The application of conceptual metaphors to teaching idioms to enghlish majored students at thu dau mot university m a

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HO CHI MINH CITY
UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES
FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS & LITERATURE

THE APPLICATION OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHORS TO
TEACHING IDIOMS TO ENGLISH-MAJORED STUDENTS
AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY

A thesis submitted to the
Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature
in partial fulfillment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

By
PHẠM THÁI BẢO NGỌC

Supervised by
TÔ MINH THANH, Assoc. Prof. Dr.

HO CHI MINH CITY,i NOVEMBER 2015


STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP
I certify that this thesis entitled “THE APPLICATION OF CONCEPTUAL
METAPHORS

TO

TEACHING

IDIOMS

TO

ENGLISH-MAJORED

STUDENTS AT THU DAU MOT UNIVERSITY” is my own work.
This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other
institution.
Ho Chi Minh City, November 20, 2015

Phạm Thái Bảo Ngọc

i


RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS
I hereby state that I, Phạm Thái Bảo Ngọc, being the candidate for the degree of Master
in TESOL, accept the requirements of the University relating to the retention and use of
Master’s Theses deposited in the Library.
In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original copy of my thesis deposited in the
Library should be accessible for purposes of study and research in accordance with the
normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction of
theses.
Ho Chi Minh City, November 20, 2015

Phạm Thái Bảo Ngọc

ii


ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

The appearance of only my name on the cover of this thesis does not mean that it is an
individual effort. In fact, the thesis was accomplished with the help of many individuals
to whom I will always be grateful.
My deepest gratitude is to my supervisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tô Minh Thanh. I have been
particularly fortunate to have a supervisor who allowed me great freedom to make
discoveries on my own, and at the same time gave me unflagging support whenever my
steps wavered. I am also thankful to her for careful proof-reading and line-by-line
comments on my writing. Her patience and guidance helped me weather many a crisis
and finish this thesis. I hope that one day I would become as good a mentor to my
students as Ms Thanh has been to me.
My sincere thanks also go to Dr. Lê Hoàng Dũng, Dr. Nguyễn Hoàng Tuấn, Dr.
Nguyễn Thu Hương, Dr. Đặng Tấn Tín, Dr. Phó Phương Dung, and Dr. Nguyễn Thị
Kiều Thu for numerous discussions and lectures on related topics that helped me
broaden my knowledge and sharpen my arguments for the thesis.
I am also deeply indebted to Dr. Lý Quyết Tiến, the Dean of the Faculty of Foreign
Languages at Thu Dau Mot University, for providing me with optimum conditions to
conduct my research at this site. I would like to acknowledge the academic staff,
especially Mr. Trịnh Huỳnh Chấn, and my colleagues at the faculty as well for their
assistance and encouragement during the process of conducting and writing this thesis.
I also owe sincere thanks to my students, who are an inspiration to me, for their active
participation in the study. Without their support, my thesis would never have been
accomplished.
Last but not least, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my beloved parents for always
being there for me as a constant source of love, support and strength all these years.
Thanks to them, my dreams are born, nurtured and fulfilled. I am blessed to be their
child, as always.

iii

ABSTRACT
Contrary to the traditional view of idioms, cognitive linguists have demonstrated that
the nature of idioms is not arbitrary and rote memorization is not the only way to learn
them. The discovery that several figurative idioms are semantically motivated by a
common conceptual metaphor has opened up a path to more systematic and insightful
learning. However, it is still unclear to what extent the elaboration of conceptual
metaphors could facilitate learners’ reception and production of idioms over time.
Besides, their attitudes towards the employment of conceptual metaphors have yet to be
thoroughly explored. This study is an attempt to fill in these gaps in the literature. To
address the issues, a quasi-experiment with the pre-test – post-test non-equivalent
group design and an attitudinal survey were conducted on a sample of 69 Englishmajored students at Thu Dau Mot University. The results of the study reveal that the
explanation of conceptual metaphors was especially beneficial for the students’
reception of idioms over time, and to a lesser extent for their production of these
idioms. As compared to the traditional instruction, the effectiveness of applying
conceptual metaphors to teaching was not particularly outstanding in the short term.
However, this cognitive approach showed its relatively long-lasting value, especially
weeks after the instruction, in terms of the students’ idiom reception and production.
The employment of conceptual metaphors in teaching idioms also received positive
feedback from the students, though the instruction itself exposed some shortcomings
that need to be dealt with. In view of these findings, the study discussed implications of
the adoption of conceptual metaphors as an additional channel for idiom acquisition for
EFL learners, teachers as well as syllabus and textbook designers.
Keywords: idioms, conceptual metaphors, CM-inspired instruction, reception, receptive
knowledge, production, productive knowledge, motivation

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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Statement of authorship ....................................................................................................i

