Using conceptual metaphor in teaching phrasal verbs at hung vuong high school for the gifted, binh duong province m a

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE USING CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR IN TEACHING PHRASAL VER

VIETNAM NATIONAL UNIVERSITY – HOCHIMINH CITY UNIVERSITY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES

FACULTY OF ENGLISH LINGUISTICS AND LITERATURE

USING CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR IN TEACHING PHRASAL VERBS AT HUNG VUONG HIGH SCHOOL FOR THE GIFTED, BINH DUONG

PROVINCE

A thesis submitted to the Faculty of English Linguistics & Literature

in partial fulfilment of the Master’s degree in TESOL

By

NGUYEN THI NGOC DUNG

Supervised by

NGUYEN THI NHU NGOC, Ph.D

HO CHI MINH CITY, AUGUST 2022

STATEMENT OF AUTHORSHIP

I hereby certify that this thesis entitled “Using conceptual metaphor in

teaching phrasal verbs at Hung Vuong High school for the gifted, Binh Duong

province” is my own work

This thesis has not been submitted for the award of any degree or any other

purposes in any other tertiary institutions

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2022

Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Dung

RETENTION AND USE OF THE THESIS

I hereby state that I, Nguyen Thi Ngoc Dung, being a candidate for the degree

of Master of Arts in TESOL, accept the requirements of the university relating to the retention and use of Master’s Theses deposited in the library

In terms of these conditions, I agree that the original of my thesis deposited

in the library should be accessible for the purpose of study and research, in accordance with the normal conditions established by the Library for the care, loan and reproduction of theses

Ho Chi Minh City, August 2022

Nguyễn Thị Ngọc Dung

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The writing of an MA thesis is not an easy path During the time of writing,

I owe a great debt of gratitude to those who supported and assisted me to complete this work

First and foremost, I am profoundly indebted to my teacher and supervisor,

Dr Nguyen Thi Nhu Ngoc, for all her encouragement, sympathy, and invaluable guidance Without her wholehearted support and critical comments, I would not have overcome the difficulties to finish my thesis

I would like to express my immense gratitude to the Board of Administrators

of Hung Vuong High school for the Gifted in Binh Duong Province and my beloved colleagues there, whose facilitation greatly contributed to the implementation of this thesis

My sincere thanks also go to my teammates in class 2019A for their academic support They are the ones who fulfil my study path and shed the light on the difficulties of this MA course

Many thanks especially go to my fiancé He is one of my biggest spiritual supports His love and sympathy encouraged me a lot to complete this study Last but not least, I would like to dedicate this thesis to my affectionately caring parents, who always love me unconditionally and devote themselves to their daughter and her desires

ABSTRACT

Phrasal verbs play essential role in the English language but it is an obstacle

for many students to comprehend written texts and especially daily conversations

There are a few effective methods of learning phrasal verbs utilized in high school

contexts To partially contribute to an effective method, the research on using

conceptual metaphor in learning phrasal verbs was conducted and presented in this

thesis There are three primary objectives to accomplish: (1) investigating students’

awareness of phrasal verbs and learning phrasal verbs; (2) examining the effects

conceptual metaphor to understand and memorize the meanings of phrasal verbs;

and (3) exploring the students’ perspectives towards this learning method For its

framework for analysis, a quasi-experimental study was conducted with the

participation of fifty-nine non-English-majored students at Hung Vuong High

school for the Gifted in Binh Duong Province, Vietnam in the period of 6 weeks

The responses of both participant groups proved the important role of phrasal verbs

in students’ learning process Besides, the findings of pre-test, immediate post-test

and delayed post-test illustrated that conceptual metaphor method had effective

influence on enhancing the students’ comprehension and memorization of phrasal

verbs Simultaneously, the results of the post-study questionnaire illustrated that

the positive viewpoint from the experimental group on the conceptual metaphor

method The findings of this study carry several implications of teaching and

learning phrasal verbs It is suggested that teachers should pay more attention to

teaching phrasal verbs and explaining their uses properly Additionally, it might

take time for both teachers and students to grasp the conceptual metaphor and use

