| At present, studies on metaphor have been quite popular in the field of foreign language research, and it is the same with studies on attribution. As claimed by Wang Lunan (2006), the complexity of metaphor system determines that metaphor transfer is much more complex than any other types of transfer. For the diversity of culture, custom, thinking mode etc., as well as the personal difference, learners have incongruous understanding of the same metaphor. The present study makes a further survey of the attribution of positive transfer and negative transfer in metaphor cognition from the standing of learners.Based on the theories of metaphor and attributions, the present study conducts an empirical study, covering the extent of metaphor transfer, the learners'satisfaction of their metaphor transfer, and the attributions to metaphor transfer of learners with different language proficiency and gender difference. Through metaphor test and questionnaires, the research attempts to investigate factors of effort, ability, task difficulty and luck which influence metaphor transfer, aiming to get some ideas from the point of learners and to put forward the corresponding strategies to improve learners'metaphor cognition and foreign language learning. 192 freshmen studying at a key university located in Shaanxi province are chosen as the subjects.The results show that positive and negative transfer do occur during the process of metaphor cognition, and different types of metaphor are transferred with great dissimilarities. English metaphors that have an equivalent form and conceptual basis with their L1 are the easiest to comprehend while the metaphors that have an equivalent form but different conceptual basis are the most difficult. There is a significant difference between skilled and less skilled learners'attribution scores. The skilled group attributed negative transfer more to the lack of ability and effort while the less-skilled group considered it less important. And for the male and the female, there is also a significant difference on factors of"effort"and"fortune"between them in attributing positive transfer of metaphors. And it is also agreed by the learners that the task difficulty may cause negative transfer during metaphor cognition.The present study indicates that it is necessary to transfer the learners'negative belief of attribution through the training of attributions. A positive belief of attribution should be promoted in order to activate the learners'motivation in language learning. It is also fundamental for the learners to change their inappropriate beliefs of metaphor transfer, in order to promote positive metaphor transfer, improving their metaphor cognition and foreign language learning more effectively.Since metaphor transfer is a complicated process, it is suggested that the future study explore the metaphor transfer from different perspectives to make more achievements in the field of metaphor transfer and foreign language learning in China. |
