Metaphors of English as a foreign language
Main Article Content
Abstract
Abstract
This study aims at investigating the conceptual metaphors of students on English as a foreign language. Participants are students of English (n=80) at Amasya University preparatory classes. Students’ metaphors are collected via metaphor elicitation sheets with the prompt “English is like ... because ...†and analysed both qualitatively and quantitatively. The findings reveal a variety of underlying conceptualizations that reflect different individual mappings across conceptual domains such as PRODUCT, INNOVATION, INSTRUMENT, HARDSHIP, NEED, OBLIGATION and JOURNEY. The results show that students generally have positive views on English as a foreign language, and they consider it as a necessity in their lives. The study is significant in the sense that it emphasizes the use of metaphor as an efficient cognitive tool to better grasp students’ beliefs of their foreign language. Additionally, it provides an opportunity for the teachers to better understand how language students perceive English as a foreign language.
Keywords: Foreign language teaching, English, metaphor.
Downloads
Article Details
- Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
- Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (SeeThe Effect of Open Access).