it to comprehend phrasal verb meanings

Key words: phrasal verbs, conceptual metaphor, TESOL, EFL

TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background to the study 1

1.2 Statement of the study problem 2

1.3 Aims of the study 3

1.4 Significance of the study 3

1.5 Scope of the study 4

1.6 Organization of thesis chapters 4

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW 6

2.1 Definitions of phrasal verbs and their construction 6

2.2 Particles in phrasal verbs 10

2.2.1 Particles versus prepositions 10

2.2.2 The importance of particles in phrasal verbs 11

2.2.3 The metaphorical extension of phrasal verb particle meanings 12

2.3 Conceptual metaphor and its relation to interpreting phrasal verbs 14

2.3.1 Definition of conceptual metaphor 15

2.3.2 Kinds of conceptual metaphor 16

2.4 Using image schemas in interpreting phrasal verbs 19

2.4.1 The theory of image schemas 19

2.4.2 The interpretation of phrasal verb meanings using image schemas 22

2.5 Previous empirical studies on the use of conceptual metaphors in learning phrasal verbs 26

2.5.1 Selected studies for analysis 27

2.5.2 Research gaps 30

2.6 Conceptual framework 31

2.7 Summary of the chapter 32

CHAPTER 3: METHODOLOGY 33

3.1 Research site 33

3.2 Research participants 34

3.3 Research design 36

3.4 Pilot study 38

3.5 Research instrument 40

3.5.1 Pre-test and post-test papers 40

3.5.1.1 Pre-test paper 42

3.5.1.2 Immediate post-test paper as worksheets 43

3.5.2 Delayed post-test paper 44

3.5.3 Questionnaires 44

3.6 Materials for the research 46

3.6.1 The detection process of phrasal verbs in currently used textbooks 46

3.6.2 Selection of phrasal verbs for study 48

3.6.3 Teaching and learning handouts 50

3.6.3.1 Version 1 (for control group) 50

3.6.3.2 Version 2 (for experimental group) 50

3.6.4 Procedure of one period in both classes 52

3.7 Data collection procedure 53

3.7.1 Quasi-experimental study 53

3.7.2 Survey 54

3.7.3 Summary of the data collection procedure 54

3.8 Data analysis 55

3.9 Summary of the chapter 56

CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION 57

4.1 Students’ performance on tests 57

4.1.1 Pre-test scores between two groups 58

4.1.2 Immediate post-test results between two groups 59

4.1.3 Delayed post-test scores between two groups 62

4.1.4 The comparisons between pre-test and delayed post-test scores within groups 63

4.1.5 Discussion 65

4.2 Students’ responses to the questionnaires 67

4.2.1 Students’ awareness of phrasal verbs 67

4.2.1.1 The importance of phrasal verbs in English language 67

4.2.1.2 The preference of using phrasal verbs 68

4.2.1.3 Difficulties in learning phrasal verbs 68

4.2.1.4 Existent strategies of learning phrasal verbs 69

4.2.1.5 The effectiveness of existent methods 70

4.2.2 Students’ perspectives towards the conceptual metaphor method 72

4.2.2.1 Satisfaction of the material of conceptual metaphor method 73

4.2.2.2 Satisfaction of the conceptual metaphor method 74

4.2.3 Discussion 75

4.2.3.1 Students’ perceptions on phrasal verbs 75

4.2.3.2 Students’ perspectives towards the conceptual metaphor method 76

4.3 Summary of the chapter 77

CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION 79

5.1 Summary of the major findings 79

5.2 Suggestions 81

5.2.1 Suggestions for teachers 81

5.2.2 Suggestions for students 82

5.3 Limitations of this study 83

5.4 Recommendations for further study 84

REFERENCES 85

APPENDIX 1: MAPPINGS BETWEEN CONSTITUENT ELEMENTS OF SOURCE AND TARGET DOMAINS 91

APPENDIX 2: SUMMARY OF KINDS OF CONCEPTUAL METAPHOR 92

APPENDIX 3: LIST OF IMAGE SCHEMAS 93

APPENDIX 4: THE EXCERPTS FROM COLLINS PHRASAL VERB DICTIONARY 94

APPENDIX 5: PHRASAL VERBS IN TEXTBOOKS (TIENG ANH 10, 11, 12) AND THEIR MEANINGS IN CONTEXT 98

APPENDIX 6: PHRASAL VERBS’S GROUPS OF MEANINGS BASED ON THEIR PARTICLES 106

APPENDIX 7A: TEACHING AND LEARNING HANDOUTS FOR CONTROL GROUP 109

APPENDIX 7B: TEACHING AND LEARNING HANDOUTS FOR EXPERIMENTAL GROUP 114

APPENDIX 8: PROCEDURE OF ONE INSTRUCTION FOR EXPERIMENTAL GROUP 123

APPENDIX 9: STUDENTS’ DRAWINGS 125

APPENDIX 10: TEST FOR UNSEEN PHRASAL VERBS 127

APPENDIX 11: LIST OF UNSEEN PHRASAL VERBS 129

APPENDIX 12: ORIGINAL PRE-TEST PAPER FOR PILOTING GROUP 130

APPENDIX 13: ORIGINAL DELAYED POST-TEST PAPER FOR PILOTING GROUP 132

APPENDIX 14: PRE-TEST PAPER 134

APPENDIX 15: POST-TEST PAPER AS WORKSHEETS 136

APPENDIX 16: DELAYED POST-TEST PAPER 141

APPENDIX 17: PRE-STUDY QUESTIONNAIRE 143

APPENDIX 18: POST-STUDY QUESTIONNAIRE 145

APPENDIX 19A: SPSS OUTPUT OF PRE-TEST SCORES BETWEEN TWO GROUPS 146

APPENDIX 19B: SPSS OUTPUT OF IMMEDIATE POST-TEST SCORES BETWEEN TWO GROUPS 147

APPENDIX 19C: SPSS OUTPUT OF DELAYED POST-TEST SCORES 149

APPENDIX 20A: REQUEST LETTER TO CONDUCT STUDY 150

APPENDIX 20B: RESPONSE LETTER 151

APPENDIX 21: LESSON OF PHRASAL VERBS EXTRACTED FROM TEXTBOOK (TIENG ANH 12, PP 48-49) 152

HVHS Hung Vuong High school for the Gifted

ESL English as a Second Language

EFL English as a Foreign Language

PBLM Particle-based learning model

LIST OF TABLES

Table 2.1 The differences in changeability between prepositions and particles

(Huddleston & Pullum, 2002, p 285) 9

Table 2.2 Examples of particle on 12

Table 2.3 Several cross-domain mappings of upward and downward orientation 17

Table 2.4 List of image schemas 20

Table 2.5 Trajectors and Landmarks in sentences 21

Table 2.6 Particles and image schemas 23

Table 3.1 Demographic characteristics of participants 35

Table 3.2 Mean scores of piloting group’s pre-test and delayed post-test 39

Table 3.3 Comparison of pre-test and delayed-post-test mean scores 39

Table 3.4 Summary of test structures 41

Table 3.5 Structure of pre-study questionnaire 45

Table 3.6 Structure of questionnaire for experimental group 45

Table 3.7 Some examples of the PVs detected and their groups of meaning based on particles 48

Table 3.8 Procedure of one period at both groups’ classes 52

Table 3.9 The procedure of the study 54

Table 4.1 The pre-test mean scores between two groups 58

Table 4.2 The comparison of pre-test mean scores between two groups 58

Table 4.3 The immediate-post-test mean scores between two groups 59

Table 4.4 The comparison of immediate-post-test mean scores between the two groups 61

Table 4.5 The delayed-post-test mean scores between two groups 62

Table 4.6 The comparison of delayed-post-test mean scores between two groups 63

Table 4.7 The comparison between pre-test and delayed post-test within groups 63

Table 4.8 Summary of rating scale about the importance of PVs 67

Table 4.9 Summary of rating scale about the effectiveness of existent methods 70 Table 4.10 Summary of case processing 72

Table 4.11 Reliability of post-study questionnaire 72

Table 4.12 Summary of mean scores of question items 1-3 73

Table 4.13 Summary of mean scores of question items 4-6 74

LIST OF FIGURES

Figure 2.1 Phraseological categorization (Howarth, 1998, p 27) 7

Figure 2.2 Semantic classification of phrasal verbs 8

Figure 2.3 Spatial or prototypical meanings of particles (Rudzka-Ostyn, 2003, p 4) 13

