EFL learners’ metaphors and images about foreign language learning
Loading...
Date
2012-03
Authors
Advisor
Editor
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Zakład Filologii Angielskiej Wydział Pedagogiczno-Artystyczny Uniwersytetu im. Adama Mickiewicza w Kaliszu
Title alternative
Abstract
In this paper, I will argue that awareness of images and metaphors held by foreign
language learners about the nature of the target language and its learning
can be of substantial value and provide teaching practitioners with useful insights
about how to deal with various language learning problems. To elicit images
which learners hold about foreign language learning, a questionnaire was
given to 350 learners of English in different places in Iran. The questionnaire
asked the respondents to provide images about learning a foreign language by
using a sentence completion task: “Learning a foreign language is like . . .” The
responses gained in 200 questionnaires were content-analyzed and the identified
images and metaphors were summarized under more broad-ranging categories.
The information that the metaphors and the resulting metaphorical categories
provide and the theoretical interpretations which can plausibly be made
are discussed in some detail and put in a cognitive-psychological perspective.
Description
Sponsor
Keywords
conceptual metaphor, foreign language learning, language learners’ images, language learners’ metaphors, learners’ beliefs, metaphor analysis
Citation
Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 2012, vol. 2, no. 1, pp. 93-109