Description of Metaphor Components - Essay Example

? A. Explain a) the three components of metaphor (topic, vehicle, grounds) A metaphor is a figure of speech that may be applied to an object to which there is no literal meaning. It is the direct comparison of two outwardly unrelated subjects. A metaphor carries three components within it: topic, vehicle and grounds. We will use an actual metaphor to aid in our explanation of the components (Dolinsky & Sons, 2001)1. The metaphor is as follows: ‘The eagle is a lion among birds’. These metaphorical components can be explained as follows: Topic: This refers to the theme of the metaphor or the subject matter being referred to in this instance. Using our example above, the eagle is the topic of the metaphor. Vehicle: This refers to both the expression and concepts that are called upon by the words i.e. the term that is being used metaphorically or non-literally. Using our example above, the lion is the vehicle of the metaphor. Grounds: This refers to the relationship between the topic and the vehicle. There is a relationship between the lion and the eagle. This is in relation to the strength of the lion and the tenacity of the eagle which is being used as the ground that supports this metaphor. The tenacity of an eagle is being equated to the strength of the lion. b) Explain the claim that metaphor is found in most writing very frequently. Illustrate with examples taken from the attached text about Jack Ashley (Appendix A). The metaphor is a powerful language tool as well as being a quite complex one too. Metaphors are powerful tools to give ideas to people that they will always remember. This is one of the reasons why the metaphor is found in writing very frequently. Metaphors are also great tools of imagery. Imagery refers to the method whereby a writer would utilise words that paint pictures of scenes and characters in the minds of their readers. In this age of expanded imagination, writers have had to adopt metaphorical writing to enable the reader to actually experience the scene as well as the characters in the story. Metaphors are one of the effective tools in writing fiction. They give life to the normally dull prose thus their frequent use. With these features, it is very easy to see why the claim that metaphors are found in most writing very frequently is quite true. We have sought metaphorical examples from the Jack Ashley text as below: ‘If the media is a smug insiders club’: The metaphorical component of this metaphor refers to the media as the topic of discussion. The vehicle would be the insider’s club while the ground for this is equating the smugness of the insider’s club to the current media characteristics. ‘Britain seems much more of a stitched-up country’: The metaphorical component of this metaphor refers to the Britain as the topic of discussion. The vehicle would be the stitched-up country while the ground for this is equating the characteristic of the new Britain to the perpetual collusions between the wealthiest and most powerful citizens. ‘Parliament starts to feel like a fig leaf for things as they are’: The metaphorical component of this metaphor refers to the parliament as the topic of discussion. The vehicle would be the fig leaf while the ground for this is equating the characteristic of parliament to the fig leaf. A fig leaf is construed as a devise intended to conceal something regarded as shameful therefore equating the parliament to it, means that without the backbenchers and strong journalism, parliament would be a shameful institution. B. Comment on the teaching implications. How could suitable materials be designed to enhance intermediate students’ ability to understand metaphorical language, to re-use metaphors they have seen before appropriately in new contexts, and to know about metaphor in general? You may refer to examples of effective or ineffective materials from existing EFL textbooks if you wish; if so please include a copy of the relevant section. Difficulties are encountered by foreign language students when learning a new language, not to mention utilising metaphorical expressions within that same language. This is because metaphors arise through use of subtleties and nuances that enrich the language thus making it a further hurdle to conquer above the basic language setup. Teaching metaphors to foreign language students is therefore quite a hard task. To know about metaphors in general, the EFL students may perform the following: Since they have also become a regular part of daily speech, the students would be exposed to them all around their new environment. This is the first stage of garnering information about metaphors in general by EFL students. By reading widely, EFL students would also come across various metaphors used in fiction and non fictional works and this exposure would introduce them to the world of metaphors To enhance the intermediate student’s ability to understand metaphorical language, the following may have to be undertaken: To facilitate intercultural learning and understanding of metaphorical language, students have to be exposed to cultural metaphors. In this way, the cultural metaphors act as a starting point to introduce the 2 cultures, provide information about cultural differences in everyday life as well as act as a basis of subsequent