Grammatical Metaphor and Its Difficulties in Application

Download or read book Grammatical Metaphor and Its Difficulties in Application written by Xue-feng Wang and published by . This book was released on 2010 with total page 9 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Grammatical metaphor is the term used by Halliday to refer to meaning transference in grammar. Instead of the congruent realization of a norm, the metaphorical representation has become the norm in many instances. Metaphorical modes of expression are characteristic of all adult discourses (Halliday, 1994). The shift from congruent to metaphorical modes of expression is also the characteristic of written English. For foreign language learners, getting to know the features of the target language and using them in their own expressions are important. This paper examines the features of grammatical metaphor in written English and then discusses the difficulties and problems of the application of these features in teaching writing to college English learners. This paper also provides some research findings and pedagogical implications for developing awareness of grammatical metaphor in writing of Chinese college learners of English. (Contains 4 tables.).