Abstract:Vocabulary is the fundamental element of language, or rather, what language lives by. D.A. Wilkins (1972) once pointed out that “without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed”. Therefore, English vocabulary teaching should be regarded as an important part of English language teaching, whereas, English language teaching has been carried out based around grammar, structure or function, with vocabulary teaching being an auxiliary part of it. Under such circumstances, students tend to learn vocabulary by rote, which leads to low efficiency of vocabulary acquisition. In order to change the situation, scholars both at home and abroad attempts to teach English vocabulary from a metaphorical point of view, arguing that most vocabulary can be acquired in a metaphorical way and that metaphor serves as a major approach to enrich and change the system of vocabulary.
Traditionally, metaphor is considered as a linguistic phenomenon or a rhetorical device. Actually, metaphor is more of a matter of thought and action than of a matter of language. It is pervasive in our daily language. Our ordinary conceptual system, in terms of which we both think and act, is fundamentally metaphorical in nature (Lakoff &Johnson, 1980). Conceptual Metaphor Theory put forward by Lakoff and Johnson is a more systematic and advanced cognitive theory of metaphor. They hold that metaphor, in essence, is to understand and experience one thing in terms of another. Language is the product of human cognition and metaphor serves as a tool of cognition. So it is of great importance to study the role of metaphor, especially conceptual metaphor, in foreign language teaching and learning.
The thesis, first of all, reviews the history and development of metaphor study, by introducing the comparison view, substitution view and cognitive view of metaphor. Subsequently, a detailed review of the current research, namely, conceptual metaphor and vocabulary teaching, is provided. Next, Conceptual Metaphor Theory regarding its definition, classification, working mechanism as well as its links to vocabulary teaching is discussed in detail. To check whether or not the application of Conceptual Metaphor Theory in vocational college English vocabulary teaching and learning can facilitate vocabulary learning, a relevant experiment is designed and carried out for 9 weeks in two classes from Henan Mechanical and Electrical Engineering College. The result shows that college English teaching combined with knowledge of conceptual metaphor can enhance the learners’ metaphorical competence and facilitate their vocabulary learning. In the conclusion part, the major findings and some implications are proposed for English vocabulary teaching and learning, along with some limitations of the present research. It proposes that adequate attention should be paid to applying conceptual metaphors in EFL vocabulary teaching and the cultivation of the students’ metaphorical competence and that students be encouraged to employ a metaphorical approach to English vocabulary learning.
KEY WORDS: metaphor, conceptual metaphor theory, metaphor awareness, metaphorical competence, English vocabulary teaching
摘要:词汇是构成语言的最基本要素，是语言系统赖以存在的支柱。英国著名语言学家D. A. Wilkins曾有过这样的论述：“没有语法，人们不能表达很多东西；而没有词汇，人们则无法表达任何东西”。因此，词汇教学应该被看作是整个英语教学系统中的一个重要组成部分。然而，英语教学长期以来都是以语法、结构或功能为纲来组织实施，英语词汇教学常常处于教学的附属地位。学生掌握词汇的主要方法是死记硬背，词汇记忆效率很难保证。为了改变这种现状，国内外不少学者尝试通过概念隐喻进行词汇教学，并且认为大部分词汇都可以通过隐喻的方式习得。
传统上隐喻常被看作是一种语言现象，或者说是文学作品中的修辞手段。然而，莱考夫和约翰逊1980年的合著《我们赖以生存的隐喻》一书提出了一种新的认知隐喻观，认为隐喻从本质上讲是人类的一种思维方式。他们还指出隐喻普遍存在于我们日常生活话语中，而且植根于人的思维和行动中；隐喻实质上是人类运用某一领域的经验去理解和体验另一领域的经验的认知活动。事实上，我们的概念系统也是隐喻性的语言是人类认知的产物，而隐喻又是人类认知的工具，因此从认知的角度研究隐喻对语言习得，尤其是对外语习得有着非常重要的意义。概念隐喻理论将隐喻和语言有机地结合起来，因此把概念隐喻引入到词汇教学中可能会有新的发现。
本文首先对隐喻研究的进展进行了简单评述；其次，对概念隐喻理论的理论背景、定义、分类和运作机制以及隐喻意识和隐喻能力进行了较为详细的介绍，同时参考国内外学者在概念隐喻与词汇教学方面的研究，分析了概念隐喻与词汇教学之间的联系，指出通过隐喻概念组织所要教授的词汇有利于学生记忆，而且，概念隐喻有助于学生把抽象的意义具体化，甚至可以联想到一些相关意象，通过意象图式进行词汇记忆有助于词汇的深层加工，便于之后回忆；然后，通过实证研究验证高职高专英语词汇教学中引入概念隐喻知识是否有助于学生词汇的习得。笔者首先提出了两个研究假设：1）对学生进行概念隐喻教学可以提高他们的隐喻能力；2）基于概念隐喻的词汇教学方法较传统词汇教学法更为有效，意即前者能够促进高职高专学生的英语词汇记忆。然后，笔者对河南机电高等专科学校2008级非英语专业两个水平相当班级的学生80人进行了为期9周的教学对比实验，研究结果表明:与传统词汇教学方法相比，大学英语课堂教学中融入概念隐喻知识更有助于学习者隐喻能力的发展和词汇水平的提高。最后是本文的结论部分，探讨了本研究对英语词汇教学的一些启示以及本研究的一些局限；指出教师在英语词汇教学中应注意对学生进行隐喻意识及隐喻能力的培养，积极引导和鼓励学生利用概念隐喻进行词汇学习。
关键词：隐喻；概念隐喻理论；隐喻意识；隐喻能力；英语词汇教学
