The effect of conceptual metaphor awareness on English students' press reading skill and metaphoric competence

Various research studies have been designed to examine the potential effects of conceptual metaphor awareness-raising activities on the retention, remembrance and production of new vocabulary. While yielding rich harvests, these studies were limited in scope. Therefore, this current mixed-method design study was carried out to investigate the long-term effects of metaphoric concepts awareness-raising activities on EFL learners’ press reading skill and metaphoric competence. Two intact press reading classes were randomly assigned to either experimental (27 students) or control group (24 students) and both were given a metaphoric language test and a teacher-made achievement test to ensure their equality at the outset. During the 15-week-long course, experimental group received conceptual metaphor awareness-raising activities besides the routine materials and practices, whereas control group was given some extra reading comprehension materials. At the end of the research treatment, the two groups were tested again on the same tests. Quantitative data analyses through running two independent samples t-tests revealed statistically significant differences in two groups’ performance on the post-tests. Also, the interview results showed a positive change in the attitude of the participants with regard to such activities. The results which are discussed within cognitive linguistics have implications for classroom teaching practices and material development.