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MA Thesis TREATMENT OF FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE IN
ADVANCED EFL COURSEBOOKS
Professor: Student:Katarina Rasulic PhD Dina Vulovic
Belgrade, 2014
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Cognitive linguistics William Croft and Alan Cruse:- language is not an autonomous
cognitive faculty- grammar is conceptualization- knowledge of language emerges from
language use
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Boers and Lindstromberg:
general theories of cognitive processing, such as those of memory, can be employed to understand linguistic behaviour
Theories of memory: levels-of-processing, dual coding
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK Motivation in language ‘Extra-linguistic’ + ‘intra-linguistic’ motivation
= lateral thinking
Elaboration: ‘mental effort that promotes deep-level processing and facilitates memory storage’
Structural:sound-pattern analysis, affixes etc. Semantic: meaningful context, pictorial support
LIMITATIONS Different socio-cultural backgrounds Same conceptualisation, different
lexis (add fuel to the fire vs. *add oil to the fire; ANGER IS HEAT)
Scarcity of long-term empirical research; no consistent CL-inspired vocabulary teaching syllabus
RESEARCH QUESTIONS CL principles in figurative language
presentation? (cognitive, emotional and cultural experiences as factors guiding language understanding)
Theoretical explanation? Means of fostering figurative language
understanding, retention, recognition in context and successful retrieval?
Based on: critical analysis of relevant up-to-date research; author's immediate experience with the teaching process
HYPOTHESES Vocabulary treated as subordinate to grammar;
no special attention paid to instances such as figurative language
Figurative language instances grouped according to their usage in context, rather than according to their semantic or structural properties
No consistent model of figurative language presentation
OBJECTIVES Identification of exercise range Classification of exercises according to
consideration given to CL principles (motivation, levels-of-processing, dual coding)
Manual for teachers Overall applicability of CL principles in
vocabulary teaching
METHODOLODY Textbooks comprised by DELTA course
(Diploma in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages): Face 2 Face, New Cutting Edge, New Headway, Innovations, New English File, Total English, English Unlocked, Clockwork
Focus on metaphoric expressions, idioms and collocations, and exercises that explicitly deal with them
ANALYSIS Corpus selection and organisation Data analysis – mainly qualitative
TREATMENT OF METAPHOR 1 unit; no theoretical explanation,
context provided; categorisation:- Describing life as a journey- Describing character/feelings as weather- Describing business as war
7 exercises
TREATMENT OF METAPHOR Look at these pairs of sentences.
Which words/phrases in bold has a literal meaning (L)? Which has a non-literal meaning (NL)? What are the non-literal meanings? (F2F)
a) The market is flooded with cheap, plastic goods.
b) If it rains any more, the roads will soon be flooded.
TREATMENT OF IDIOMS 2 units/sections matching idiomatic expressions with non-
idiomatic examples; discussion on style; no theoretical explanations
Categorisation: key words hands, head, feet, heart and face (e.g. To have one's hands full – referral to experience; My heart sank - HAPPY IS UP, SAD IS DOWN)
TREATMENT OF IDIOMS 22 exercises Matching:
TREATMENT OF IDIOMS Gap-fill
TREATMENT OF IDIOMS Replacement
Categorisation
TREATMENT OF COLLOCATIONS Grouping and categorisation
TREATMENT OF COLLOCATIONS
TREATMENT OF COLLOCATIONS
TREATMENT OF COLLOCATIONS
DISCUSSION No explicit consideration is given to the
notions of semantic motivation of target figurative expressions (complex, unnecessary, frustrating?)
Data abounds in possibilities for both structural and semantic elaborations (follow-up speaking exercises)
Pictorial elucidation as a method of idiom presentation
!!! Successful retrieval (multiword expressions etc.)?
FINDINGSInstances of
figurative language
Total number of units
Total number of exercises
Metaphor 1 7
Idioms 2 22
Collocations 0 30
FINDINGS
Figurative language
Number of exercises/activities according to type
Gap-fill Match.
Repl. Key words
Exp. domains
Speaking ex.
Metaphor 2 0 0 2 3 0Idioms 7 4 2 4 0 5Collocations 10 4 5 5 6 0