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Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 15. Number 2, June 2024 Pp.305-320
Centre for Research in Language and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences
and Linguistics, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia
Centre for Research in Language and Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences
and Linguistics, National University of Malaysia, Malaysia
Metaphor is recognized as a valuable tool for analysis and as a means to effectively convey meaning. Although metaphor is supposed to be used to effectively convey meaning, learners of English, particularly those in the foreign language context, often have difficulty comprehending metaphors in academic text. The current study aims to contribute to understand deeply of the influencing factors on metaphor comprehension among Iraqi EFL learners when they read academic texts. The study draws on Steen’s (2010) MIPVU model and Lakoff and Johnson’s (1980) Conceptual Metaphor Theory to identify and analyze the metaphorical expressions. The data for the study were collected from two academic reading comprehension texts. Five Iraqi EFL university learners participated in determining the metaphors contained in the texts. The findings revealed that authors of academic texts often incorporate a wide range of metaphorical expressions. These expressions can vary in their familiarity, ranging from very familiar to less familiar and even unfamiliar, to engage readers’ cognitive processes and facilitate the conceptualization of the metaphor. The findings revealed that the factors influencing metaphor comprehension are varied and that they are of two broad types: external factors related to cultural and social considerations, and internal factors related to linguistic and educational settings. The findings could enable practitioners to devise more effective approaches for teaching metaphor comprehension to EFL learners.
Keywords: academic reading texts, conceptual metaphors, Iraqi EFL learners, metaphor comprehension
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Omar Ahmed Badr Al-Mashhadani is a Ph.D. candidate in English language studies at the National University of Malaysia (UKM). He participated in the International Conference SOLS 2017 and published a journal article in GEMA 2023. His main areas of interest are cognitive linguistics, comprehension competence, and teaching EFL learners.
ORCID ID: https://orcid.org/0009-0006-6579-9126
Ravichandran Vengadasamy (PhD) is a senior lecturer and the Head of the Postgraduate Programme at the Centre for Research in Language and Linguistics, National University of Malaysia. His research and teaching interests include postcolonial literature, Malaysian literature in English, cognitive and literary stylistics, and academic writing.
ORCid ID : http://orcid.org/0000-0001-5528-3026
Khazriyati Salehuddin (PhD) is an Associate Professor and a Psycholinguist at the Centre for Research in Language & Linguistics, The National University of Malaysia. She has led several research projects related to Psycholinguistics and Language & Cognition. She is currently the Editor-in-Chief of GEMA Online® Journal of Language Studies.
ORCid ID : http://orcid.org/0000-0002-0575-6056