Retention and use of the thesis ....................................................................................... ii
Acknowledgement ......................................................................................................... iii
Abstract ...........................................................................................................................iv
Table of contents .............................................................................................................. v
List of abbreviations .......................................................................................................ix
List of tables ..................................................................................................................... x
List of figures ............................................................................................................... xiii
Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................... 1
1.1 Background of the study ............................................................................................ 1
1.2 Context of the study ................................................................................................... 3
1.3 Aims of the study ...................................................................................................... 4
1.4 Research questions and hypotheses ........................................................................... 4
1.5 Significance of the study............................................................................................ 6
1.6 Outline of the thesis ................................................................................................... 7
Chapter 2. Literature review ........................................................................................ 8
2.1 Overview of idioms and teaching idioms in EFL contexts........................................ 8
2.1.1 Definitions and features of idioms .................................................................... 9
2.1.2 Importance of teaching idioms to EFL learners .............................................. 13
2.1.2.1 Language proficiency........................................................................... 13
2.1.2.2 Efficiency and richness in language use .............................................. 14
2.1.2.3 Cultural understanding ......................................................................... 16
2.1.3 Aspects of idiomatic competence ................................................................... 16
2.1.3.1 Reception and production .................................................................... 17
2.1.3.2 Recognition and recall ......................................................................... 18
2.1.3.3 Comprehension and use ....................................................................... 19
2.1.4 Explicit and implicit idiom instruction............................................................ 20
2.1.5 Traditional and cognitive linguistic views of idioms and idiom teaching ...... 23
2.1.5.1 Traditional view of idioms and idiom teaching ................................... 23
2.1.5.2 Cognitive linguistic view of idioms and idiom teaching ..................... 23
2.2 The Conceptual Metaphor Theory ........................................................................... 27

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2.2.1 Conceptual metaphors ..................................................................................... 27
2.2.2 The working mechanism of conceptual metaphors ......................................... 27
2.2.3 The experiential basis of conceptual metaphors ............................................. 29
2.3 The application of conceptual metaphors to teaching idioms ................................. 30
2.3.1 Theoretical support for applying conceptual metaphors to teaching idioms .. 30
2.3.2 Recent research on applying conceptual metaphors to teaching idioms ......... 31
2.3.3 Issues yet to be resolved .................................................................................. 38
2.4 Theoretical and empirical guidelines for the study.................................................. 39
2.5 Summary .................................................................................................................. 40
Chapter 3. Methodology ............................................................................................. 41
3.1 Research design ....................................................................................................... 42
3.2 Research site ............................................................................................................ 45
3.3 Pilot study ................................................................................................................ 45
3.4 Participants ............................................................................................................... 46
3.5 Teaching materials ................................................................................................... 50
3.5.1 Selection of the target conceptual metaphors and idioms ............................... 50
3.5.1.1 Rationale for the selected topics .......................................................... 50
3.5.1.2 Selection of the target conceptual metaphors ...................................... 52
3.5.1.3 Selection of the target idioms .............................................................. 52
3.5.2 Design of teaching materials ........................................................................... 53
3.6 Research instruments ............................................................................................... 56
3.6.1 The Quick Placement Test .............................................................................. 56
3.6.2 The Idiom Knowledge Test ............................................................................. 57
3.6.2.1 Overview of the Idiom Knowledge Test ............................................ 58
3.6.2.2 Test-item designing .............................................................................. 59
3.6.2.3 Piloting and test reliability ................................................................... 60
3.6.2.4 Test administration and scoring ........................................................... 63

3.6.3 Attitudinal questionnaire ................................................................................. 65
3.6.3.1 Design and construct ............................................................................ 65
3.6.3.2 Piloting and reliability.......................................................................... 68
3.7 Data collection procedure ........................................................................................ 69
3.8 Data analysis procedure ........................................................................................... 72
3.9 Summary .................................................................................................................. 75
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Chapter 4. Results and discussion ............................................................................. 76
4.1 Results ...................................................................................................................... 76
4.1.1 Preconditions of ANOVAs and Independent Samples T-Tests ...................... 76
4.1.2 Results of the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Test over time ............................ 79
4.1.2.1 Within-group comparison .................................................................... 79
4.1.2.2 Between-group comparison ................................................................. 83
4.1.3 Results of the Idiom Productive Knowledge Test over time .......................... 87
4.1.3.1 Within-group comparison .................................................................... 87
4.1.3.2 Between-group comparison ................................................................. 91
4.1.4 Results from the attitudinal questionnaire ....................................................... 96
4.1.4.1 General opinions about teaching and learning idioms ......................... 96
4.1.4.2 Reflection on the application of the CM-inspired instruction ........... 101
4.1.4.3 Suggestions for further improvement ................................................ 106
4.2 Discussion .............................................................................................................. 107
4.2.1 Idiom reception over time ............................................................................. 107
4.2.1.1 Within-group comparison .................................................................. 107
4.2.1.2 Between-group comparison ............................................................... 108
4.2.2 Idiom production over time ........................................................................... 111
4.2.2.1 Within-group comparison .................................................................. 111
4.2.2.2 Between-group comparison ............................................................... 112
4.2.3 Attitudes towards the CM-inspired instruction ............................................. 115