Figure 2.4 Kinds of conceptual metaphor 16

Figure 2.5 Elaborations of OUT schema 20

Figure 2.6 Mapping for the interaction of verb and particle (Morgan, 1997, p 345) 24

Figure 2.7 The particle-based learning model 25

Figure 2.8 The PBLM of take out 25

Figure 2.9 Conceptual framework 32

Figure 3.1 Lesson of PVs extracted from textbook (Tieng Anh 12, pp 48-49) 34 Figure 3.2 Bloom's taxonomy of learning 41

Figure 3.3 The format of pre-test paper 43

Figure 3.4 The format of the worksheets 43

Figure 3.5 The format of delayed post-test paper 44

Figure 3.6 An extracted output of phrasal verb detection via Text Concordance 46

Figure 3.7 Data analysis scheme 56

Figure 4.1 Normal distribution of pretest scores 57

Figure 4.2 Mean scores of four immediate post-test results between two groups 60

Figure 4.3 Mean scores of delayed-post-test results between two groups 62

Figure 4.4 The differences of mean scores within each group 64

Figure 4.5 The preference of using PVs 68

Figure 4.6 Difficulties in learning PVs 69

Figure 4.7 Existent strategies of learning PVs 70

Figure 4.8 The effectiveness of existent methods 71

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION

1.1 Background to the study

In contemporary dictionaries like Oxford or Cambridge, a phrasal verb (hereafter referred to as PV) is frequently defined as a combination of a verb and a preposition

or an adverb (sometimes followed with both) However, as linguists noted, the component, a so-called preposition, which accompanies the verb in a PV, should

be considered a particle (Quirk et al., 1985; Huddleston & Pullum, 2002; etc.)

Taking run up as an example of a PV, it is constituted by a verb and a particle, which means accelerating Regarding a combination of a verb, a particle and an adverb, put up with, which means tolerating, can give a good illustration of a PV

In the English language, this kind of grammatical aspect is believed to play an essential role, especially in spoken discourse (Cervantes & Gablasova, 2017) For the frequency of these multiword items in English from the British National Corpus (BNC), average one PV can be exposed to in every 150 words (Gardner and Davies, 2007, p 347)

Although its importance is recognized in language and English-subject curricula, PVs are a problematic source for EFL/ESL learners Many learners find these constructions one of the long-standing sources of confusion and frustration, which leads to the avoidance of using these phrases (Kurtyka, 2001) To investigate the causes of confusion and avoidance in the EFL learning process, numerous studies have been conducted over the past decades For instance, one of the causes is considered the L1-L2 differences (Dagut & Laufer, 1985); another is different level proficiency (Liao & Fukuya, 2004); and the other is the complexity of PVs (Hulstijn & Marchena, 1989; Laufer & Eliasson, 1993; Kurtyka, 2001; Tran & Tran, 2019; etc.) Among the roots of hindrance, semantic complexity might be a common cause because PV meanings are not usually derived from their elements, but carry highly idiomatic and opaque senses (Garnier & Schmitt, 2015)

On the way of seeking an effective method to teach and learn PVs, several researchers have discovered that the meanings of PVs are related to cognitive linguistics Contrary to common sense, PVs are not supposed to carry ambiguous

meanings Instead, they are systematized in a certain way based on conceptual metaphor (hereafter referred to as CM) According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003), CM plays a vital role in structuring what we grasp, how we figure out things and how we act On the grounds of cross-domain CM related to spatial imagery, the meanings of particles in PVs, which are considered dominant over the verb meaning, are explored (David, 2002) In the same vein, Taylor (2002) and Rudzka-Ostyn (2003) emphatically use the term ‘image schemas’ as well as explain their schematic representations for PV particles Consequently, the meanings of the whole item can be denoted on the grounds of CM Thus, thanks to applying CM, English PVs seem more principled (Holme, 2012)

1.2 Statement of the study problem

Over the past decades, diverse publications have been published with a view to supporting teachers as well as enhancing EFL learners’ self-study However, most

of them utilize the strategies of grouping PVs into themes or their same base verbs These methods commonly result in rote learning Taking the high school where she is working, the researcher discovers that those methods are frequently applied

in classrooms Teachers often prepare lists of PVs, along with equivalent Vietnamese meanings ad relevant examples Afterwards, these handouts are distributed for students to look through They practice using PVs provided by follow-up exercises in order to memorize Consequently, students cannot use PVs properly and effectively, which leads to the tendency of avoidance Hence, it is necessary to find a method to boost the progress of learning PVs among students

CM could be considered an innovative method to tackle the issue of PVs Interest

in the merit of CM, there have been numerous studies conducted to examine the effectiveness of CM on learning PVs To illustrate, some outstanding national and international research have been carried out and recognised such as studies by Nguyen and Phan (2009), Yasuda (2010), White (2012), Huynh and Vo (2015), and Kartal and Uner (2017) Despite gaining many concerns, research on the CM method has not yet been paid sufficient attention in Vietnam and remains several

unsolved aspects Thus, the research undertaken for this thesis, entitled “Using

conceptual metaphor in teaching phrasal verbs at Hung Vuong High School for the gifted, Binh Duong province” hopes to contribute to students’

improvement in their PV learning through the use of the CM-based method in Vietnam’s context

1.3 Aims of the study

In the hope of seeking an effective method for students at Hung Vuong High School for the Gifted in Binh Duong Province (hereafter referred to as HVHS), this study aims to:

- Investigate students’ awareness of PVs and learning PVs

- Examine the effects of the CM method on learning PVs compared to the conventional method, namely learning a list of PVs by heart

- Explore experimental-group students’ perspectives towards using the CM method in learning PVs

The following research questions are raised to address the aforementioned objectives:

1 What are the students’ perceptions towards phrasal verbs and learning phrasal verbs?

2 To what extent does the use of conceptual metaphor improve the non-English majored students’ efficiency in learning phrasal verbs at HVHS?