exercises and discussions, for which the metaphors act as anecdotes and evidence to support learning. During this process, students from different cultures teach each other, other than receiving information from the course tutor. By acting as specialists in their own culture, students of different cultural background help each other understand their own cultural language structures. The second point regards to daily language use, metaphoric expressions can be classified as conceptual and image metaphors. A conceptual metaphor is one’s knowledge of real world experiences that can be compared meaningfully. An image metaphor is a creative occurrence that maps one mental image onto another. In this regard, instruction on English metaphors for EFL learners can include strategies that will improve their ability to use metaphors effectively in everyday communication. To re-use metaphors they have seen before appropriately in new contexts, the following will have to be done: Use of learning objects can be incorporated during teaching sessions. Learning objects refer to a digital resource that can be used to support learning. Examples of such learning objects include: instructional software e.g. e-learns, multimedia content, instructional content. Students can be referred to these learning objects periodically hence increasing their chances of re-using metaphors in new contexts; Secondly, teachers can also utilise metaphors in their normal teaching engagements. By providing teaching discussions that are related to metaphoric examples, the student’s understanding of such metaphors will increase exponentially thus providing meaningful metaphors that can be re-used as well as helping the student in absorbing and understanding information. How is the vocabulary organised in a given EFL course? Find a textbook in the library or elsewhere which you consider does a reasonably good job of presenting/explaining/helping students learn vocabulary (at least in one or two exercises, units or sections). Show what principles are in operation in the materials in question. Include scanned copies of the exercises with your answer. For communication to be successful in a given EFL course, a component called vocabulary is essential. While grammar is important, a message may fail to be conveyed due to a lack of vocabulary. Language learners do encounter vocabulary on a day to day basis and therefore must be able to acquire and retain it. In an EFL course, learning vocabulary can be organized in various ways: through use of a picture / visual dictionaries; giving constant vocabulary quizzes; reinforcing vocabulary words in other activities; use of vocabulary trees; creation of vocabulary themes; use of technology; specific vocabulary lists; word formation charts; learning about collocations; and use of corpus; We will analyze the vocabulary textbook and review what principles are in operation therein Use of vocabulary trees (Analysis of the first vocabulary textbook for question 5) Understanding and learning new vocabulary can be a hard task and needs time just like any other subject. The best method of undertaking such learning is to understand the foundation of the words. Vocabulary trees provide a visually aesthetic manner of reviewing a word and its branching (related) meanings and roots. The finest thing about learning the roots and foundations of words is that this carries over to other words thereby providing an opportunity to grow one’s vocabulary base. Further in this, one may learn the common prefixes and suffixes of words that can give an idea of their positive or negative connotations. Vocabulary trees are used to help provide context. This is useful in increasing vocabulary in specific subject areas. The principle of this is to create a relationship between various items while learning the specific vocabularies that apply to them. We can analyze the first vocabulary teaching material for textbooks for this question. See vocabulary tree in Appendix 1. This vocabulary tree is around the subject area of transportation. The first question asks for the type of transport used most often and why. This prompts the student to provide the principle ideas concerning the subject into the vocabulary tree, these being rail, road, land, air and sea / water. By adding the methods of transport to the overall means of transport – these being balloon, barge, cable car, coach, ferry, glider, helicopter, hovercraft, hydrofoil, lorry / truck, Maglev train, motorbike, quad bike, scooter, submarine, tram and van - the student then inputs the principle areas relating to the subject, thus increasing his/her knowledge of transport vocabulary. This example can be utilized in other subjects whereby it promotes the student to think in relationship-lines. This method of recognizing the word and understanding its meaning in literature promotes the student’s vocabulary ability and therefore even lessens the need to look it up in an online reference or a dictionary. Question 3 provides a forum for the students to discuss on their preferred method of transport, which methods they have not used, which methods they would or wouldn’t like to try as well as to provide the advantages of the methods of transport discussed. This exercise gives an opportunity for the foreign language students to provide more sub categories of