摘要：本文是大学英语教学论文，研究结果表明，隐喻教学对大学生隐喻能力的影响不均衡；学习者在隐喻识别和理解方面受到显著影响，而在隐喻产出方面则不显著。这些发现揭示了隐喻教学对隐喻能力的影响，丰富了相关的研究成果，在理论和实践上都具有较为重要的意义。
chapter one literature review
this chapter gives an overview of studies on metaphoric competence. specifically, it would be involved in two parts. the first part introduces the studies on mc from varies perspectives. from the existing research, we find that the focus of studies on mc falls mainly on definitions, the development and measurement of mc, and the concerning factors on mc, but only a few studies stay in advocating and calling for improving mc. as for the issue of how to improve english mc in the background of learning english as a second language, few research is seen, especially from an empirical perspective. the second part discusses about whether language learners can acquire conceptual metaphors through metaphor instruction or not, namely the questions about the teachability and learnability of conceptual metaphors, as well as some studies on it. we find that only a few researchers have touched upon some strategies on the enhancement of mc, one of which is metaphor teaching. but the teaching procedures and materials vary a lot due to various views on the definition of mc. anyway, the present study can borrow something from the existing studies. but at the same time, it even needs to make some adjustments and creation on the base of them.
1.1 studies on mc
as an effective factor of communicative competence, mc draws increasing attention from foreign language researchers and teachers, hence the number of the studies grows rapidly. the studies abroad on mc started as early as 1970s. for instance, flahive and carrell (1977), gardner and winner (1978), and pollio and smith (1980). china followed behind yet developed very fast. since 1977 when the first study on mc was published, the number of papers concerned has been increasing rapidly every year. according to the research contents, those studies on mc can be sorted into three main categories: studies on the definition of mc; studies on the development and measurement of mc; studies on mc and its relevant variables. the three subcategories of mc studies are to be reviewed respectively in the following parts.
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1.2 studies on metaphor instruction
now that we have a relatively clear idea about factors that may affect the level of mc, we can boldly explore how to improve mc. researches of that kind are many, but most of them are just appealing us to pay more attention to the improvement of mc due to its great significance to language teaching and learning. only a few researchers touched upon some strategies on the enhancement of mc. one of the strategies is metaphor teaching. in this part, we will have an overview of metaphor teaching. the discussion on whether metaphors can be learned through instruction may date back to the earliest period of aristotle. aristotle (1954) once said the greatest thing today is to grasp metaphors. however, metaphors can not be passed onto others, and it is a sign of genius. if one wants to create good metaphors, he must have a very acute insight of similarities. hawkes (1984) pointed out that being able to use metaphors means having the competence of perceiving the similarities between two conceptual domains, which severely relies on cognition and can not be learned through teaching. danesi investigated metaphoric density in the writing of some english learners in spain who have learned english for three or four years in classroom context, which demonstrated a high degree of literalness. even though the learners may use some metaphors, they are probably from their native language, so it seems that this is another empirical study supporting the non-teachability of mc. yuan fengshi (2012) also believed that mc can hardly be learned through instruction. he explained that mc is the competence of knowing objects across domains, which is reflected through metaphoric thinking process.
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chapter two theoretical basis
research on mc and metaphor instruction has become a hot topic in the foreign language teaching field. much of the interest has arisen for lackoff and johnson’s conceptual metaphor theory (1980), krashen’s input hypothesis (1985) and schmidt’ s noticing hypothesis (1990). according to the conceptual metaphor theory, metaphors are found to be a means of cognition and a way of thinking, which permeate every aspect of our life and are deeply rooted in the interaction with the physical world that we are all living in. therefore, there exist some similarities among different languages, which makes it possible for learners to acquire metaphors from another age. krashen proposes that acquisition takes place when learners are exposed to comprehensible input, which provides a possible way to learn metaphors. while schmidt emphasizes the important role that notice plays in metaphor acquisition: only when “input” is transferred into “intake” may acquisition take place. these theories lay a solid foundation for the research in chapter three and the discussion in chapter four, so they are to be elaborated in this part.
2.1 the conceptual metaphor theory
in the last 2000 years, metaphor was studied within the discipline known as rhetoric. it was considered as a kind of implicit comparison and characterized by the schematic form: a is b, which contrasts with simile, where the comparison is overtly marked by the use of “as” or “like”. after a long and tortuous evolution of metaphor theory, from the comparison theory, the substitution theory, the interaction theory, and finally to the conceptual metaphor theory (cmt) in 1980, metaphor was found to be a means of cognition and a way of thinking, which led a new epoch of metaphor study. lakoff and johnson put forward cmt in the book metaphors we live by (1980), and pointed out that metaphor is not only a language rhetoric, but also a way of thinking, namely the metaphoric concept system. according to their study, metaphor penetrates through daily life, not just in language, but in thought and action. the common conceptual system with which we think and act is fundamentally metaphoric. that is to say, metaphor is ubiquitous.
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2.2 the input hypothesis
in the late 1970s, krashen (1985) put forward the monitor model on sla, which includes five hypotheses. the input hypothesis (or the comprehensible input hypothesis) is one of them, which gives sufficient emphasis on the important role of input in the process of sla. according to the hypothesis, “acquisition” takes place only when the learners have enough access to language input and are able to understand it, which is a little beyond the current level (i level) of their competence (i.e. the i+1 level). input that is comprehensible to learners will automatically be at the right level.