How metaphors are used in ESP situations

1. Diana Salazar
11.02.2014
METAPHOR AND ESP:
METAPHOR AS A USEFUL
DEVICE FOR TEACHING L2
BUSINESS ENGLISH
LEARNERS

2. WHAT IS A METAPHOR?

3. DOMINANT FEATURE OF
NATURAL LANGUAGE
Everyday
Academic

4. PROBLEM
COMPLEX RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN
THOUGHT AND LANGUAGE

5. “A metaphor is a cognitive mechanism whereby one conceptual
domain is partially mapped onto a different conceptual domain,
the second domain being partially understood in terms of the
first one, with the linguistic metaphor deriving from those
domains”
«COGNITIVE VIEW OF METAPHOR»
(LAKOFF & JOHNSON, 1980)
SOURCE
DOMAIN
TARGET
DOMAIN

6. “A metaphor is a cognitive mechanism whereby one conceptual
domain is partially mapped onto a different conceptual domain,
the second domain being partially understood in terms of the
first one, with the linguistic metaphor deriving from those
domains”
«COGNITIVE VIEW OF METAPHOR»
(LAKOFF & JOHNSON, 1980)
CONCRETE
ABSTRACT

7. “A metaphor is a cognitive mechanism whereby one conceptual
domain is partially mapped onto a different conceptual domain,
the second domain being partially understood in terms of the
first one, with the linguistic metaphor deriving from those
domains”
«COGNITIVE VIEW OF METAPHOR»
(LAKOFF & JOHNSON, 1980)
ORIGIN OF
METAPHOR
CONCEPT TO
BE
UNDERSTOOD

8. EXAMPLES?

9. «LIFE IS A
JOURNEY»

10. “To understand and experience one
type of thing in terms of another”
«COGNITIVE VIEW OF METAPHOR»
(LAKOFF & JOHNSON, 1980)

11. THE METAPHOR IN THE
(BUSINESS) ESP CLASS

12. JUSTIFICATION
L2 learner speech  unnatural/ non-native 
literalness/ absence of metaphor use
Metaphor should be included in specific
language programs

13. DETAILS OF THE STUDY
Business English I (Universidad de Valladolid)
20-22 year-old students
L1: Spanish
Business vocabulary learning
Specialised business reading
Business text translation into Spanish

14. METAPHOR IN
THE BUSINESS
ENGLISH CLASS
Activation of
awareness
Presentation of
methodology/
exercises
Increase
knowledge of
business
vocabulary
Improve
specialized
business reading
fluency
Improve
translating skills
of business texts
into Spanish
PROCEDURE

15. METAPHOR IN
THE BUSINESS
ENGLISH CLASS
Activation of
awareness
Presentation of
methodology/
exercises
Increase
knowledge of
business
vocabulary
Improve
specialized
business reading
fluency
Improve
translating skills
of business texts
into Spanish
PROCEDURE

16. ACTIVATION OF
AWARENESS

17. PROCEDURE
What do you
understand by
metaphor?
What other figures
of speech do you
know?
What is metaphor
used for?
…
Lakoffian definition
of metaphor
Terminology of this
structure
Source domain
Target domain
Examples
EXERCISES

18. EXERCISES

19. METAPHOR IN
THE BUSINESS
ENGLISH CLASS
Activation of
awareness
Presentation of
methodology/
exercises
Increase
knowledge of
business
vocabulary
Improve
specialized
business reading
fluency
Improve
translating skills
of business texts
into Spanish
PROCEDURE

20. PRESENTATION OF
METHODOLOGY AND
EXERCISES

21. “Metaphors provide insight into particular ways of thinking in
relation to the development of technical and semi-technical
registers”
BUSINESS VOCABULARY LEARNING

22. BUSINESS VOCABULARY LEARNING

23. BUSINESS VOCABULARY LEARNING

24. “An enhanced metaphoric awareness on the part of language
learners can be beneficial to their specialised reading”
SPECIALISED BUSINESS READING
Skkimming
Scanning
In-
depth
reading

25. SPECIALISED BUSINESS READING

26. SPECIALISED BUSINESS READING

27. BUSINESS TEXT TRANSLATION INTO
SPANISH
«A better understanding of the similarities and differences in
metaphor use between languages will lead to better
translations»
EXACT
EQUIVALENT
OTHER
METAPHORICAL
PHRASE
LITERAL
PARAPHRASE

28. BUSINESS TEXT TRANSLATION INTO
SPANISH

29. BUSINESS TEXT TRANSLATION INTO
SPANISH

30. CONCLUSIONS

31.  Important role of the metaphore as teaching device
 Useful function in raising L2 learner’s awareness of technical
and semi-technical vocabulary, specialised reading, and
translating
 the incorporation of metaphor in a specific language
programme may facilitate the learner’s development of the
conceptual and communicative competence in L2
 Usefulness at creating ESP materials for students whose L1 is
not English.
CONCLUSIONS OF THE STUDY

32.  Importance of metaphors in the area of Business
 Applicable to other areas?
 Only in ESP?
 Do the exercises require real reflection?
 Authentic?
 Meaningful?
PERSONAL REFLECTION

33.  Velasco, M. (2005). Metaphor and esp: Metaphor as a useful
device for teaching l2 business english learners. Revista
Ibérica, 10(2), 23-40. Retrieved from
http://www.aelfe.org/documents/07-Ib10-Velasco.pdf
 Conceptual Metaphor.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conceptual_metaphor Access:
2014.02.08
 Source and Target Domain.
http://grammar.about.com/od/tz/g/targetdomainterm.htm
Access: 2014.02.08
BIBLIOGRAPHY