Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
21st INGED International ELT Conference, Kayseri, Türkiye, 3 - 05 Kasım 2023, ss.7, (Özet Bildiri)
A Probe Turkish EFL Learners’ Language Proficiency and
Metaphorical
Creativity in Writing - A Convergence or a Divergence?
Despite
the various attempts of EFL/ESL teachers to help learners become better
writers, in
some
cases texts written by non-native speakers of English may sound unnatural due
to inappropriate
use
metaphorical language. Studies explored English learners’ ability of using
metaphorical sentences
in
relation to their language proficiency (Peng, 2023; Hong & Boers, 2018) in
different contexts
(Danesi
1995; Andreou and Galantomos, 2009). However, the need for diachronic
investigation of the
topic
still exits. Thus, this longitudinal based corpus study aimed to probe into
learners’ use of
metaphor
in their writing employing an explanatory mixed methods design to investigate
any effect of
language
proficiency of learners on metaphor use. 19 Turkish students’ metaphorical
language use was
investigated
through their written tests during one year intensive English course. The four
tests and a
delayed
a post-test, which was conducted 5 months after the last test, formed the
corpus for the study.
In
metaphor studies, researchers have used different techniques to detect and
analyse metaphors (Crisp,
Heywood
and Stehen, 2002; Babarczy, Ildiko, Fekete and Simon, 2014). In this study
metaphor
identification
was carried out by the researchers using MIP (Metaphor Identification
Procedure) (Steen,
2011).
The result indicated that learners’ metaphor use in writing did not improve in
paralleled to their
improvement
in target language. Most of the metaphor created was native-like metaphors and
all the
non-native
like metaphors was under the influence of learners’ native language. This
indicated the need
for
metaphor exposure in the target language during language learning.
Keywords: metaphorical
language, metaphor use in EFL, L1 effect on metaphor use, written corpus,
longitudinal study