4.2.4 Possible ways to improve the CM-inspired instruction ................................ 122
4.3 Summary ................................................................................................................ 124
Chapter 5. Conclusions.............................................................................................. 125
5.1 Summary and contributions ................................................................................... 125
5.2 Pedagogical implications ....................................................................................... 126
5.3 Limitations of the study ......................................................................................... 128
5.4 Recommendations for further study ...................................................................... 129
References ................................................................................................................... 131
Appendices ................................................................................................................. 143
Appendix 1. Interpretations of Research Questions 1 and 2 ....................................... 144
Appendix 2. .................................................................................................................. 146
Appendix 2A. Course syllabus – Writing 4 (Vietnamese version) ........................ 147
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Appendix 2B. Course syllabus – Writing 4 (English version) ............................... 152
Appendix 3. SPSS output of the QPT results .............................................................. 157
Appendix 4. Ten conceptual metaphors selected for the experiment .......................... 158
Appendix 5. Sixty idioms selected for the experiment ................................................ 164
Appendix 6. Integration of the experiment into the Writing 4 course ......................... 167
Appendix 7. Quick Placement Test (version 2) ........................................................... 168
Appendix 8. The Idiom Knowledge Test and how to design it ................................... 177
Appendix 8A. The Idiom Knowledge Test (IKT) .................................................. 178
Appendix 8B. Detailed description of the IKT and how to design it ..................... 183
Appendix 8C. General guidelines for test item formats ......................................... 189
Appendix 9. Questionnaires ......................................................................................... 190
Appendix 9A. Control group – Questionnaire (English version) .......................... 191
Appendix 9B. Control group – Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) .................... 193
Appendix 9C. Experimental group – Questionnaire (English version) ................. 195
Appendix 9D. Experimental group – Questionnaire (Vietnamese version) .......... 199

Appendix 10. Students’ Handouts ............................................................................... 203
Appendix 10A. Control group – Students’ Handout (Week 2 – ANGER) ............ 204
Appendix 10B. Experimental group – Students’ Handout (Week 2 – ANGER) ... 209
Appendix 10C. Control group – Students’ Handout (Week 3 – LIFE) ................. 214
Appendix 10D. Experimental group – Students’ Handout (Week 3 – LIFE) ........ 219
Appendix 11. Lesson plans .......................................................................................... 224
Appendix 11A. Control group – Lesson plan (Week 2 – ANGER)....................... 226
Appendix 11B. Experimental group – Lesson plan (Week 2 – ANGER) ............. 229
Appendix 12. SPSS outputs of the tests of normality .................................................. 233
Appendix 13. Result analysis of the IKT results for the CG ....................................... 234
Appendix 14. SPSS output of within-group comparison ............................................. 238
Appendix 14A. SPSS output of the IKT results for the CG................................... 239
Appendix 14B. SPSS output of the IKT results for the EG ................................... 243
Appendix 15. SPSS output of between-group comparison ......................................... 247
Appendix 15A. SPSS output of the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Test results ..... 248
Appendix 15B. SPSS output of the Idiom Productive Knowledge Test results .... 249
Appendix 16. Pictorial illustration for ANGER AS HEATED FLUID IN A
CONTAINER ........................................................................................ 251
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LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS
CG

control group

CM

conceptual metaphor

CMs

conceptual metaphors

CMT

Conceptual Metaphor Theory

EFL

English as a Foreign Language

EG

experimental group

IKT

Idiom Knowledge Test

L1

first language

L2

second language

M.A.

Master of Arts

QPT

Quick Placement Test

SPSS

Statistical Package for the Social Sciences

TDMU

Thu Dau Mot University

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LIST OF TABLES
Table 2.1 Ontological correspondences of ANGER AS HEATED FLUID IN A
CONTAINER ...............................................................................................28
Table 3.1 Demographic characteristics of the participants ............................................48
Table 3.2 Summary of the Independent Samples T-Test for the QPT results ...............49
Table 3.3 Summary of item types in the IKT ................................................................58
Table 3.4 Correlations between the results of two test administrations in the pilot stage
........................................................................................................................61
Table 3.5 Cronbach’s alpha for each sub-test of the IKT ..............................................62
Table 3.6 Distribution of the questions in the attitudinal questionnaire ........................67
Table 3.7 Reliability of the statements in each theme of the questionnaire ..................68
Table 3.8 Weekly schedule of the treatment and test administrations ..........................71
Table 4.1 Shapiro-Wilk Tests of normality for the scores of two groups .....................77

