The Effect of Conceptual Metaphors on Turkish EFL Learners' Comprehension and Production of Phrasal Verbs

Abstract

Comprehending and using phrasal verbs properly in the foreign language acquisition process is a heavy work for L2 learners. Language learners may be unfamiliar with these multi-word verbs and lack the necessary knowledge and skills to cope with them. The intent of this current study was to find out whether awarenessraising about phrasal verbs through cognitive linguistic approach assist Turkish EFL learners in their learning of phrasal verbs and to what extent awareness-raising is helpful. 63 first year ELT Department students studying at a public university took part in the research. Findings of the study demonstrated that the participants who learned phrasal verbs by recognizing the functions of orientational metaphors did not necessarily perform significantly better than those who learned them through their Turkish equivalents with example sentences. Though the participants in the experimental group performed slightly better than the ones in the control group on the second completion task, this difference was found to be statistically nonsignificant Results of the study, however, implied that dividing phrasal verbs into different groups according to their underlying orientational properties may be effective in the teaching of phrasal verbs so that the learners can understand the functions of satellites by using metaphorical thought.