Chapter one Introduction

1.1 Purpose of the Study As closed-class words, the spatial prepositions (SP), which are used to illustrate the relation of two objects is limited in number and simple in form. Nevertheless, they have a great many senses. SP is not only applied to describe the spatial relationship, but also applied to organize other grammar structure. Therefore, at the initial stage of learning English, SP is always the vital category of words that English learners have to comprehend. However, these limited and simple words are used (use) in the expression of foundational spatial meaning and abstract meaning. Learners can easily understand the meaning of up in get up but not in time is up. This is because the common and normal way learners used (use) to comprehend English is to find the “semantic equivalent”. A Chinese learner can understand the former one while they find a semantic equivalent “qi” in their mother language, but the latter one’s (one) is empty. According to the “semantic equivalence hypothesis” by Ijaz (1986), learners always intend to copy all grammar and communication function, except for pronunciation and spelling. From the linguistics aspect, learner can hardly find a precise substitute in their mother language. Therefore, how to master the use of SP efficiently becomes a challenge for English learners. In the view of traditional schools of linguists, the mean of words are arbitrary (Saussure,**), that is to say, the various meanings of SP and their various collocations with other classes of words are ruleless and idiomatic. Thus, English classroom teachers merely regard SP as a class of polysemous words and list the meanings for students to memorize. With no doubt, students cannot master the usage of SP effectively and the traditional teaching method, translation method, cannot be suitable any more. As the human cognition of the world broadened, the semantic of SP extended gradually. In order to solve this problem many linguisticians try to apply cognitive approaches in SP teaching by figuring out the internal relationship between the complex SP meanings. Such as, categorization Idealized Cogitative Models, conceptual metaphor theory and prototype theory. (Taylor, 1989 Johnson, 1987 Geeraerts, D, 1997).Taylor believed the different meanings of a SP are composed by its primary meaning and the other meaning that are related to family resemblance (1989). Cognitive linguists believe that these various distinctive meanings are related “in systematic and highly motivated ways within a semantic network organized with respect to a primary sense”.(Tyler and Evans,203:2) These theories are extremely helpful for the analysis of SP’s extended sense. In 1987 Mark Johnson and George Layoff first put forward the concept “Image Schema” in their book The Body in the Mind and Women, Fire, and Dangerous Things.(under line the title ) Then the conception which originates from the figure/ground segregation principle. Is regarded as the pillar of cognitive theory in SP analysis. When people cognize the world a cognitive structure will be built up in their mind. Which is called Image schema. The structure is a intermediary of a real event and abstract meaning." The process of Semantic Extension is often discussed as spatial metaphor which is a kind of image-schematic metaphor that maps the image-schematic structure of the domain of space onto that of a non-spatial target domain (Lan,2003:56). This thesis is written to analyze the extended sense of SP and how to apply Image Schema Theory in SP teaching. The following three questions will be discussed: (1) How to use image schema theory in the explanation of SP meaning extension? (2) Can image schema theory enhance students’ output of SP? (3) Will image schema theory be accepted by students in English SP learning?

1.2 Layout of the study

Chapter 2 literature review In this chapter, some foundational theories are presented for the deep investigation in later chapters. Firstly, the author will interpret the primary sense generation and semantic extension. Then the image schema theory will be reviewed.

2.1 the primary sense generation and semantic extension

Originally, a word is produced with a unique meaning which is called primary sense. With the increasing complication of human’s cognition of the world the meaning of a word gradually broadens. The new sense will be officially accredited until it is accepted by the public. Then the primary sense and the new sense will coexist. This process is called semantic extension.