Table 4.2 Group statistics in the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Pre-test .......................78
Table 4.3 Results of the Independent Samples T-Test in the Receptive Idiom
Knowledge Pre-test ........................................................................................78
Table 4.4 Rankings in the Productive Idiom Knowledge Pre-test.................................79
Table 4.5 Results of the Mann-Whitney U Test in the Productive Idiom Knowledge
Pre-test ............................................................................................................79
Table 4.6 Descriptive statistics of the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Test for the CG over
time .................................................................................................................80
Table 4.7 Tests of within-subjects effects in the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Test for
the CG ............................................................................................................79
Table 4.8 Pairwise comparisons for three administrations of the Receptive Idiom
Knowledge Test for the CG ...........................................................................80
Table 4.9 Descriptive statistics of the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Test for the EG over
time .................................................................................................................81
Table 4.10 Mauchly's test of sphericity in the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Test for the
EG ................................................................................................................81
Table 4.11 Tests of within-subjects effects in the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Test for
the EG ..........................................................................................................82
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Table 4.12 Pairwise comparisons for three administrations of the Receptive Idiom
Knowledge Test for the EG .........................................................................82
Table 4.13 Group statistics in the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Post-test 1 ..................84
Table 4.14 Results of the Independent Samples T-Test in the Receptive Idiom
Knowledge Post-test 1 .................................................................................84
Table 4.15 Group statistics in the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Post-test 2 ..................85
Table 4.16 Summary of the Independent Samples T-Test result in the Receptive Idiom
Knowledge Post-test 2 .................................................................................85
Table 4.17 Descriptive statistics of the CG’s results in the Productive Idiom

Knowledge Test over time...........................................................................88
Table 4.18 Test statistics in the Friedman Test regarding the CG’s results on the
Productive Idiom Knowledge Test over time..............................................88
Table 4.19 Results of the Wilcoxon signed-rank tests regarding the CG’s results in the
Productive Idiom Knowledge Test over time..............................................88
Table 4.20 Descriptive statistics of the EG’s results in the Productive Idiom
Knowledge Test over time...........................................................................89
Table 4.21 Test statistics in the Friedman Test regarding the EG’s results in the
Productive Idiom Knowledge Test over time .............................................89
Table 4.22 Results of the Wilcoxon signed-rank tests regarding the EG’s scores in the
Productive Idiom Knowledge Test over time..............................................90
Table 4.23 Group statistics in the Productive Idiom Knowledge Post-test 1 ................91
Table 4.24 Results of the Independent Samples T-Test in the Productive Idiom
Knowledge Post-test 1 .................................................................................91
Table 4.25 Group statistics in the Productive Idiom Knowledge Post-test 2 ................93
Table 4.26 Results of the Independent Samples T-Test in the Productive Idiom
Knowledge Post-test 2 .................................................................................93
Table 4.27 The students’ choice between explicit and implicit teaching of idioms ......98
Table 4.28 Rankings on two groups’ overall feelings about the idiom instruction .... 100
Table 4.29 Results of the Mann-Whitney U Test regarding two groups’ overall feelings
about the idiom instruction ....................................................................... 100
Table 4.30 The students’ opinions on the benefits of the CM-inspired instruction .. 101
Table 4.31 The students’ opinions on the drawbacks of the CM-inspired instruction ......
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.................................................................................................................. 102
Table 4.32 The students’ feelings towards the application of CMs to teaching idioms ....
.................................................................................................................. 104
Table 4.33 The students’ reactions to the CM-inspired instruction............................ 106

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LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 3.1 Summary of the statistical tests for Research Questions 1 and 2 ................74
Figure 4.1 Comparison of the mean scores of two groups in three administrations of
the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Test .........................................................83
Figure 4.2 Score type distribution in the Receptive Idiom Knowledge Post-test 2.......86
Figure 4.3 Distribution of score types in the Productive Idiom Knowledge Post-test 2 –
strict marking ................................................................................................94
Figure 4.4 Distribution of score types in the Productive Idiom Knowledge Post-test 2 –
less strict marking .........................................................................................94
Figure 4.5 Comparison of the mean scores of two groups over time for the Productive
Idiom Knowledge Test – strict marking ......................................................95
Figure 4.6 Comparison of the mean scores of two groups over time for the Productive
Idiom Knowledge Test – less strict marking ...............................................95
Figure 4.7 The students’ opinions about the importance of learning idioms ................97
Figure 4.8 The students’ opinions about the necessity of teaching idioms in class ......98
Figure 4.9 The CG students’ overall feeling about the traditional instruction ..............99
Figure 4.10 The EG students’ overall feeling about the CM-inspired instruction ........99
Figure 4.11 The students’ self-assessment of their understanding of the introduced
idioms after the course ........................................................................... 104
Figure 4.12 The students’ self-assessment of their ability to use the introduced idioms
after the course ........................................................................................ 105