3 What are the experimental group’s perspectives on the use of conceptual metaphor in their learning of phrasal verbs?

1.4 Significance of the study

Theoretically, this research attempts to yield insight into the effect of the CM on improving PV learning at high school in Vietnam’s context It is because using the

CM method had not yet been a practice that high school English teachers applied

to help their students overcome the challenges of learning PVs before this research was conducted

Practically, the results of this study are expected to reinvigorate teachers and students in adopting a more appropriate practice of teaching and learning PVs in

Vietnam’s high schools Furthermore, by investigating students’ perspectives towards the CM-based method on their PV learning, this study can be evidence of students’ preference and acceptance of a new pedagogical method Then the research findings are expected to be a useful reference for teachers and students with similar contexts in Vietnam

1.5 Scope of the study

With a view to exploring the effects of the CM-based method on learning PVs of students at a local high school, the study emphasizes PVs that students can be

exposed to in their course books during three academic years (e.g., Tieng Anh 10,

11, 12) However, due to the scale of the textbooks in the experiment, only PVs

with common particles are considered to include in this study In particular, PVs

of four particles up, out, on and off are utilized to design handouts and tests for the

data collection procedure of the study Thus, this limitation helps the research be more in-depth and encourages further study in this field

Concerning the meanings of particles, this research only examines the aspect of compositional meaning, where the connotations of PVs can be stemmed from their particles The reasons why the researcher selects the mentioned aspect to extend the metaphorical meaning of particle in a PV will be elaborated later in Chapter 2: Literature review

1.6 Organization of thesis chapters

This thesis is comprised of five chapters

Chapter 1, Introduction, presents the background to this study It consists of the

role of PVs in research, the gaps to fill in, the aims of this study and the scope of the study as well

Chapter 2, Literature Review, provides a theoretical framework for the study by

reviewing the literature on PVs, particles in PVs and CM method Furthermore, the findings from recent empirical studies are also accompanied to help clarify aspects that the study concerns

Chapter 3, Methodology, explains the methods utilized to conduct the research and

analyze data obtained in this study It describes the research site and participants, the instruments for data collection, the materials of instructions, and the data analysis scheme for this study

Chapter 4, Findings and Discussions, presents the findings from tests and

questionnaire based on the independence t-test and provide a discussion of these results and the raised issues In particular, the findings are reported to examine the significance of mean scores within groups and between the experimental and control groups Afterwards, the discussions compare and contrast the theoretical backgrounds and findings from previous studies on this matter

Chapter 5, Conclusion, summarizes the major research findings, draws conclusions

from those results and indicates some of the pedagogical implications of the findings Moreover, the limitations of this study and suggestions for further research in this area are taken into consideration

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Definitions of phrasal verbs and their construction

Up to now, PVs have played an essential role in English According to Cervantes and Gablasova (2017, p 28), PVs are an indispensable component owing to their widespread occurrence in “both spoken and written communication across the different register.” PVs have long been defined by many researchers in the field of linguistics Back in the 1980s, PVs were designated as multi-word verbs or any unitary combination of a lexical verb and an adverbial particle (that may continuously or discontinuously follow the verb) (Quirk et al., 1985) In the same vein, Joshi (2014) simply defines PVs as a combination of a verb and other elements which are an adverb or a preposition or both Additionally, another

definition of PVs was mentioned in The American Heritage Dictionary of Phrasal

verbs (2005) (as cited in White, 2012):

A phrasal verb is a combination of an ordinary verb and a preposition or an adverbial particle that has at least one particular meaning that is not predictable from the combined literal meanings of the verb and the preposition or particle

In short, the nature of PVs would be a construction of a verb and an element, a called particle The meaning of a PV does not always depend on its separate parts

so-in the construction This defso-inition would be employed so-in this research

A PV is considered a confusion due to its syntactic and semantic aspects Taking the formation of PVs into account, it is somewhat similar to prepositional verbs, which makes learners confused Therefore, it is necessary to differentiate PVs from prepositional verbs by their semantic and syntactic distinctions In terms of construction, attached to phraseology, PVs are categorized as one of the composite units in a study of word combination based on their internal forms and external function by Howarth (1998)

Figure 2.1 Phraseological categorization (Howarth, 1998, p 27)

According to Howarth (1998), while functional expressions depend on the realization of word combinations in terms of discourse and utterances, composite

units carry the syntactic function in clauses or sentences Belonging to the latter

one, PVs are more explicated in the sense of a collocational continuum based on the criteria of collocability, semantic specialization and idiomaticity In other words, PVs’ elements cannot be freely substituted and the meanings of PVs may not be derived from their constituents, but contain metaphorical meanings in terms

of the whole unit Huddleston and Pullum (2002, p 284) exemplify the

lexicalization process of the verb-particle combination, take in, through a

continuum below

(1) We’d better take in the children’s toys [move in the house]

(2) They supplement their income by taking in students [renting to]

(3) I’ve taken in your trousers, because they were too loose [tighten]

(4) Grammar takes in syntax and morphology but phonology [includes]

(5) I thought we might take in a show after dinner [see]

(6) I was too tired to take in what she was saying [grasp]

(7) I’m not surprised he was taken in: he’s as gullible as a child [deceived]

As can be seen from the sentences above, the meaning of the base verb take and the interpretation of particle in is predictable in (1) while the sense becomes

opaquer in (7), which follows the semantic classification However, it is necessary

to bear in mind that not all PVs have meanings transferring as take in Some PVs

may contain the literal senses in all uses, yet others may appear with their idiomatic meanings only

Apparently, the analysis of PVs is akin to other lexical formation, which considers semantic and syntactic aspects Regarding semantic characteristic, König (1973)

classifies the PVs’ meanings into three types, which comprises ‘directional’,

‘aspectual’ and ‘non-compositional’ combinations (as cited in Thim, 2012)

However, after thoroughly studying, Thim (2012, p.13) categorizes the semantic

types of verb-particle combinations as in the figure below

Figure 2.2 Semantic classification of phrasal verbs

That the ‘directional’ and ‘aspectual’ particle share the reflection of the senses of particle has given the justification for being arranged in compositional type The

former type interprets the motion through space or the action of verbs while the latter one refers to the situation of a post hoc verb-particle formation The other

type, ‘non-compositional,’ appears difficult to assign a specific meaning from the

sense of particle The meaning of a PV does not derive from its constituents, but ranges from concrete to abstract meanings

