Chinese EFL Learners' Embodied Semantic Processing Of Value Words

Embodied cognition theory holds that cognition is grounded in experience and based on our sensorimotor system.Under the framework of the embodied theory,this empirical research adopts e-prime and related statistical analysis software to study the embodied semantic processing of value words by the 31 intermediate and 31 advanced Chinese EFL learners.The purpose is to answer three questions as follows: 1)Will Chinese EFL learners trigger “up-down” spatial metaphor when processing English and Chinese value words? If yes,do English proficiency and language type influence the processing? 2)Will Chinese EFL learners trigger “big-small” spatial metaphor when processing English and Chinese value words? If yes,do English proficiency and language type influence the processing? 3)Will Chinese EFL learners trigger “heavy-light” tactile metaphor when processing English and Chinese value words? If yes,do English proficiency and language type influence the processing?The major findings are as follows: 1)When processing both English and Chinese value words,both groups of EFL learners are sensitive to the “up-down” vertical spatial metaphor and “big-small” dimensional spatial metaphor because their reaction time is significantly shorter and accuracy rate is significantly higher under the condition of metaphor consistency than that of inconsistency.2)They are insensitive to the“light-heavy” tactile metaphor because their reaction time and accuracy rate under condition of metaphor consistency and inconsistency have no significant difference.3)L2proficiency influences the processing cost and accuracy,with the intermediate group's shorter reaction time but lower accuracy rate in contrast with the advanced group's higheraccuracy but longer reaction time.4)There is an asymmetrical processing of Chinese and English value words: both groups tend to be quicker and more accurate when processing Chinese value words compared with their English counterparts.We explain the results from the following aspects: Firstly,the reason why both groups of EFL learners can trigger “up-down” and “big-small” metaphor is because they have embodied simulation effect which activates the related body experience(up or down vertical spatial experience and big or small dimensional spatial experience)on value words.Secondly,because different subjects have different body experiences,embodied cognition which is rooted in body experiences has its individuality.Therefore,the participants cannot trigger “heavy-light” metaphor.Thirdly,the reason why advanced group's reaction time is shorter and accuracy rate is higher on English value words than that of intermediate group is because they have deeper processing on the stimuli and adopt Concept Mediation Model to represent them.On the contrary,the intermediate group is inclined to have shallow processing and adopt Word Association Model to represent them.Fourthly,when processing L2 vocabulary,EFL learners need to process these L2 words from L1,and this takes more cognitive efforts.Hence,they are quicker and more accurate when processing Chinese value words than their English counterparts.