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CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the study
As Wilkins (1972) asserted, “while without grammar very little can be conveyed,
without vocabulary nothing can be conveyed” (as cited in Thornbury, 2002, p. 13).
Several language practitioners and researchers currently view vocabulary as a core
component of language proficiency (Thornbury, 2002; Boers & Lindstromberg, 2008b;
Schmitt, 2010). In recent years, there has been a growing interest in formulaic
sequences, also known as lexical chunks, owing to their prominent role in language
acquisition and production (Wood, 2002; Alali & Schmitt, 2012; Hatami, 2015).
Among different types of formulaic sequences, idioms are an integral component
(Simpson & Mendis, 2003; O’Dell & McCarthy, 2010) and the mastery of these
expressions is part of communicative competence (Celce-Murcia, 2008).
Idioms have been extensively used in all spoken and written genres of discourse,
ranging from everyday conversation and journalism to more formal contexts, such as
lectures, academic essays and business reports (Brenner, 2003; O’Dell & McCarthy,
2010). It is estimated that there are more than 10,000 idiomatic expressions in English
and new idioms are still created in different forms of discourse (ibid.). According to
Cooper (1998), an English native speaker may use approximately 20 million idioms
throughout his or her lifetime of 60 years. Due to the substantial number of idioms and
their pervasive use in second-language discourse, the lack of idiomatic knowledge can
be a great hindrance to the learner’s communication with the native speakers.
However, learning English idioms is not an easy task. As Liu (2003) stated, idioms are
“notoriously difficult” to the learners of English due to their “rather rigid structure,
quite unpredictable meaning and fairly extensive use” (p. 671). Besides, the learners’
limited language proficiency and their insufficient exposure to the target language also
constitute great impediments to their comprehension of idioms. Moreover, idioms are
not only cross-linguistic, but also cross-cultural phenomena (Kövecses, 2002; Boers,
Demecheleer & Eyckmans, 2004). Even a student with profound knowledge of
grammar and vocabulary, as Cooper (1998) argued, still experiences difficulties in
1

understanding and using idiomatic language if he or she is not aware of the cultural
diversity underlying idioms.
Despite the importance of learning idioms in English and the learners’ increasing
difficulties in comprehending and using them, this area of language is often ignored in
EFL classrooms and textbooks. Irujo (1986) claimed that several L2 teaching materials
completely disregard idioms or consider them as ‘other expressions’ and fail to provide
learners with sufficient practice in meaningful contexts. Regarding contemporary
textbooks of English in Vietnamese secondary schools, only 24 idioms are presented in
the three textbooks, i.e. English 10, English 11 and English 12 without any further
practice or consolidation (Tran, H. Q., 2013). Many teachers in Vietnam even have a
tendency to avoid using or teaching idioms in classroom since they believe that idioms
are too difficult for learners (Nguyen, N. V., 2011; Tran, H. Q., 2012), which leads to
Vietnamese students’ poor idiomatic competence (Tran, H. Q., 2013).
Due to the alleged arbitrary nature of idioms and their fixed structures, it was believed
that rote memorization is the only way for learners to acquire these expressions (Boers,
Eyckmans, & Stengers, 2007). However, since 1980, cognitive linguistics has proved
that idioms are not arbitrary and it is conceptual metaphor (CM) that is the motivation
behind the figurative meanings of several idiomatic expressions (Lakoff & Johnson,
1980b; Kövecses, 2002). Conceptual metaphor is defined as a mapping from the source
domain, i.e. a more concrete or physical concept, to the target domain, i.e. a more
abstract concept (ibid.). This finding has been an inspiration for several studies on the
effect of conceptual metaphors on idiom acquisition (Beréndi, Csábi, & Kövecses,
2008; Skoufaki, 2008; Kömür & Çimen, 2009; Vasiljevic, 2011; Doiz & Elizari, 2013).
These studies have revealed that conceptual metaphors have a significant effect on EFL
learners’ comprehension and retention of English idioms, opening up a new path to
more systematic and insightful learning.
However, most previous studies were conducted on a modest scale in sample size and
experiment time length. Besides, the potential benefits of conceptual metaphors seem

not to be explored thoroughly due to inadequate instruction. It is also noteworthy that
most studies have placed their emphasis on the students’ performances after the
adoption of conceptual metaphors but had little discussion on their attitudes towards
2


this cognitive approach, which is also a very important factor in determining the
practicality of the method. As a descendant, this study has carefully examined these
issues as an attempt to fill in the gap in the literature on applying conceptual metaphors
to teaching and learning idioms.
1.2 Context of the study
This study was conducted at the Faculty of Foreign Languages (FFL) at Thu Dau Mot
University (TDMU) in Thu Dau Mot City, Binh Duong Province. Founded in 2009,
TDMU is the only public university in the province, and it has gradually developed into
a notable south-east university with approximately 15,000 students in 2015. At present,
the the FFL has 1,200 English-majored regular students distributed in 27 classes. The
increasing number of students annually enrolled in TDMU in general and FFL in
particular shows that this institution is gaining confidence among students in the
province and nearby regions. Hopefully, the researcher’s decision to conduct the
research at this site could bring benefits to the English-majored students and lecturers
at TDMU, contributing to the all-round development of Binh Duong Province.
Moreover, the FFL is where the researcher is working. Her familiarity with the faculty
administration, its curriculum and learning atmosphere provided favorable conditions
for conducting the study.
The participants of this study were 69 English-majored sophomores in the second
semester of the 2014-2015 academic year at TDMU. These students were taking the
final courses of Language Skills during the experiment. From the observation of the
researcher and other lecturers, though they enrolled on the fourth Language Skills
course, the students encountered considerable difficulty in expressing themselves in
English mainly due to their lack of vocabulary. It was noticeable that they could hardly