Concerning syntactic characteristic, Rudzka-Ostyn (2003, p 1) regards a PV as an idiomatic multi-word construction which comprises a verb and an adverbial

particle and/or a preposition It possibly forms three common syntactic structures, including:

1 Verb + particle: slow down, bring up, put off, give away, look into (a murder),

think over

2 Verb + particle + preposition: face up to, get down to, come up with, be in for

3 Verb + preposition: refer to, look into (a room), look at, depend on, abstain

from, think of

In this scope of the book Word Power: Phrasal Verbs and Compounds,

Rudzka-Ostyn (2003) also briefly adds further details that there are two distinctive features

of PVs One is the unification of base verbs and particles that means the more idiomatic sense equals the more cohesiveness within a PV The other is passivity These two ideas cannot justify the syntactic characteristic of PVs, so it is necessary

to take more theories into consideration Huddleston and Pullum (2002, pp 286) elucidate three aspects of PVs compared to free combinations

284-1 The changeability of particle

2 The insertion of adjunct

3 The syntactic separability

The first area demonstrates the ability to change the position of the intransitive locative prepositions While it is commonly observed that the preposition in a free combination can place in the initial position, it is impossible to occur in a PV (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002) The following examples from Huddleston and Pullum (2002, p 285) can make it explicit

Table 2.1 The differences in changeability between prepositions and particles (Huddleston & Pullum, 2002, p 285)

Down it went Off came his shirt Up do the ratings In went the sun

Phrasal verbs

* Down it broke * Off went the milk * Up pay the

patrons

* In gave the bandit

* shows the unacceptable word order

In the second area, PVs generally allow only one sequence, i.e., inserting an adjunct (e.g., of manner) between the base verb and particle is not acceptable For

instance, we can add the adverb slowly in the middle of the free combination like

‘He drove slowly down the mountain road,’ yet it is impossible to say ‘*He broke slowly down when hearing the news.’

The last area is illustrated with the intransitive locative preposition The adverb or adverbial clause follows the verb in a free combination Meanwhile, in a PV, the object may be preceded by an intransitive particle in some cases or it may be placed

in the middle between the verb and particle

In conclusion, on the grounds of these analyses, PVs, regarded as multi-word verbs, can be delineated on the understanding of semantic and syntactic interpretations

In terms of semantic interpretation, the meaning of a PV does mostly contain figurative sense, which turns to be a favorable condition for the use of CM method Regarding syntactic construction, PVs are considered as a fixed category, i.e., it is impossible to split the elements and substitute one of them with another word similar in word class; instead, a PV can be replaced with a single verb with a familiar meaning Furthermore, it is particles in PVs that need distinguishing with prepositions and examining because they may affect the metaphorical meaning of the whole unit The next section will elaborate on the particles in PVs as well as their roles in the whole unit

2.2 Particles in phrasal verbs

2.2.1 Particles versus prepositions

To commence, it is necessary to discover the word origin of particle The term

particle whose origin is from the word Latin particulla (small part) designates

“elements of un-inflecting word classes” frequently play a role in languages such

as Classical Greek, German, Dutch, Norwegian and English (Neagu, 2007, p 122) Neagu’s (2007) employs one of the meanings of particle which regards particle as

a subgroup of variables like prepositions, adverbs, or conjunctions Likewise,

Oxford Learner’s Dictionary (n.d.) briefly defines a particle as an adverb or a

preposition that can combine with a verb to establish a PV Nonetheless, there is

no resemblance between a preposition and a particle despite the fact they seem to have similar forms Whereas a preposition demonstrates motion or position, a particle carries a sense ranging from concrete to figurative

2.2.2 The importance of particles in phrasal verbs

As aforementioned, the meanings of PVs transfer from literal to figurative senses Several PVs carry literal meanings, so they are easy to realize and to understand (Celce-Murcia & Larsen-Freeman, 1983) For instance, it is not difficult to

comprehend those PVs, e.g., go up – go down, move in – move out, etc In contrast,

some PVs contain metaphorical meanings that are far from the original ones such

as bring down (meaning: make somebody lose power), turn out (meaning: be discovered), take up (meaning: start to do something) and so forth Indeed, a PV is

not invented randomly, but there is an underlying logic to form PVs

(Rudzka-Ostyn, 2003; Rundell, 2005; Holme, 2012) Likewise, Kovács (2011) also claims

that the meanings of PVs can be easily inferred thanks to metaphors, which foreign learners often do not recognize The connotation of a PV may be derived from its constituents, especially particles

The contribution of particles to PV meanings is recognized by many researchers (David, 2002; Rudzka-Ostyn, 2003; Cappelle, 2005; Gairns & Redman, 2011) Those authors indicate that particles whose meaning are organized systematically may extend the meaning or completely change the meaning of the combination David (2002, p 130) emphasizes the role of particles that can complete and manipulate the PV meaning through “forcing its own conceptual framework onto

the verb.” In a similar vein of systematization of particles, Collins COBUILD

Phrasal Verbs Dictionary (2020) attaches a particles index at the back of the

dictionary in order to list the meaning of particles as well as illustrate the relation between the particle and the verb-particle combination definition (see Appendix 4,

pp 94-97 for some pages excerpted from the index of particles in this dictionary)

For instance, one of the definitions of the particle on in this index, is to mention

an activity, journey or movement continuing The PVs followed by the particle on

extracted from Collins COBUILD Phrasal Verbs Dictionary (2020) share

somehow similar senses of continuation despite containing different base verbs The table below illustrates several examples

Table 2.2 Examples of particle on

They just ignored her, and carried on chatting continued

Some legal cases have dragged on for eight years taken longer

While she was pouring out their drinks, she went on

We sat listening to Miriam as she rambled on talked for a long time

As can be observed from the above examples, the meaning of the whole unit of a

PV is heavily affected by particles Furthermore, all these four examples are grouped under the same semantic category “continuation.” So, in what way are they organized into an underlying pattern? This will be elaborated on in the next section

