaphors taught. Additionally, they used L2 expressions whose conceptual metaphors also existed in L1 more often then expressions whose conceptual metaphors were exclusive in L2. Such findings affirm the importance of culture and provide valuable insight to EFL teachers in adopting cognitive-oriented method to teach English idioms.
關聯 English Language Teaching, 6(6), 13-20
資料類型 article
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n6p13
dc.contributor 英文系en_US
dc.creator (作者) 賴惠玲zh_TW
dc.creator (作者) Lai, Huei-lingen_US
dc.date (日期) 2013.06en_US
dc.date.accessioned 6-Dec-2013 12:26:21 (UTC+8)-
dc.date.available 6-Dec-2013 12:26:21 (UTC+8)-
dc.date.issued (上傳時間) 6-Dec-2013 12:26:21 (UTC+8)-
dc.identifier.uri (URI) http://nccur.lib.nccu.edu.tw/handle/140.119/62186-
dc.description.abstract (摘要) Idioms have long been regarded as problematic for L2 learners due to the arbitrariness of their meanings and forms. Traditional methods of teaching idioms focus on rote learning and memorization. Recent developments in cognitive linguistics research have considered idioms as analyzable expressions which are motivated by conceptual metaphors and whose meanings can derive from associations between source and target concepts. Believed to be imageable and comprehensive, idioms should be learned through the process of raising L2 learners’ awareness of conceptual metaphors behind these expressions. Nevertheless, these methods fail to notice culture entailments embedded in conceptual metaphors. Especially for FL learners who share neither common cultural background nor living environment with the target language users, difficulties resulting from transferability between L1 and L2 idioms owing to cultural similarities and differences may be serious. To bridge the gap between idioms and conceptual metaphors caused by cross-cultural differences, this study suggests a teaching method by incorporating the idea of metaphoric mappings. A case study was conducted in an EFL writing class to investigate the effect of the methods. Essays written by the students before and after the instruction were analyzed. Results showed that the students increased frequencies of using not only common idiomatic expressions but also creative analogies comprising vivid images based on the conceptual metaphors taught. Additionally, they used L2 expressions whose conceptual metaphors also existed in L1 more often then expressions whose conceptual metaphors were exclusive in L2. Such findings affirm the importance of culture and provide valuable insight to EFL teachers in adopting cognitive-oriented method to teach English idioms.-
dc.format.extent 203633 bytes-
dc.format.mimetype application/pdf-
dc.language.iso en_US-
dc.relation (關聯) English Language Teaching, 6(6), 13-20en_US
dc.subject (關鍵詞) idioms;metaphors;conceptual metaphors;metaphoric mappings;EFLen_US
dc.title (題名) Teaching English Idioms as Metaphors through Cognitive-oriented Methods: A Case in an EFL Writing Classen_US
dc.type (資料類型) articleen
dc.identifier.doi (DOI) 10.5539/elt.v6n6p13en_US
dc.doi.uri (DOI) http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt.v6n6p13en_US