comprehend and employ formulaic sequences, especially idiomatic language, for better
communication in English. Several students had a tendency to use general, simple, and
short words such as good, fine, big, happy, sad, etc. several times in their speech and
writing. Others tended to use lengthy, but still unclear, sentences even when they were
describing simple feelings and actions. On taking the final courses in language skills
before joining higher-level courses in linguistics, literature, translation, and teaching
methodology, several students even experienced frustration and anxiety over their
3


inability to express their own thoughts and feelings adequately after seven years
studying English at school and nearly two years practising four skills of English at
university. Such observations are in agreement with MacArthur (2010) who highlighted
the negative attitudes of the learners and their seemingly reaching a plateau after
several years of studying a foreign language. He suggested that this problem should be
taken into serious consideration as it can have a profound impact on the students’
learning motivation.
It seemed that the traditional way of teaching and learning vocabulary, especially
idiomatic language, was not a satisfactory solution to the students’ problem. Hence, it
was essential to find out a more effective method that could help enlarge the students’
vocabulary, in this case, figurative idioms, in order to make their language more
expressive and faithful to their feelings and thoughts, resulting in the increase in their
learning motivation and the improvement of their English proficiency.
1.3 Aims of the study
In this study, the application of conceptual metaphors is proposed as a promising
method to present idioms to EFL students, shortly referred to as the CM-inspired
instruction. The effectiveness of this cognitive approach was investigated over time in
terms of the students’ reception and production of the taught idioms. Specifically, the
aims of this study are (1) to examine the effect of the CM-inspired instruction on the
receptive knowledge of the target idioms among English-majored students at TDMU

over time, (2) to investigate the effect of the CM-inspired instruction on the productive
knowledge of the target idioms among English-majored students at TDMU over time,
and (3) to explore the students’ attitudes towards the employment of conceptual
metaphors in teaching idioms. The effect of the instruction was measured over time,
specifically at two time points, i.e. immediately after the instruction and five weeks
after the instruction.
1.4 Research questions and hypotheses
The aims of this study can be addressed through the following research questions and
sub-questions:

4


(1) To what extent does the application of conceptual metaphors facilitate TDMU
English-majored students’ reception of the target idioms over time?
Sub-questions:
(1a) To what extent does the application of conceptual metaphors facilitate TDMU
English-majored students’ reception of the target idioms immediately after the
teaching stage?
(1b) To what extent does the application of conceptual metaphors facilitate TDMU
English-majored students’ reception of the target idioms five weeks after the
teaching stage?
(2) To what extent does the application of conceptual metaphors facilitate TDMU
English-majored students’ production of the target idioms over time?
Sub-questions:
(2a) To what extent does the application of conceptual metaphors facilitate TDMU
English-majored students’ production of the target idioms immediately after
the teaching stage?
(2b) To what extent does the application of conceptual metaphors facilitate TDMU
English-majored students’ production of the target idioms five weeks after the

teaching stage?
(3) What are the students’ attitudes towards the application of conceptual metaphors to
teaching idioms?
The effectiveness of the CM-inspired instruction is examined via within-group and
between-group comparisons. Thus, six alternative hypotheses1 are formulated on the
basis of the first two research questions, as follows.
Research question 1:
Within-group comparison:
H1. There is at least a statistically significant difference in terms of receptive idiom
knowledge between two of the occasions, i.e. prior to the CM-inspired instruction,
immediately after the instruction and five weeks after the instruction.
1

For all null and alternative hypotheses regarding Research Questions 1 and 2, see Appendix 1 (pp. 144-145).

5


Between-group comparison:
H1’. There is a statistically significant difference between those studying idioms under
the CM-inspired instruction and those under the traditional instruction in terms of
receptive idiom knowledge immediately after the instruction.
H1’’. There is a statistically significant difference between those studying idioms under
the CM-inspired instruction and those under the traditional instruction in terms of
receptive idiom knowledge five weeks after the instruction.
Research question 2:
H2. There is at least a statistically significant difference in terms of productive idiom
knowledge between two of the occasions, i.e. prior to the CM-inspired instruction,
immediately after the instruction and five weeks after the instruction.
Between-group comparison:

H2’. There is a statistically significant difference between those studying idioms under
the CM-inspired instruction and those under the traditional instruction in terms of
productive idiom knowledge immediately after the instruction.
H2’’. There is a statistically significant difference between those studying idioms under
the CM-inspired instruction and those under the traditional instruction in terms of
productive idiom knowledge five weeks after the instruction.
Due to its limitation in scope, throughout this paper, the term “reception” refers to the
recognition and comprehension of idiomatic expressions in reading, rather than
listening, context and, the term “production” refers to the recall and use of idioms in
writing, rather than speaking, context.
1.5 Significance of the study
This research is an attempt to complement previous work both in research methodology
and procedure in applying conceptual metaphors to idiom instruction. The current study
hopes to add more empirical evidence to the positive effects of conceptual metaphors to
idiom acquisition, filling the literature gap in the application of cognitive linguistics in
EFL context, especially in Vietnam.