2.2.3 The metaphorical extension of phrasal verb particle meanings

Referring to Figure 2.2 in section 2.1 (p 8), it can be seen that Thim (2012) regards the semantic characteristics of a PV as two kinds, one of which is attributed to motions and circumstances whereas the other refers to idiomatic units Relating to the former kind, Rodríguez-Puente (2019) claims that the meanings of particles have a heavy effect on the meanings of the whole unit In addition, this author affirms that the meaning of a compound of a verb and an idiomatic particle becomes non-compositional and hard to deduce, i.e., “the individual connotations

of both the verb and the particle can no longer be inferred” (Rodríguez-Puente,

2019, p 72) Hence, in the scope of this study, the researcher only considers the aspect of compositional meaning, where the meanings of PVs can be derived from their particles This will facilitate students in memorizing the meanings of PVs as well as guessing this construction more easily

Corresponding to the former kind – compositional meaning, Rudzka-Ostyn (2003)

claims that with the combination of the base verbs, the spatial or prototypical

meanings of particles facilitates generating PVs’ meanings spontaneously In other words, if the meaning of a base verb appears known and a particle carries the spatial or prototypical meaning, then the meaning of a PV is easily inferred To

illustrate, we should consider the following sentences, borrowed from Collins

COBUILD Phrasal Verbs Dictionary (2020):

(16) We’ve been digging up potatoes in the vegetable garden

(17) Journalists had dug up some shocking facts about the company

As can be observed, there is a change of semantic interpretations of the PV dig up from literal to figurative meanings in sentences (16) and (17) The PV dig up in

(16) has a literal meaning and refers to a physical action to extract something from the ground by digging Meanwhile, the latter one contains a metaphorical sense of disclosing information

Figure 2.3 Spatial or prototypical meanings of particles (Rudzka-Ostyn, 2003, p 4)

Although there is a difference in meanings between two sentences, both verbs share similarities in sense, particularly, the process of discovering something What is more, it is not difficult to understand the meaning of the PV in the sentence

multi-(17) since the particle up retains its primary meaning Briefly, it is possible to

divine the spatial meanings of particles The way to grasp them can be visualized

as the above figure adopted from Rudzka-Ostyn (2003, p 4)

Nonetheless, in some cases, the literal meanings of particles are considered to transparent to abstracts, comprising of thoughts, feelings, relations, etc As Rudzka-Ostyn (2003) states, the non-spatial meanings may be unfamiliar to ESL/EFL learners even if they have already known the literal meanings of elements in a PV Even though the PV does not carry the prototypical meaning, the figurative sense can be conceived based on the spatial meanings of the particles

The following sentences, borrowed from Collins COBUILD Phrasal Verbs

Dictionary (2020), are taken as examples of this matter

(18) I took some cake into work to try to cheer up my colleagues

prototypical connotations of movement In particular, the particle up carries the

spatial meaning of positioned verticality (as seen in Figure 2.3 above) On the

basis of this literal meaning, the semantic interpretations of cheer up and show up

can be inferred, which indicates the increase or appearance The process of transferring from concrete to abstract domains can be regarded as a metaphor in language In the vein of the effect of metaphor on PV meanings, Rodríguez-Puente

(2019) deduces that orientational metaphor – the term borrowed from Lakoff and

Johnson (1980, 2003), can be considered as the best description of this influence Prior to the analysis of this influence, we should explore some theory related to the umbrella term, conceptual metaphor, as well as the interpretation of PV particles

in the next sections

2.3 Conceptual metaphor and its relation to interpreting phrasal verbs

In order to elucidate the relevance between CM and PVs’ meanings, this section will discuss several theories on CM (definitions, types of CM and CM-inspired

instruction) and illustrate its relation to denoting the meanings of PVs

2.3.1 Definition of conceptual metaphor

The notion of CM belongs to experientialism where semantics are dominated by how individuals interact with their surroundings (Nguyen, 2016) This interaction process as well as human experience are taken into account a foundation of language and thought, i.e CM can be motivated by these factors (Kövecses, 2010) Regarding the definition of CM, there have been numerous books or studies mentioning it for the past decades But all of them have been developed on the grounds of the concepts from two eminent researchers, Lakoff and Johnson As Lakoff and Johnson (1980, 2003) define, CM is a conventional mapping from one domain to another Specifically, one component is called the experiential or concrete domain, which is closely related to our bodily activity Another element

is called the abstract domain, which is associated with the concept In that vein, Kövecses (2010) clarifies that the expression of the source domain (or concrete domain) is to understand the target one (or abstract domain) while the meaning of the latter one is to be understood in this way And this correspondence is referred

to a mapping For instance, Kövecses (2010) displays mappings between concrete and abstract domains in the CM: “LOVE IS A JOURNEY.” With this sense, it is easily comprehensible to the reader/listener that what involved in the abstract

domain love can be understood on the grounds of a journey’s features By this way,

the lovers can be described as the travelers in their love journey More elaboration

on the mappings between constituent elements of source and target domains is presented in Appendix 1 (p 91)

In a nutshell, on the grounds of the aforementioned definitions and justifications,

CM can be understood as the cross-domain mapping when the source and target domains are interrelated, and elements from the source can interpret the meaning

of the target one This cross-mapping can be inferred from human practice and interaction in daily life The following section will be discussed more the cross-domain mapping in CM

2.3.2 Kinds of conceptual metaphor

The cross-domain mapping in CM is characterized by the formula TARGET

DOMAIN IS SOURCE DOMAIN or TARGET DOMAIN AS SOURCE DOMAIN,

with common abstract domains (e.g., emotion, desire, morality, thought, etc.) and concrete domains (e.g., human body, health and illness, animals, machines and tools, etc.) (Kövecses, 2010) Ultimately, CM adheres to several systems of

classification To illustrate, the terms of structural metaphor, orientational

metaphor and ontological metaphor were coined by Lakoff and Johnson (1980,

2003) Supplementing this area, Kövecses (2010) categorizes CM based on four

significant ways: conventionality, cognitive functions, nature, and level of

generality The summary of these kinds of CM is illustrated in Appendix 2 (p 92)

These kinds appear to relate in several aspects The relation between these categories can be visualized as follows

Figure 2.4 Kinds of conceptual metaphor (Adapted from Kövecses, 2010)

