The Correlation Between Reading Proficiency And Metaphoric Competence

Metaphor is not only found in speech, but also in thought and action. The conceptual theory reveals the interrelationship between language, metaphor and cognition. In addition, it holds that the conceptual system of human beings involves metaphorical processing, comprehending and using, even the conceptual system of human beings itself is constructed by metaphor. As the third competence subsequent to linguistic competence and communicative competence, metaphoric competence functions as a beneficial supplement for the previous two. Additionally, in the process of English reading, learners always find metaphors which defy understanding, and thus metaphor becomes one of the obstacles for EFL learners. Although the importance of metaphoric competence should not be neglected, few convincing empirical studies have been conducted on it. The study on the correlation between metaphoric competence and reading proficiency is rarely seen, either. Under such conditions, the correlation between metaphoric competence and reading proficiency will be discovered in this thesis from the EFL learners'perspective, in the hope of making the functions of metaphor definite and exploring the implications of developing metaphoric competence in college EFL teaching.The following three questions are addressed in this thesis:(1) What is the current situation of the Chinese EFL learners'receptive metaphoric competence? (2) Whether and how do receptive metaphoric competence and reading comprehension proficiency correlate with each other? Whether and how do the two,aspects (identification and interpretation) of metaphoric competence correlate with each other and with reading proficiency? (3) What is the function of context to the interpretation of metaphors?Questionnaire and test paper are employed to test the receptive metaphoric competence of college non-English majors in one university in Shandong Province. And all the test data is processed by SPSS 16.0, which includes the statistical description, correlation (Spearman) and paired-samples T test. The findings are briefly summarized as follows:(1) Chinese EFL learners' receptive metaphoric competence was not satisfactory and there was still much room left for them to promote their receptive metaphoric competence. (2) Receptive metaphoric competence and reading proficiency correlate with each other significantly. The ability to identify metaphors correlates with that to interpret metaphors significantly. The ability to identify metaphors correlates with reading proficiency insignificantly, while the ability to interpret metaphors correlates with reading proficiency significantly. (3) Context facilitates the interpretation of metaphors to a large extent.The study provides some enlightenment for English reading teaching and English teaching as well. It is of great importance for improving college English reading teaching and enriching EFL teaching theory to develop students' metaphorical awareness and metaphoric competence, and conduct EFL teaching based on cognitive metaphor.