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In fact, the study by Tran, H. Q. (2012) reveals that none of the teachers and students in
Vietnam showed any evidence in using conceptual metaphors in teaching and learning
vocabulary in general and idioms in particular. An informal interview with the lecturers
and students at TDMU conducted by the researcher also provided the same result.
Therefore, the findings of the thesis are expected to raise EFL teachers, especially
Vietnamese teachers, of the pervasiveness of conceptual metaphors in language and
thoughts and the benefits of the CM-instruction on the students’ vocabulary, especially
idiom, acquisition.
1.6 Outline of the thesis
This paper is divided into five chapters. The first chapter is the introduction as

presented here, discussing the research rationale, context, aims, research questions and
significance of the study. The second chapter presents a critical review of the related
literature on four areas, i.e. overview of idioms and teaching idioms in EFL contexts,
the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), the application of the CMT to teaching
idioms, and theoretical and empirical guidelines for the study. The next chapter is the
discussion on methodology adopted in this study, including the description of research
method, pilot studies, participants, teaching materials, research instruments (i.e. the
Idiom Knowledge Test and the attitudinal questionnaire), data collection and analysis
procedures. The most important section of this study is the fourth chapter in which the
data will be presented, analyzed and explained. The last chapter is the conclusion of the
study, pedagogical implications, limitations, and recommendations for further research.

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CHAPTER 2
LITERATURE REVIEW
To construct a theoretical background for the study, this chapter is going to review the
literature on the four following areas: (1) overview of idioms and teaching idioms in
EFL contexts, (2) the Conceptual Metaphor Theory (CMT), (3) the application of the
CMT to teaching idioms, and (4) theoretical and empirical guidelines for the study.
2.1 Overview of idioms and teaching idioms in EFL contexts
Before the 1970s, the focus of attention in EFL was the teaching of grammatical
structures at the expense of vocabulary development (Thornbury, 2002; Boers &
Lindstromberg, 2008). For a long time, teachers had not fully acknowledged the
tremendous communicative value of vocabulary, and they considered vocabulary
teaching as unnecessary or simply auxiliary activity. However, the past four decades
has seen a gradual change in the role of vocabulary in second language acquisition
since the advent of communicative language teaching in the 1970s. As Wilkins (1972)
asserted, “while without grammar very little can be conveyed, without vocabulary

nothing can be conveyed” (as cited in Thornbury, 2002, p. 13). Currently, a significant
proportion of EFL teachers, researchers and EFL coursebook writers have see
vocabulary as a core component of language proficiency which provides the basis for
the learner’s receptive and productive performance in the target language (Read, 2000;
Thornbury, 2002; Boers & Lindstromberg, 2008; Schmitt, 2010).
In recent years, there has been a growing interest in formulaic sequences, often known
as lexical chunks or multi-word units, due to their significant role in language
acquisition and production (Wray, 2000; Wood, 2002; Alali & Schmitt, 2012; Hatami,
2015). Formulaic language consists of fixed multi-word expressions that behave as
single units rather than as individual words (Alali & Schmitt, 2012). There are different
types of formulaic language, ranging from simple fillers (e.g., sort of) and functions
(e.g., good morning) to collocations (e.g., do research) and phrasal verbs (e.g., bring
off) to idioms (e.g., weather the storm) and proverbs (e.g., no pain, no gain) (CelceMurcia, 2008; O’Dell & McCarthy, 2010; Stengers, Boers, Housen, & Eyckmans,
2011; Hatami, 2015). According to recent research, formulaic sequences account for
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over 50% of spoken and written English discourse (Erman & Warren, 2000, as cited in
Hatami, 2015) and these sequences are among the distinguishing marks of a native-like
fluency (Simpson & Mendis, 2003; Schmitt, 2010; Hatami, 2015).
Among different types of formulaic sequences, idioms constitute an integral part of
vocabulary and play an important role in the learner’s language proficiency (Simpson
& Mendis, 2003; O’Dell & McCarthy, 2010). This section gives a brief overview of
idioms and idiom teaching, including the nature of idioms, the importance of learning
idioms, the need for idiom instruction, the measurement of idiomatic competence and
different approaches to present idioms to EFL learners.
2.1.1 Definitions and features of idioms
The definition of idioms, in fact, varies considerably from scholar to scholar. Currently,
there is no total agreement on what is understood by the term “idiom”. As noted by
Moon (1998), “idiom is an ambiguous term, used in conflicting ways” (p. 3). The most

