臺灣EFL大學生理解與使用英語隱喻語言的困難因素

Difficulties Faced by Taiwanese EFL College Students in Understanding and Using English Metaphorical Language

隱喻在教育言談中的重要性已被廣泛地認可，只有具有敏銳觀察力和高理解能力者，才能掌握其抽象概念。然而，隱喻語言對英語作為第二語言（English as a Second Language, ESL）的大學生而言，是一個障礙，他們常常難以理解大學授課的內容。先前的研究主要集中在探討ESL和外語英語（English as a Foreign Language, EFL）學生所面臨的困難，而忽視了以母語為中文的EFL大學生。本研究旨在探討導致臺灣科技大學英語系學生，在理解和使用英語隱喻語言時面對的困難因素。本研究採用5點李克特量表的量化問卷蒐集數據。這些數據透過SPSS進行分析，應用了描述性和分析性技術。共蒐集了510份有效問卷。本研究使用t檢定、ANOVA和Scheffé事後檢驗，以檢視人口統計變量是否影響參與者對這些挑戰的看法。透過因素分析得出三個主要困難因素：一、文化差異和語言障礙；二、認知差異；三、隱喻能力的缺乏。研究結果顯示，臺灣英語系學生在理解和使用隱喻表達的主要挑戰源於文化差異和語言障礙，認知差異亦起了重要作用，特別是在抽象思維和隱喻解釋方面。儘管隱喻能力的缺乏被認為是一個障礙，但其認同度相對較低。本研究提供了改進EFL大學英語教育的建議。研究結果可供未來相關研究提供參考。

Metaphors play a vital role in educational discourse. Only individuals with strong observational skills and advanced comprehension abilities can fully grasp the abstract concepts of metaphors. Metaphorical language often poses a challenge for English-as-a-second-language college students, who struggle to comprehend lecture content at the university level. Although studies have explored the challenges faced by English-as-a-second-language and English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) students, they have frequently overlooked EFL college students whose native language is Chinese. The present study investigated key factors that cause Taiwanese English majors at technological universities to face difficulties in understanding and using English metaphorical language. Data were collected by using a quantitative questionnaire. Participants rated their responses to each questionnaire item on a 5-point Likert scale. A total of 510 valid responses were obtained and analyzed in SPSS, using both descriptive and analytical techniques. The effects of demographic variables on participants’ perceptions of the aforementioned difficulties were analyzed using t tests, analysis of variance, and Scheffé post hoc tests. Factor analysis revealed three main difficulty- related factors: cultural discrepancies and linguistic barriers, cognitive differences, and insufficient metaphorical competence. The primary challenges faced by Taiwanese English majors in understanding and using metaphorical expressions were related to cultural discrepancies and linguistic barriers. Cognitive differences also contributed to these challenges, particularly in relation to abstract thinking and metaphor interpretation. Although insufficient metaphorical competence emerged as a hindrance in this study, fewer participants strongly endorsed this factor. The findings of this study may help improve EFL college English education and guide future research.