Analyzing the Main EFL Learners' Writing Problems with Focus on Figurative Language: Metaphor and Metonymy Instruction
محورهای موضوعی : Research PaperNasrin Jenabagha 1 , Shaban Najafi Karim 2 , Amir Marzban 3
1 - English Department, Qaemshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran
2 - English Department, Qaemshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran
3 - English Department, Qaemshahr Branch, Islamic Azad University, Qaemshahr, Iran
کلید واژه: metaphor, EFL Context, figurative language, metonymy, Writing Skill ,
چکیده مقاله :
This study was an endeavor to explore the main sources of EFL learners' writing problems through dialogic interactions. It also investigated the effect of metaphor and metonymy on EFL learners' writing achievement. To achieve this end, the researcher adopted mixed-method research with a sample of intermediate language students from both genders. In the qualitative section, 20 EFL learners were selected through purposive sampling, and in the quantitative section, 120 language students were selected through convenience sampling from a university in Gorgan. Data were gathered through Quick Oxford Placement Test (OPT), writing tests, and a semi-structured interview. After recording and transcribing the interviews, the transcripts of the interviews were formatted using the software NVIVO 11 Pro®. With the help of this software, the textual data were reduced into some statements which could reflect the main ideas of the participants’ lived experiences without any intervention from the researcher. However, the data of the tests were inserted into SPSS software and the ANCOVA test was run to indicate differences between the three groups in terms of their writing improvement. The main results suggested that metaphor and metonymy through dialogic interactions had significant effects on the participations’ writing achievement. As well as that, findings from the analysis of data revealed the four main sources of writing problems as linguistic, personal, epistemological, and ecological.
Ahkemoğlu, H., & Mutlu, K., A. (2016). A study on metaphorical perceptions of EFL learners regarding foreign language teachers. International Journal of Language Academy, 4(2), 342-358.
Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A. S. (1996). Language Testing in Practice. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Bakhtin, M. (1984). Problems of Dostoevsky's poetics. C. Emerson (ed. and trans.). University of Minnesota Press.
Choi, J., Tatar, B., & Kim, J. (2014). Dialogic Interactions in the English-Mediated Classroom: A Case Study of a Social Science Class for Engineering Students in Korea. Asian Social Science, 10(16), 123-145.
Christoph, J. N., & Nystrand, M. (2001). Taking risks, negotiating relationships: One teacher's transition toward a “dialogic classroom.” Research in the Teaching of English, 36, 249-286.
Creswell, J. W. (2005). Educational Research, Planning, Conduction, and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research. Second Edition. USA: Pearson Prentice Hall.
Ghane Shirazi, M. & Talebizadeh, M. R. (2013). Developing Intermediate EFL Learners' Metaphorical Competence through Exposure. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 3(1), 135-141.
Farjami, H. (2012). English Learners' Metaphors and Images of Vocabulary Learning. Sheikhbahaee EFL Journal, 1(2), 75-84.
Gillies, R. (2015). Dialogic interactions in the cooperative classroom. International Journal of Educational Research, 14(4), 1-12.
Guan, J. (2009). The Cognitive Nature of Metonymy and Its Implications for English Vocabulary Teaching. English Language Teaching, 2(4), 179-188.
Giles, D.E. (2015) Modelling Volatility Spillover Effects between Developed Stock Markets and Asian Emerging Stock Markets. International Journal of Finance & Economics,5 (4),155-177.
Harmer, J. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Fourth Edition. China: Pearson, Longman.
Hyland, K. (2004). Disciplinary Discourses: Social interactions in Academic writing. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.
Kramsch, C. (2003). Metaphor and the subjective construction of beliefs. In: Kalaja, P. & Barcelos, A. M. F. (Eds.). Beliefs about SLA: New Research Approaches. Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Lakoff, G., Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors We Live By. Chicago University of Chicago Press.
Littlemore, J., & Low, G. (2006a). Figurative thinking and foreign language learning. London: Palgrave Macmillan.
MacArthur, F. (2010). Metaphorical competence in EFL: Where are we and where should we be going? A view from the language classroom. AILA Review, 23, 155–173.
Metzger, S. (2017). Dialogic Interactions that Support Learning and Motivation: A Phenomenological Study of High School Teachers’ Experiences During Reflective Dialogue. An unpublished PD dissertation, Concordia University-Portland College of Education Doctorate of Education Program.
Moses, R., & Mohamad, M. (2019). Challenges Faced by Students and Teachers on Writing Skills in ESL Contexts: A Literature Review. Creative Education, 10(13), 85-91.
Muhammed, A. A. (2015). Paragraph Writing Challenges Faced by University EFL Learners. International Journal on Studies in English Language and Literature (IJSELL), 3(8), 23-27.
Panther, K., &Thornburg, L. (2017). Metaphor and Metonymy in Language and Thought: A Cognitive Linguistic Approach. Synthesis Philosophica 32(2), 271-294.
Pratiwi, K.D. (2012). Students’ Difficulties in Writing English (A Study at the Third Semester Students of English Education Program of UNIB in Academic Year 2011-2012). Unpublished thesis: Bengkulu University.
Shokouhi, H., & Isazadeh, M. (2009). The Effect of Teaching Conceptual and Image Metaphors to EFL Learners. The Open Applied Linguistics Journal, 2(3), 22-31.