transport vocabularies in different contexts. This aims to make these transport vocabularies active thus easier to retain in memory. By repeating this exercise over and over again, the vocabulary goes from passive knowledge to active knowledge. Vocabulary trees are great tools to learn vocabulary in groups of words instead of haphazard lists. In this way, words that are related to each other are more likely to be recalled over a long time (Denning, Kessler & Leben, 2006)2. Learn about collocations (Analysis of the first vocabulary textbook for question 5) Collocations refer to words that often go together. The principle of this is to create a relationship between various items so as to learn to speak like native English speakers and minimize the risk of word combinations that sound unnatural and wrong. We can analyse the first vocabulary teaching material for textbooks for this question. See collocation exercise in Appendix 2. The first question requires the students to pick out words that are made up of combinations of verbs, nouns, and adjectives that make sense. This exercise enables the student to sound more natural as well as promoting a richer way of expressing themselves. The importance of this first question is to enable the student to pick relevant word combinations. If this is done correctly, the student will learn of the most natural / ordinary way to say something, give alternative ways to speak (which will be more precise and expressive e.g. instead of repeating ‘It was very dark and very cold’, the student can phrase it as ‘It was pitch dark and bitterly cold’), it promotes language development and finally it will improve the technique of writing as it is more catchy and interesting. The other principle of this first part of the question is to see if the students can recognize the collocations. The two main ways of finding collocations is to train oneself by engaging in quizzes such as this as well as while listening to tapes in English. The second question requires the student to place the words in a logical order. This is to find out whether the student understands the meaning of the words and therefore the flow of activities represented by those words. The principle of this exercise is to find out if second language students have paid attention to how the collocations relate to the context / circumstance around them. There are cases whereby collocations depend greatly on the situation in which it is used, especially with long phrases and certain sentence structures, therefore a student should ensure they understand the patterns of phrases and sentence structures that support collocations. In the third question, the students are given an opportunity to practice using the collocations thus master them. Familiarity with collocations and the consequential ability to understand a native speaker’s speech would remarkably boost a second language learners efficiency as a listener or reader. Explain how modern dictionaries present information structured and organised so as to be helpful to EFL learners. Give specific examples of how various dictionaries can be helpful, or unhelpful, to learners. (50%) Dictionaries are reference books on any subject. These reference books focus on defining words and phrases, including multiple meanings for each of them. The most commonly used dictionary is the language dictionary that gives meaning to frequently used words in a language (Wagner, Muse & Tannenbaum, 2007)3. Language dictionaries are made for various types of users. These are office workers, scholars, office, schools as well as second language learners. Dictionaries can be classified using various criteria as shown below: Nature of word lists: this refers to dictionaries which are restricted or general (unrestricted); The kind of information required: these are dictionaries that offer explanatory information, translation, ideographic and etymological dictionaries; The language in which the information is given: this refers to monolingual and bilingual dictionaries; For the prospective user: dictionaries are written for a specific group of users e.g. students, children and advanced learners. Modern dictionaries present information in various ways depending on the type of dictionary as noted above. There are various types of linguistic dictionaries available that are helpful for EFL learners: Translation dictionaries: These are probably the first type of dictionary to be used by second language learners as they translate words from native languages to the English language or vice versa. Explanatory dictionaries: These types of dictionaries deal with the usage, form and meaning of lexical units. Lexical units are single words or chains of words that form the basic elements of a language’s vocabulary. These lexical units are crucial for foreign language learners to understand the basics of the new language, in this case, English. These dictionaries also provide synchronised / coexisting words versus diachronic presentation of word meanings i.e. the development of certain words over a period of time. In this instance, the second language learners will learn new words and how they exist or work simultaneously with other words as well as learn various words and their history. Explanatory dictionaries also indicate basic words as well as their derived terms and their