Developing Metaphorical Strategic Competence: Grouping Strategy

Abstract

Metaphorical vocabulary of the English language is often problematic for EFL students in terms of both, their receptive and productive skills. One possible way of overcoming this difficulty is conscious development of learning strategies, which aid comprehension and production and lead to the autonomy of students. In order to ascertain the repertoire of strategies students use when coping with metaphorical meaning, research was conducted at the Department of English at the Faculty of Philosophy in Novi Sad. The research lasted for one semester and was organised as follows: at the beginning of the academic year, the students who participated in the research (experimental group, N=20; control group, N=20), took the first test which comprised a variety of exercises intended to elicit metaphorical thinking. This was followed by an interview with volunteers (N=10+10). After one semester, during which both the experimental and control group attended the same classes with the same syllabus, the only difference being the structured input presented to the experimental group, both groups took the second test and participated in the interview. The qualitative analysis of the interviews was aimed at ascertaining the scope of strategies students use when dealing with metaphors, so this paper focuses on one of the established strategies – grouping. This strategy is based on students’ ability to see the common denominator among different lexemes and phrases, which helps them identify the metaphor behind groups of words that, in turn, enables them both to understand the metaphorical meanings and to memorise them. This paper will demonstrate how, in time, the differences between the experimental and control groups grow larger and how, consequently, the development of strategic metaphorical competence results in students’ autonomy.