What’s the place of cognitive linguistics in the teaching of English idioms in Kenyan classrooms?
Date
2015-07-16
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International Conference on Education
Abstract
Cognitive linguistics posits that metaphor is a ubiquitous feature of English idioms and a powerful educational tool for both second language teachers and learners. This paper, therefore, analyses 20 purposively sampled English idioms to illustrate how cognitive linguistics can be used to comprehend English idioms. To achieve this objective, the principles of the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), the dominant paradigm in Cognitive Linguistics, were employed. The study also adopted a survey research design because the focus was on analysing sampled English idioms. The data for this study were collected from the Macmillan English Dictionary (2007 edition), Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (2010 edition) and the Internet. Content analysis, which is within the qualitative research paradigm, guided the analysis of the idioms. The study found that cognitive linguistics offers insightful ways on the teaching and learning of English idioms. This study recommends that for successful application of the CMT to idiom teaching and learning, teachers’ metaphorical competence needs to be enhanced since they are the implementers of the curriculum. In addition, the study recommends that the study of English idioms move from theory to practice by sensitizing learners on the pervasiveness of metaphor in language and by encouraging them to extrapolate the conceptual metaphors underlying the English idioms in any given text. The study concludes that cognitive linguistics not only provides a framework within which idioms can be described but also facilitates the comprehension and retention of English idioms in the learning process.
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Conference presentation
Keywords
Cognitive linguistics, Metaphor, Conceptual Metaphor Theory, English Idiom
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