EESL615: Research Evaluation

Julien Sanghyo Park — Tue, 15 Feb 2011 06:06:26 +0000

Research Evaluation

Julien Sanghyo Park

Yasuda, S. (2010). Learning phrasal verbs through conceptual metaphors: A case of Japanese EFL learners. TESOL Quarterly, 44(2), 250-273.

RELEVANCE

Considering recent cognitive linguistic research that idiomatic phrases are decomposable and analyzable and that the individual words in idiomatic phrases systematically contribute to the overall figurative interpretation, a cognitive linguistic approach may go beyond a simple memorization strategy and be highly beneficial when learning idioms not only for Japanese learners but also for Korean and other EFL learners whose L1 is also “verb-framed.”

CONTENT

Research Question

Does metaphorical awareness play a meaningful role in helping EFL students to learn phrasal verbs when the target idioms are not stored as a unit in the mental lexicon of the learners?

Summary of Previous Research

Enhanced metaphorical awareness helps students to recognize the source domain of figurative expressions and its associated inference patterns and to retain unfamiliar idiomatic phrases through imagery processing rather than by mere memorization (Boers, 2000; Kovecses and Szabo, 1996).

Idiomatic phrases are decomposable and analyzable, and their meanings are not arbitrary but motivated in the sense that the speakers recognize some relationships between the words in the idioms and their overall figurative interpretations (Boers, 2004).

The paradigm of cognitive linguistics appears fruitful in the L2 idiom-acquisition process, because it carries the potential to stimulate alternative and complemen-tary strategies for learning L2 idiomatic phrases, as opposed to blind memo-rization or rote learning, which are used in traditional methods (Boers, 2004).

Summary of Related Conceptual Work

L2 learners use a variety of strategies in a trial-and-error approach, guessing from the context and using the literal meaning of the individual words-to interpret L2 idiomatic phrases. Their comprehension processes are not identical to those discussed in the theories of L1 idiom comprehension (Cooper, 1999).

Metaphoric competence is an intrinsic feature of all aspects of communicative competencies and thus metaphor instruction needs to be an indispensable feature of all skills that L2 learners need to master (Littlemore & Low, 2006).

Despite the fact that phrasal verbs are the most frequently occurring idiomatic strings of language in both spoken and written English (Crutchley, 2007), they constitute major obstacles on the path to proficiency to English (Boers, 2000; Kurtyka, 2001; Littlemore & Low, 2006), and this confusion complicates acquisition especially for learners who lack phrasal verbs in their mother tongue (Neagu, 2007).

Definition of Terms

Orientational metaphors of phrasal verbs: particles attached to stem verbs that have much to do with spatial orientations derived from the experiences of the human body such as up-down, in-out, and on-off.

Verb-framed: Languages are considered verb-framed based on how the motion path is encoded. English verbs use particles to show the path of motion (“run into,” “go out,” “fall down”), and its verbs usually show manner of motion. English verbs that counter this tendency are mostly Latinate, such as "exit," "ascend," or "enter."

FORMAT

Comparative Case Study

Japanese university students (n=115) enrolled in an English language program were divided into two treatment groups: a control group of 56 students and an experimental group of 59 students.

Procedure of the Study

The students in each group learn a set of phrasal verbs through traditional instruction or cognitive linguistic approach respectively, and then are asked to fill in the missing adverbial particles of the phrasal verbs.

Data Analysis

Descriptive statistics are used. Means, standard deviations, and number of participants regarding the performance of students in the completion task are reported in a table and analyzed in variance graphs. The statistical analysis of the research questions were based on ANOVA with a 2 items X 2 groups with the alpha level set at 0.05.

RESULTS

Findings

Both groups performed better for the previously exposed phrasal verbs than for the unexposed ones.

The difference between the two groups was not statistically significant for the exposed list of phrasal verbs.

The experimental group showed better performance than the control group for the unexposed category of phrasal verbs.

What Has Been Learned?

When the target idioms are already stored as a lexical unit in the mental lexicon of the learners, the debate whether the instructional approach is traditional or cognitive semantic may be inconsequential.

When they are unable to retrieve the meaning of the whole string from memory, learners transfer the cognitive approach to the task by shifting their attention to the orientational metaphors and by generating metaphoric thought to other phrases.

Pedagogic Implications

Explicit teaching of the notion of orientational metaphors prior to the acquisition of phrasal verbs.

Metaphor-awareness technique: Cognitive linguistic approach as an alternative and complementary strategy for teaching and learning idioms.

The cognitive linguistic approach is related to acquisition of other lexical items such as compound nouns and adjectives where particles also contribute their meaning to the whole.

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EESL615: Research Evaluation

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