Metaphor as a tool for EFL in the English classroom

Abstract

Conceptual metaphors have proved to be effective to foster the retention of vocabulary in the ESL classroom (Boers & Lindstromberg, 2008; Boers, 2013; Silvestre-López & Beltrán, 2018). The aim of this master’s thesis is to investigate about the efficacy of different types of conceptual metaphors in the retention of vocabulary related to the topic of social networking within the EFL classroom. With that aim, during my “practicum” internship, a pedagogical implementation with two approaches dealing with different linguistic and visual metaphorical elements was carried out on a group of 24 students. Data were collected by means of a pre-test and a post-test in order to see the academic results (related to vocabulary retention). Moreover, a qualitative questionnaire was provided to the participants to analyse their personal perception on both approaches. Results show the efficacy of the different elements used and call for further research over a broader set of types of students (academic/educational contexts) and levels of English.