prevalent description of an idiom is “a group of words that occur in a more or less fixed
phrase and whose overall meaning cannot be predicted by analyzing the meanings of its
constituent parts” (Simpson & Mendis, 2003, p. 423). This definition focuses on two
features of idioms: semantic compositionality as well as semantic and syntactic
constraints. Another important aspect that the definition seems to miss is the
conventionality of idiom. These features are discussed in details in the following parts.
Conventionality
The conventionality of an idiom is related to its currency in the speech community. It
is, therefore, not a linguistic property in the way an idiom's semantic and syntactic
features are, but seems to belong to sociolinguistic aspects (Fernando, 1996). To be
more specific, an idiom is frequently used by the speech community in a specific form
or within prescribed variations.
Semantic compositionality
Frege’s principle of compositionality was outlined by Lyons (1995): “The meaning of a
composite expression is a function of the meanings of its component expressions” (p.
204). For decades, linguists have defined idioms as being “non-compositional”,
explaining that the meaning of an idiom is not the sum of the meanings of its
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component parts (Swinney & Cutler, 1979; Irujo, 1986). Stevenson and Waite (2011)
shared this viewpoint when stating that an idiom is “a group of words established by
usage as having a meaning not deducible from those of the individual words” (p. 708).
The prototypical example of an idiom is kick the bucket which functions as a single unit
and can only be interpreted as a whole; in other words, the literal interpretation of its
elements, i.e. to strike the bucket with one’s foot, does not yield the idiom’s intended
meaning, i.e. to die, and the construction is therefore non-compositional.
However, in reality, several idioms seem to be, to some extent, compositional, or
decomposable, with the meanings of their parts contributing to the overall figurative
meanings of the idioms (Gibbs, Nayak, Bolton, & Keppel, 1989; Titone & Connine,

1999; Gibbs, 2007). For instance, the idiom lay down the law in You can't just come
into this office and start laying down the law is decomposable and more or less
transparent. Each constituent is individually meaningful: lay down refers to the act of
officially establishing a rule while law means the whole system of rules that people in a
particular country or area must obey (‘lay down,’ n.d.; ‘law,’ 2014). These two phrases
serve as cues to the retrieval of the figurative meaning for the idiom, i.e. “to tell other
people what to do, how they should think, etc., in a very strong or impolite way” (‘lay
down the law,’ n.d.). Such an analysis of individual constituents to discover the
metaphoric meaning of an idiom has been found to facilitate reception of an idiom’s
non-literal interpretations (Gibbs, 1994; Titone & Connine, 1999; Cieślicka, 2006).
Based on the results of such observation and studies, there seems to be other categories
of idioms besides the non-decomposable idioms.
As Nunberg (1978) stated, “idioms can be ordered along a continuum of semantic
compositionality” (as cited in Glucksberg, 2014, p. 5). In other words, idioms can vary
from apparently unitary phrases (e.g. by and large, cook his goose, kick the bucket) to
expressions whose idiomatic meanings derive jointly from their literal meanings (e.g
lay down the law, learn your lesson, fit like a glove). Gibbs et al. (1989) supported this
viewpoint and suggested that idioms could be categorized into three groups, depending
on their semantic compositionality and transparency: decomposable (transparent),
abnormally decomposable (semi-transparent), and non-decomposable (opaque). Thus,
the two above-mentioned definitions in Simpson and Mendis (2003) and Stevenson

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(2010), though widely accepted, appear to be in the extreme, lying at one end of the
continuum, i.e. non-compositionality, including only non-decomposable idioms while
excluding all other cases in the continuum. This lack of comprehensiveness leads to the
need to find a more inclusive definition of idiom.
Rather than maintaining that the meaning of an idiom is “not deducible” or “not

derived” from the meanings of the individual words in the definition of idioms, it might
be more convincing to point out that the meaning of an idiom is, at least to a certain
extent, different from the meanings of its individual constituent words, which draws
more attention to the transparency or semi-transparency of idioms along the continuum
of semantic compositionality. In fact, the term “different from” has been used, rather
than “not deducible from” or “not derived from”, in the definitions of idioms by
Ammer (1997), Brenner (2003), and Walter (2008)2. As to non-decomposable idioms,
the literal meanings of their parts are totally different from the actual sense of the
idioms; in other words, their surface structure has “little relation” to their intended
figurative meaning (Bortfeld, 2003, p. 219). On the contrary, there is “a relatively
transparent relationship” between the surface structure of decomposable idioms and
their intended meanings (ibid.). In fact, there is such insignificant semantic difference
between the literal and figurative meanings that “very little analysis needs to take place
for the figurative meaning to be understood based only on the literal form of the
phrase” (ibid.). Between the two extremes are abnormally decomposable idioms, for
example, to flip your lid meaning “to become very angry”, which require more analysis
since the literal meaning of the idiom is different from the figurative meaning (‘flip
your lid,’ 2014). However, such a difference does not mean that the individual words of
the idiom have no contribution to its overall meaning. The reason is that there are
metaphorical links, between its literal meaning and its figurative concept, that can be
mapped out to facilitate the comprehension of the idiom; in this case, the abstract
concept, i.e. “anger”, is understood in terms of a familiar physical phenomenon, i.e.
“heated fluid in a container” (Kövecses, 1986, 2008).
2

“An idiom is a set phrase of two or more words that means something different from the literal meaning of the
individual words”. (Ammer, 1997, n.p.)
An idiom includes “two or more words together that, as a unit, have a special meaning that is different from the
literal meaning of words separately.” (Brenner, 2003, n.p.)
An idiom is “a group of words in a fixed order that have a particular meaning that is different from the meanings

of each word on its own.” (Walter, 2008, p. 714)

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