usage. Specialised dictionaries: These are dictionaries that are for specialised use. This refers to phraseological dictionaries which can be used by the second language learners to learn English phrases, colloquial words, idioms, proverbs and the like. There are also phrasal verbs dictionaries that expound on phrasal verbs, new words dictionaries as well as slang dictionaries. Other types of specialised dictionaries include usage dictionaries which are used to give advice to native learners on what is right or wrong. Etymological dictionaries can be used by these students to understand the primary meaning of words, know the immediate source of borrowing as well as the word’s origin. Finally, there are two other types of dictionaries that are very useful to second language learners. There is the Pronouncing dictionary which record variants of contemporary pronunciation of the language as well as Frequency dictionaries which make lists of words that are suitable as the basis for teaching English to foreign learners. Should the correct use of dictionaries be presented & practised in EFL classrooms? Or just used by students without any training? Or not really used much at all by students? Is your answer affected by whether we are discussing bilingual/monolingual, paper/online/handheld electronic types? (50%) Improper use of dictionaries can lead to inaccurate compositions that are full of errors that are avoidable. Without being guided, a second language student has a high probability of making mistakes when using the dictionary. An example of such an occurrence is as follows: A student may look up a word in a bilingual dictionary and since such dictionaries do not give the semantic field of each translation, the student may end up using the incorrect word in his thesis. There is a correct way of using dictionaries and this should be practised in EFL classrooms. Foreign language teachers should consider dictionary use as a skill that should be taught. Dictionaries are not self explanatory, especially to a second language learner. Directions are required to make the dictionary clear so that students can disentangle information and select the appropriate meaning needed (Helman, (2012)4. Students need to learn how the dictionary works, the kind of dictionary that best responds to their needs, how to use it as a reference resource and how to find what they need exactly. In writing, many learners may get into trouble because they piece together sentences from dictionary definitions forgetting to take into account the grammatical form of the word or the problems with one-to-one correspondences between languages. There are varied rival dictionaries put out by different companies. These are in different forms – paperback, hardback or online editions - and they also may vary in other ways. Every company, for example, uses its own adaptation of phonetic respelling based on research by its language specialists. One company may use the International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) as others adopt proprietary pronunciation symbols, while some use alphabetical letters in a unique way to show pronunciation. Other distinctions between dictionaries appear in other characteristics. Many dictionaries include ‘experts’ guidance on usage, grammar and an account of the English language. Definitions across dictionaries vary slightly, and illustration sentences may be a product of the editorial staff or taken from actual everyday usage, or even the first known written use, when possible. With all these varied point of views, second language students will require training and guidance on how to use the most relevant dictionaries to provide the most accurate answers to questions raised in English (Diamond & Dutwin, 2003)5. The type of dictionaries being used also affect the level of learning and training that is needed by second language learners. Students who use monolingual and bilingual dictionaries encounter slightly different versions of word explanations. According to research, bilingual dictionaries do not handle the distinctions in meaning of equivalent translations well, and they provide no information on permissible word combinations, connotations, frequency of use and opposing choices. With this research, we are informed that bilingual dictionaries may inevitably lead students to specific types of errors. From the information noted above, we can conclude that EFL classrooms need to be taught how to correctly use dictionaries to ensure that students utilise the correct words and information required. Teachers can demonstrate the use of different types of dictionaries to enable the students to find correct meanings and corresponding words. Bibliography Denning, K. M., Kessler, B., & Leben, W. R. (2006). English vocabulary elements. Oxford, Oxford University Press. Diamond, H., & Dutwin, P. (2003). English the easy way (4th ed.). Hauppauge, N.Y.: Barron's. Dolinsky, M., & Sons, F. P. (2001). Metaphors. Bloomington, Ind.?: Kennedy & Sons, Fine Printers. Helman, L. (2012). Words their way with English learners: word study for phonics, vocabulary, and spelling (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Wagner, R. K., Muse, A. E., & Tannenbaum, K. R. (2007). Vocabulary acquisition: implications for reading comprehension. New York: Guilford Press. Read More