An Empirical Study On English Polysemous Words Teaching In Senior High School From The Perspective Of Conceptual Metaphor

Vocabulary is the basis of language expression.Without vocabulary,any information is difficult to convey.Language is the expression of human experience in the objective world.With the development of society,the original vocabulary has been unable to meet human needs.Using traditional word formation to expand the vocabulary will undoubtedly increase the burden on people.Due to the principle of language economy,a word gradually has multiple meanings.The vast majority of words are polysemous,and the number of absolute monosemous words is extremely small.Early foreign language teaching paid more attention to grammar and structural analysis,and translation was a common teaching method.Vocabulary is in a secondary position in comparison.However,some scholars have pointed out that when the language environment is rich,vocabulary can play a more communicative role than grammar.In the context of the reform of the college entrance examination,subject literacy requirements are higher,and students need a larger vocabulary and the ability to correctly understand and infer texts in specific contexts.Under the traditional vocabulary teaching model,the teacher lists the meanings of polysemous words,and the more important meanings are supplemented with example sentences to illustrate.Students master the meanings of words through repeated recitation and rote memorization,but the interest in English learning gradually fades over time,and the meaning of words is easy to forget.The conceptual metaphor theory of cognitive linguistics provides a new way of thinking and direction for the teaching of polysemous words.Lakoff and Johnson,the proponents of this theory,believe that metaphor is more than just a rhetorical device and poetic expression.On the contrary,this is the most basic way of human cognition in daily life.Human beings understand another abstract and complex thing through familiar concrete things in daily life.Based on the similarity between the two,the source domain is projected to the target domain,and the target domain can be understood.At first,the etymology of polysemous words only had one meaning.Later,with the increase of objective demand,related meanings will be expanded based on a core meaning.The current middle school English polysemous word teaching is still a traditional mode to a large extent,and the learning efficiency of students is low.The teaching of polysemous words has become a common burden for teachers and students.In order to solve this problem,the author tried to introduce conceptual metaphor theory into English vocabulary class and conducted experiments.The experiment is mainly conducted through questionnaire surveys,pre-test and post-test,and interviews to explore the following three questions: 1.How to let students use the knowledge of conceptual metaphors to master the learning of polysemous words? 2.Are there differences in the acceptance of conceptual metaphors among students at different levels? 3.What is the impact of conceptual metaphor theory on the learning of English polysemous words for high school students?Through the questionnaire survey,the author found that many students feel distressed about the learning of English polysemous words,and feel that they are inefficient,have no interest in vocabulary learning,and have little understanding of metaphors.Afterwards,the author conducted a controlled experiment in two classes at the same level that I personally taught.The experimental class focused on cultivating students ’ metaphorical thinking,guiding students to find the relevance of the meanings of words on their own,and drawing the semantic web based on the core meaning to extend the meaning of the word,while the control class was still Follow the traditional teaching model.After the teaching,the author conducted post-tests in two classes,and then randomly selected students of different levels in the experimental class to conduct interviews.Through the analysis of the results and the content of the interview,the author has the following findings: 1.Teachers should guide students to understand the working mechanism of metaphor,that is,learn to analyze the similarities between the meanings of polysemous words,and carry out the correct extension and expansion in the core meaning,and at the same time have certain Cross-cultural awareness;2.The use of conceptual metaphors for polysemous words learning has a stimulating effect on students at different levels,but students at lower levels will have a certain amount of psychological pressure and anxiety when they are exposed to metaphors,and teachers should guide them correctly;3.Applying conceptual metaphor theory to the vocabulary classroom can help high school students better master the learning and memory of polysemous words and improve the classroom atmosphere.Students have a positive attitude towards introducing conceptual metaphors into the classroom.