An Action Research In The Impact Of Metaphorical Competence Cultivation On Junior High School Students' English Vocabulary Learning

Metaphorical competence cultivation in regards to vocabulary learning has been researched by scholars in China and abroad recent in years.But most of the research done has been on a theoretical level,there have been a little empirical research.In this paper,the teacher conducted an action research to explore the impact that metaphorical competence development had on junior high school students' English vocabulary learning.The teacher implemented the study in two rounds over a span of 18 weeks.In the action,the subjects were 74 grade seven students in two classes from Foshan Guangdong Province.The teacher chose 193 vocabulary items from the students' present text book from 7 modules as the teaching material.The teacher taught the students vocabulary items through metaphorical competence cultivation.In the second round of the action,the students began to have a weekly contest in metaphor creation.The students were divided into two groups:the high English level group and the low English level groups.There were conceptual metaphor vocabulary dictation tests for all the students.The conceptual metaphor vocabulary tests,which include long-term memory,comprehension use level tests were conducted after each round of the action for all the participating students.A metaphorical competence pre-test and a metaphorical competence post-test were given.Three interviews were conducted,three representative students from each group attended each interview and the students who were interviewed in each interview were different.The teacher measured the results by test as well as dictation and collected the data respectively.Finally,she analyzed the statistics by SPSS22.0 paired sample t-test and independent sample t-tests.According to statistical data analysis,the results can be summed up as follows:(1)Students showed improved short-term and long-term memory test average scores in regards to vocabulary as well as comprehension and use by 5.28 points,4.48 points,4.34 points and 4.29 points respectably.The p values were all 0.000,so there were statistically significant differences.(2)The students showed increased metaphoricalcompetence test average scores by 9.89 points,the high English level group by 11.01 points and the low English level group by 8.67 points.All p values were 0.000,so it showed statistically significant differences.The results of the interviews showed that the students were more interested in English vocabulary learning and were willing to learn English vocabulary in their future learning through the cultivation of metaphorical competence.The results above indicate that there is a positive correlation between the metaphorical competence and English vocabulary level,this means high metaphorical competence has positive effects on English vocabulary learning.Metaphorical competence cultivation is a new way for junior middle school students' to learn English vocabulary,and teachers' teaching vocabulary by cultivating students' metaphorical competence may cultivate students' thinking ability.