台灣大學生英文寫作時如何使用隱喻性措詞

How do University Students in Taiwan Perceive Their Use of Metaphorical Expressions when Writing English Essays?

本文旨在研究台灣大學生於英語寫作中使用隱喻性措詞（主要為隱喻和明喻）的情形，以及哪些概念／認知想法助於他們建構隱喻性措詞。同時探討學生可能的背景知識、影響或原因以理解和形象化目標概念，最終形成試驗性隱喻表達的類別，該分類可與Lakoff和Johnson的兩類「概念隱喻」：「通用隱喻概念」和「文化差異概念」有關聯。受試者為來自台灣一所科技大學26名英語系大三學生。研究方法採兩階段的質性研究方法進行調查；先採內容分析，然後訪談調查。對學生的比較和對比類型文章作品進行仔細分析，以探索他們對隱喻和明喻的使用情形。然後，針對有將此文學性技巧融入寫作中的學生進行面對面訪談，以探究他們概念／認知推理的情形，以及影響他們在寫作中運用隱喻性措詞的因素。研究結果揭示了學生的隱喻性創作概念化所產生的三個主要類別：（1）普遍性知識；（2）個人對世界的看法；（3）EFL教育的影響，此類另分成兩個子類別（西方參照及中介語），這些類別有時具有互相參照或交叉關聯。學生對隱喻性措詞之使用富有創意，跨文化溝通和跨語言的案例相當明顯。

The study examined the metaphorical expressions, primarily metaphors and similes, used by EFL university students in their writing production. It also explored the conceptual and cognitive ideas that assist them in constructing these expressions. Possible background knowledge, influences, or reasons that contribute to their comprehension and visualization of the target concepts were investigated. Ultimately, this exploration resulted in a tentative categorization that aligns with Lakoff and Johnson’s two categories of conceptual metaphor:“universal metaphorical concepts”and“culturally variable concepts.”The study involved 26 English major juniors from a technological university in Taiwan. The inquiry employed a two-step qualitative research approach, commencing with a content analysis, followed by an interview survey. The essays, which were written by the aforementioned students and fell under the Comparison and Contrast genre, were closely analyzed to explore their use of metaphors and similes. Subsequently, students who had incorporated these literary techniques into their writing were interviewed face-to-face. This facilitated a more in-depth exploration of their conceptual and cognitive reasoning, as well as the factors influencing their use of metaphorical expressions in writing. The findings reveal three main categories resulting from students’conceptualization of their metaphorical devices: (1) Universal knowledge; (2) Personal perceptions of the world; (3) Influence of EFL education, with two subcategories, namely, Western references and Interlanguage, which are sometimes cross-referenced or cross-related. The students’use of metaphorical expressions demonstrates creativity and highlights instances of cross-cultural communication and interlanguage.