As mentioned above, Rodríguez-Puente (2019) claims that orientational metaphor

can best describe the influence of CM on PV meanings In other words, this kind supports image-schema, an instrument to interpret the meanings of PVs In fact,

not only orientational metaphors but also ontological metaphors have a great

influence on image-schema Consequently, in the scope of this study, these two

kinds of cognitive function will be elaborated to clarify the use of image-schema

in defining PVs

Initially, orientational metaphors, which mostly relate to people’s physical and

cultural experience in space, are taken into consideration Lakoff and Johnson (2003) propose that this metaphor can stem from human body postures Its systems correlate with the interaction of space such as “up-down, in-out, front-back, on-off, deep-shallow, central-peripheral” and these binary orientational metaphors may vary in different cultures In that vein, Kövecses (2010) indicates that such metaphors conceptualize target domains as the human system For instance, upward and downward orientation delineate two opposite evaluations, positive and negative

Table 2.3 Several cross-domain mappings of upward and downward orientation

(Extracted from Lakoff & Johnson, 2003, p.17; Kövecses, 2010, p 40)

These cross-domain mappings are frequently used in everyday conversations The following sentences indicate the CMs “HAPPY IS UP; SAD IS DOWN”

HAPPY IS UP: I’m feeling up That boosted my spirits My spirits rose SAD IS DOWN: I'm feeling down He's really low these days I fell into a depression My spirits sank

(Lakoff & Johnson, 2003, p 15) These sentences illustrate that the degree of feelings can be evaluated on the

vertical axis Specifically, the words reflecting the meaning of an increase, e.g., up,

boost, rise, etc show positive feelings Meanwhile, negative feelings are indicated

with words or phrases which contain the meaning of a decrease, e.g., down, low,

fall, etc According to Kövecses (2010), not only the spatial orientation up-down

but also other concepts (e.g., whole-not whole, central-peripheral, in-out,

front-back, etc.) refer to positive and negative evaluation

With regards of the other kind, ontological metaphors serve the purposes of

referring, quantifying and focus on the abstract concept This type of CM assists

in extracting a new abstract entity from an abstract concept In other words, we cannot precisely determine what kind of object we conceive For instance, the ontological metaphor “THE MIND IS A MACHINE” can be specified in the following sentences in English

We’re still trying to grind out the solution to this equation My mind just isn't

operating today

(Lakoff & Johnson, 2003, p 27) With the CM mentioned above, we comprehend that the mind process is resemblance to a machine, which is “having an on-off state, a level of efficiency,

a productive capacity, an internal mechanism, a source of energy and an operating condition” (Lakoff & Johnson, 2007, p 28) Ultimately, it can be explicated why

the write/speaker uses “grind out” or “operate” when mentioning the mind

process Moreover, ontological metaphors provide the view of events, actions, activities, states, etc These constituents are conceptualized as containers (Lakoff

& Johnson, 2003) Ultimately, it is reasonable to comprehend why the words underlined in the following examples are utilized

I put a lot of energy into washing the windows

I get a lot of satisfaction out of washing the windows

(Lakoff & Johnson, 2003, p 31)

In these two sentences, the action “washing the windows” is viewed as a container,

so its by-products like energy and satisfaction are regarded to make it up or emerge from it Thanks to this view, the meanings of PVs, consisting of “put into” and

“get out of” can be extracted

In brief, it is easily recognized that CMs, especially orientational and ontological metaphors, facilitate comprehending the meanings of words or phrases in sentences Corresponding to these cross-domain mappings, image schemas assist building a general picture in learners’ mind to process the meanings of fixed expressions, such as idioms, PVs and so forth The details of image schemas and their correlation with PV interpretation will be elaborated in the following section

2.4 Using image schemas in interpreting phrasal verbs

2.4.1 The theory of image schemas

In the manner of orientational and ontological metaphors, image schemas pertain

to spatial relations and human interactions with our surroundings Correspondingly, they build a “skeletal image schemas” for source domains, instead of apparent structures for mappings between source and target concepts (Kövecses, 2010, p

43) For instance, phrases such as pass out, space out, zone out and tune out are categorized as one group of out image-schema, which refers to the negative

situation Below are two examples of image schemas extracted from Kövecses (2010, p 43)

Image-schema Metaphorical extension

contact Hold on, please

The term ‘image schema’ was utilized by Lakoff (1987), Johnson (1987), Lakoff and Tuner (1989) to explicate experiential concepts (as cited in Ly Toan Thang, 2009) Discussing more about the schematization, Johnson (1987) proposes that image schemata are the pillar of meanings and inferences human produces in real life This researcher defines “image schema” as

a cluster of knowledge representing a particular generic procedure, object, percept, event, sequence of events, or social situation This cluster provides a skeleton structure for a concept that can be “instantiated,” or filled out with the detailed properties of the particular instance being represented

(Johnson, 1987, p 19)

Ly Toan Thang (2009, p 215) presents “elaboration” forms of image schemas

Pluck the feather out

Carve out the best piece of meat for

yourself

He picks out two pieces of candy

The dog dug the bone out

Figure 2.5 Elaborations of OUT schema

Although there are distinctive forms of four elaborations compared to the basic image schema, all of them share the same characteristic of trajector-landmark separation As Johnson (1987, p 34) notes, the senses of IN-OUT schemata are derived from “a host of bodily movements, manipulations and experiences,” which

is related to ontological metaphors In this case, the things contained (e.g., human body, mouth, car, bed, toothpaste, etc.) are regarded as the container Apparently, Johnson (1987) defines this representation of IN-OUT orientation as container schema

Table 2.4 List of image schemas

(Extracted from “The Body in the Mind: The Bodily Basis of Meaning,

Imagination and Reason” by Lakoff (1987, p 126)

Apart from container/containment schema, this cognitive linguist also mentions scale schemas, which conjoins orientational metaphors This kind of schema is represented by the verticality on the grounds of quantitative (quantity) and

qualitative (degree of intensity) aspects of our experiences MORE IS UP metaphor, for example, is usually recognized as a common scale schema (Johnson, 1987) Along with containment and scale schemas, there are diverse image schemas listed in Lakoff’s (1987, p 126) discussion Table 2.4 (p 20) displays part of the image schema list in the study of Lakoff (See full table in Appendix 3,

p 93)

