Mind, Language and Experience: Improving the Understanding of Figurative Language in EFL

Abstract

The aim of the present chapter is to present a working technique for improving the metaphorical understanding of EFL learners. The main technique recommended in this chapter is particularisation, which is based on four strands of thought: the role of intentions in the meaning of language; theory of mind; the theory of the social ontogeny of predication; and embodied experience as a basis for the meaning of language. The principle of the particularisation technique has been defined as a presentation of a particularised focus, an imaginary character who is consistently presented to a learner through descriptions of his/her mental states, and with whom a learner can engage in an interaction through the means of narratives. The assumption is that through such interactions learners will be able to perceive the intentions of the speaker/writer better and as a result their comprehension of non-literal language will improve. A particularised focus is meant to become for the learners a link between the language and the user. Its explicitly presented mind can help EFL learners to view a foreign language not just from the perspective of a purely structural entity, but as a tool for expressing one’s own mind. Non-literal language is a particular example of discourse that depends on intentions, the assumption being that the technique strongly affects learners’ comprehension of metaphors, metonymy, similes, jokes, and irony.