Mind, Metaphor and Language Teaching [Paperback]

Understanding metaphor raises key questions about the relationship between language and meaning, and between language and mind. This book explores how this understanding can impact upon the theory and practice of language teaching. After summarising the cognitive basis of metaphor and other figures of speech, it looks at how this knowledge can inform classroom practice. Finally, it sets out how we can use these insights to re-appraise language learning theory in a way that treats it as consonant with the cognitive nature of language.List of Tables and Figures Acknowledgements Introduction PART 1: THE STUDY OF METAPHOR Early Perspectives The rehabilitation of metaphor The problem of knowing when something is a metaphor or not Metaphor and relevance theory The cognitive view of metaphor Conceptual metaphor: how metaphors share common themes How we shape abstract concepts with the metaphors we use to group them The lack of a clear distinction between the metaphorical and the literal Metaphors as transfers of meaning from one domain to another: mapping and blending How abstract meaning is conceptualised through metaphor and image schema Some of the conceptual metaphors that produce abstract language are culturally-specific and some are universal Grammar as developing from metaphor over time Conclusions PART 2: USING FIGURATIVE LANGUAGE The language of metaphor Stretching the domain What categories mean What teachers and students can do with their understanding of categories Achieving greater freedom with meaning: describing things as other than themselves Layering Metaphors looking for a meaning Conclusions PART 3: TEACHING THE LANGUAGE AND STRUCTURE OF METAPHOR Metaphor and parts of speech Metaphors that identify themselves: grammatical metaphor Elliptical metaphors Conclusion PART 4: ALLEGORY AND ANALOGY: TEACHING WITH EXTENDED METAPHORS Allegory Analogy Analogy, models and writing instruction Teaching with analogy: conclusions PART 5: TEACHING LEXIS THROUGH METAPHOR l£§