A Study On Metaphor Production By Chinese Advanced EFL Learners

Metaphor is ubiquitous in life.It is not only a type of rhetorical devices,but more importantly,a basic means for human thinking and cognition,and a carrier of language and culture as well.Recently metaphorical competence has become one of the hot issues in the field,which refers to peoples’ ability to identify,understand and produce metaphors.Previous studies have mostly focused on metaphor identification comprehension,but less on production.Additionally,the scope of domestic research should also be expanded regarding the similarities and differences between L1 and L2 metaphorical competenceThis research aims to explore the similarities and differences between L1 and L2 metaphorical production competence,examine whether Chinese English learners’ are inefficient in metaphor production based on the writings of Chinese advanced English learners,and to further investigate the similarities of cognition and concepts reflected by different languages.The data came from two aspects,one is 20 Chinese and 20 English argumentative essays on the topic of friendship respectively,the other is semi-structured interviews after writing.Based on Metaphor Identification Procedure,all the metaphors were identified and classified.The interviews were also transcribed and analyzed through ground-up.The results are:firstly,in terms of direct metaphor and explicit metaphor,both Chinese and English writing show lower frequency while implied metaphor is the most prominent.Among the five sub-types,nominal and verbal metaphors are most commonly used in both languages,whereas adjective metaphors,adverbial metaphors and idiomatic metaphors are all used less frequently;second,generally Chinese English learners produced much less metaphors in English than in Chinese.There is no significant difference with regard to direct metaphor and explicit metaphor,but extremely significant difference(P=0.000)was displayed concerning implied metaphors.Except adjective and adverbial metaphors.the other three metaphors all displayed significant differences;thirdly,based on interviews,it is found that the factors that hinder second language metaphor production might include the limitation of target language proficiency,the insufficient input of metaphor,reservations about metaphor,and mother tongue transfer as well.The above findings indicate L1 metaphoric production competence is closely related to that of L2 but different,and support the previous view that "the metaphor production competence of Chinese English learners is inefficient".The results remind both teachers and students to pay more attention to metaphor production,increase metaphor input,reduce interference of mother tongue,and finally improve second language metaphorical competence.