An Empirical Study On Conceptual Metaphor Theory To English Vocabulary Teaching In Senior High School

Vocabulary is the foundation of English learning.On the one hand,vocabulary is the basic unit of expression and is closely related to students’ overall language ability.On the other hand,vocabulary recognition will directly affect students’ comprehension of texts.As a result,the majority of English instruction in high school continues to focus on vocabulary.However,there are some fundamental issues that arise with vocabulary teaching and acquisition: Teachers always adopt traditional vocabulary teaching methods,and simply list words with little attention to context in daily instruction.Students mechanically memorize words without understanding the connotation and extension of words,which frequently leads to misunderstandings in vocabulary comprehension and inflexible vocabulary application.The English Curriculum Standards for General High School（2020 Edition）establishes more stringent standards for vocabulary acquisition,so teachers in senior high school urgently need to reform and innovate vocabulary teaching methods so as to better improve students’ English proficiency.Conceptual Metaphor Theory broadens the scope of traditional metaphors and connects metaphors with human thinking,which has been widely recognized in educational circles.This theory provides a better explanation for human linguistic thinking and the semantic extension of words.Therefore,according to the characteristics of Conceptual Metaphor Theory and the requirements of the New Curriculum Standards,the author applies Conceptual Metaphor Theory to high school English vocabulary teaching,analyzes its effects on students’ vocabulary learning in terms of both vocabulary comprehension and application,and proposes research questions based on this.1.What is the effect of applying Conceptual Metaphor Theory to vocabulary teaching on students’ word analysis in context?2.What is the effect of applying Conceptual Metaphor Theory to vocabulary teaching on students’ word application?Under the guidance of Conceptual Metaphor Theory,this paper respectively described the definitions,features,classifications,and working mechanism of conceptual metaphors.The author adopted an empirical study by organizing a pre-test and a questionnaire before the teaching,aiming to analyze the current situation and problems of English vocabulary teaching in high school,and implemented a post-test and an interview after three months of teaching in order to conduct a secondary analysis of the new vocabulary teaching approach.The two classes’ tests results were compared and evaluated statistically by SPSS 26.0 to evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of using Conceptual Metaphor Theory for vocabulary instruction in high school.After the experiment,the author concludes that Conceptual Metaphor Theory can not only facilitate students’ words analysis in specific contexts from three aspects,but also promote their word application.In addition,the conceptual metaphorical vocabulary teaching method can enrich the existing vocabulary teaching method and thus works as a complement for traditional vocabulary teaching method.