No matter the image schema is, there are two essential elements in image schemas:

landmark and trajector According to David (2002, p 40), landmark is “an entity

located in all kinds of spatial environment” while trajector is a figure within the

environment, presenting the movement of a mobile object In the same vein,

Rudzka-Ostyn (2003) indicates landmark is a bigger entity served as background (e.g., surface, container or immobile thing) and trajector is smaller and moving

subjects (e.g., an object, a person, a feeling, etc.) However, the role of landmark and trajector might interchange in different circumstances, i.e image schemas are flexible (Hampe, 2005) Furthermore, Hampe (2005, p 1) claims that image schemas are preconceptual structures, expressing cross-domain mappings of conceptual metaphors The table below illustrates the role of these two entities in sentences

Table 2.5 Trajectors and Landmarks in sentences

He puts his handkerchief in

Ten convicts broke out of the

(Extracted from “Word power: Phrasal verbs and Compounds” by

Rudzka-Ostyn (2003, p 10))

Obviously, the relations of trajector and landmark are indicated by verbs or

phrasal verbs in the sentences For instance, in the sentence “He puts his handkerchief in the pocket,” the “handkerchief” regarded as a mobile object changes its position from out of the container - “pocket” to inside the landmark

And the prepositional phrasal “put in” is utilized to show this relation Similarly, the next sentence “Ten convicts broke out of the prison” could be elaborated in this way In particular, the phrasal verb “break out of” functions as a bridge of the

trajector “convicts” and the landmark “prison.”

To sum up, image schemas, which are pictorial presentations of conceptual metaphors, arise from human bodily movement, manipulations and experiences They generalize and provide a standard image for different concepts, but similar characteristics There are numerous image schemas to activate the systematization

of metaphorical meanings Even though each image schema represents different

meanings, most of them have two important constituents, including trajector and

landmark The spatial relations of these elements can broadly denote the meanings

of particles in PVs that will be clarified in the following section

2.4.2 The interpretation of phrasal verb meanings using image schemas

As stated in section 2.3.3, particles in PVs can carry from literal to non-literal meanings The latter one can be transparent on the grounds of spatial relations of the former one Ultimately, combining the use of image schemas, particles can support to elicit the meanings of PVs In essence, there is a need an effective approach considering image schema as a pillar to interpret PV meanings

It is necessary to explore how the particles are depicted from image schemas By drawing the concept of scholars including Rudzka-Ostyn (1985, 1988), Claudi and Heine (1986), Lakoff (1987) and Johnson (1987), Taylor (2002, pp 337-338)

identify nine image schemas, including containment, a journey and its component

parts, proximity and distance, linkage and separation, front-back orientation, part-whole relationship, linear order, up-down orientation, and mass and multiplex conceptualizations Compared to the publications on PVs by Rudzka-

Ostyn (2003), the particles mentioned in this book are categorized into seven image schemas as follows

Table 2.6 Particles and image schemas

PRESENTATIONS

IN - OUT Container / containment schema

UP - DOWN Up - down orientation schema

ON - OFF Linkage & separation schema

ABOUT

AROUND

AWAY

BY

Proximity & distance schema (Varied in presentations)

OUT The journey & its parts schema

Figure 2.6 Mapping for the interaction of verb and particle (Morgan, 1997,

p 345)

On the basis of cross-domain mapping of CM, Morgan (1997) suggests the

explication of figure out meaning as the mapping aforementioned According to the model, it can be obviously seen that the particle out is manipulated by the container schema, so the meaning can be denoted out as visibility Regarding the base verb, figure is also influenced by CM in which its target domain means

thinking On the merger of target domains of both verb and particle, the meaning

of figure out can be represented as knowing

Although it can illustrate the interpretation of PV meanings, Morgan’s (1997) model has not elicited the role of image schema in the frame Supplementing this insufficiency, Leung (2005) proposes a particle-based learning model of PVs (hereafter referred to as PBLM) In his model, Leung (2005) has emphasis on the importance of particle’s image schematic transformation to interpret PV meanings

On the grounds of this PBLM, the role of image schema is emphasized when it influences the CM of two source domains, including verb and particle To illustrate

this model, take a look of the PV take out This PV has various meanings, but the researcher considers the denotation of removing something from the container or

the place where it was Applying the PBLM, the PV take out can be explicated as

follows Initially regarding the particle, out is influenced by the container schema From this image schematic representation, the CM of out can be illustrated as the

state of non-existence As for the base verb, the source domain of take is carrying

or moving something from one place to another Accompanying the image schema

of particle out, it is obviously seen that the metaphorical extension of verb take can

be the act of removing something Apparently, the meaning of take out is extracting

something from the containment This explication is illustrated by the PBLM in the following figures

Figure 2.7 The particle-based learning model (Adapted from Leung, 2005)

Figure 2.8 The PBLM of take out

Note: SD = Source domain; TD = Target domain; CM = Conceptual metaphor

Obviously, Leung’s (2005) PBLM assists the analysis of PV constitution, interpreting the meaning based on the schematic image of particle and the main verb in a PV This procedure can hardly be exposed in other studies which pay little attention to main verbs, but mostly the schematic image of particles As a result, there appears a gap to define a PV Leung’s (2005) PBLM bridging the gap

is evident to the effectiveness of CM method on university students’ PV learning

In the scope of this study, PBLM can be the best alternative for high school students to employ for learning PVs

In short, image schema is a preconceptual representation of particles in PVs Based

on this transformation, the CM of particles can be interpreted, which facilitates denoting the meanings of PVs Nevertheless, the interpretation of PV meanings is not obviously given without collaborating main verb’s essence Facilitating the definition of PVs, the PBLM is developed in the combination of base verbs and particle image-schema

2.5 Previous empirical studies on the use of conceptual metaphors in learning phrasal verbs

As mentioned, PVs are considered a frustrating source for EFL learners because

of three prime causes The first one is the differences between the first and second languages Dagut and Laufer (1985) conduct a study with intermediate Hebrew learners with a view to exploring the effect of L1-L2 differences on using PVs Through this study, they discover that a significant number of non-English students prefer using one-word verbs to PVs The second cause of avoidance is the differences in proficiency levels To illustrate, Liao and Fukuya (2004) conduct a research and find that advanced Chinese graduate students tend to use a greater number of PVs, compared to their undergraduate peers The last source of frustration mentioned is the complexity of PVs itself Thanks to the findings from their case study, Tran and Tran (2019) indicate that apart from the differences between Vietnamese and the target language – English, students also confront the flexibility of particle meanings in PV structures