A Correlation Study Between Breadth,Depth Of Vocabulary Knowledge And Metaphoric Competence Of Chinese English Learners

Vocabulary knowledge is the basis of cognitive processing and acquisition of speech,and it is also an important component of linguistic competence.However,traditional vocabulary teaching methods are not conductive to vocabulary learning for second language learners.As a linguistic competence,metaphoric competence is placed at the same position as grammar competence and communicative competence which are emphasized by traditional language teaching.As for the reason why second language learners lack the fluency like native speakers,the root cause is the lack of metaphoric awareness.In terms of the two vital factors in language learning,the correlation between them is not clear yet.In addition,the research involving the relationship between vocabulary knowledge and metaphoric competence is far from enough.Based on the background above,an investigation research about the correlation between vocabulary knowledge and metaphoric competence was conducted.To be specific,vocabulary knowledge was studied from two aspects:breadth and depth.Metaphoric competence was divided into three dimensions:metaphor identification,metaphor interpretation and metaphor production.This research mainly focuses on the following three questions:Firstly,what is the distribution of scores of breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge tests;Secondly,what is the distribution of scores of metaphoric competence tests in general and the three sub-dimensions;Thirdly,to what extent does vocabulary knowledge correlate with metaphoric competence as a whole?And to what extent does vocabulary knowledge correlate with the three sub-dimensions of metaphoric competence separately?The current research selected 46 non-English major freshmen of a key university in Xi’an as the research subjects.The research methods are investigation study and testing.The instruments used in this study are Vocabulary Size Test(Nation&Beglar 2007),Word Associates Test(Read 1998)as well as Metaphoric Competence Test(Littlemore 2001).The process of research was divided into two steps.The first one was subject training and selection.In order to ensure that all the subjects could fully understand the concept of metaphor,there was a pilot test.As a result,there were 42 subjects entering the formal test.The formal test was also divided into two times.For the first one,the researcher measured breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge by using Vocabulary Size Test and Word Associates Test.For the second time,the researcher tested metaphoric competence by using Metaphoric Competence Test.In the phase of data analysis,the present research conducted descriptive statistics and correlation analyses by using SPSS 17.0.The major findings are as follows:To begin with,in general,the overall level of subjects’ depth of vocabulary knowledge is a little higher than breadth of it,and the distribution of the former is more dispersed.In the second place,the distribution of subjects’ metaphoric competence is concentrated,and the general level is relatively low.Among the three dimensions,the level of metaphor interpretation is the lowest.Last but not least,both breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge are significantly correlated with metaphoric competence.The correlation coefficient of the former is.355,while the later is.453.It proves that the significant level of depth of vocabulary knowledge is much higher.Among the sub-three dimensions of metaphoric competence,vocabulary knowledge is significantly correlated with metaphor interpretation.Besides,there is also a significant and positive correlation between breadth of vocabulary knowledge and metaphor identification.However,vocabulary knowledge has no inner-relation with metaphor production.Moreover,there is no significant correlation between depth of vocabulary knowledge and metaphor identification.The research explored the overall level of English learners’ vocabulary knowledge and metaphoric competence,and confirmed the correlation between them.Many implications for English teaching and learning have been found:Vocabulary knowledge is the basis of language learning.Breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge should be put in the same position;Metaphor mechanism is important in the development of vocabulary system.Therefore,the guiding role of metaphor theory in vocabulary teaching should be emphasized to improve the quality of vocabulary teaching and learning;On the contrary,during the cultivation of metaphoric competence,both breadth and depth of vocabulary knowledge should not be neglected.In this way,the English proficiency of learners can be improved in an all-round way.