2.1.1 Studies on the primary sense generation In this part, the author will view how a word is formed with its primary sense. The standpoint on it will be diverse according to different linguistic researchers. In Saussure’s “theory of the sign” (1916), there are two matched conceptions ; one is signifier and the other one is signified. The signifier refers to a word or a sound image and signified. Which in the sense is a concept aroused by the signifier. He believed language was generally thought to be mechanical reflection of the material world. Is to say the primary sense of words is attached without any logical evidence. The primary sense of a word is arbitrary. The primary sense is generate because of its “capacity to correspond to things, properties, and relations existing objectively ‘in the world’ ” (Johnson, 1987: xxii) Halliday held a totally different view. According to systemic functional grammar. The sense generation is on the basis of environment. The primary sense and the word are created at the same time. While the word is produced to express senses. In this approach, the relationship of primary sense and word is not arbitrary. “Let us take noun as an example to illustrate the processes of meaning creation; what evolved in the history of the system was an entity on the content plane that had a structure. The meaning ‘participant in a process, (either a) conscious or non-conscious being’. Is realized as the ‘wording’ (structure) noun” (Tian Bing, 2004:134) In the respect of cognitive semanticists meaning is embodied (Lakoff, 1997) and the embodied experience is the source of word sense. Which basically follows the sequence (Wang Yin, 2006:171): the real world-embodied experience-image scheme-category-concept-(primary) sense. The image schemas are some foundational meaningful structures which are formed by human’s cognitive interactions and physical movement with external environment. Then people use them to create new lexical concepts related to their original senses. Wang Yin (2006:170) made a point that a lexical concept a category and its original sense are interpreted as an unholy trinity. From this aspect we can suppose that image schema is the intermediary between a word and its primary sense and those three elements emerge together simultaneously.

2.1.2 Studies on semantic extension

Semantic extensions also be called as sense extension or lexical meaning extensions. Refer to the broaden process of lexical meaning in order to make the word own more than one meaning simultaneously. It emphasizes the process of new meaning extended from the primary meaning. In this section, the author will clarify different opinions on semantic extensions. Traditionally, semantic extending is in the research area of historical linguistics. With the development of the society a plenty of meaning are added, altered or removed from a word. Semantic extension highlights the dynamic process of creating an extended sense while some time the sense is just changed into a new one. From the view of historical linguistic, semantic extension is an internal change process of language. A shift of perspective is not involved in sense narrowing and broading. The process may be specific in some degree but it is still under the same perspective. On the opinion of pragmatic linguistic researchers the process of creating a new sense follows the Invited Inferencing Theory of Semantic Change (IITSC). Specifically, the process follows the route: a word created with a primary sense. A communicator intends to inform the communicatee with a word, but in this particular situation the word means something different from its original sense. Then the communicatee gets the points of the communicator in the associated streams of communication. When the new sense is understood widely in the public without no particular context. It became the extended sense for the world. This theory reveals that the dynamic sense extension or changing process is based on the usage approach. The IITSC model explains the conventionalizing of pragmatic senses. It is the language use that urges the new sense generation but not the language itself. The change is hardly to predict because we don’t know in what situation and when will it takes place. The IITSC theory indicates that the semantic extension is a process based on usage approach. It does not distinguish the different between semantic change and semantic extension. Semantic extension highlight the coexistence of primary sense and extended sense while the semantic change focus on the alteration of the sense. Which means the primary sense is replaces by the fixed sense. What’s more the explanation of semantic changes pays more attention on the dissimilarity of senses. While the sense extension emphasis on the similarity of them. Cognitive semantic filed is another way to approach the semantic extensions. A plenty of theories are applied on the research such as, conceptual metaphor theory, analogy approach, prototype theory,image schema theory, and etc. (O’Keeffe&Costello, 2007; Lan Chun, 2005; Lakoff, 1987; Johnson, 1987) Although abundant studies have done concerning image schema, the present thesis is written to analyze image scheme in a different perspective. Which aims to apply it in the spatial preposition teaching.

2.2 image schema theory

When people close their eyes, they can also image the color, shape or even the taste of apple. Is because according to the daily experiment, people have already input an apple’s information in their mind and formed a basic pattern to understand apple. When we just talk about it but not really see the entity. These basic patterns that we form from the interaction with external environment are called image schemas.

2.2.1 The definition of image schema

Johnson (1987) and Lakoff (1987) put forward the concept “image schema” almost at the same time. After that linguistics researchers found that image schema can be used to account for many language phenomena. However, there is still some divergences on the definition of image schema and what image schema exactly refers to. Here, the author summary some mainstream ideas

2.2.1.1 Johnson and Lakoff’s definition.

The concept of image schema was firstly being mentioned in Johnson’s book the body in the mind. In this book, Johnson said “An image schema is a recurring dynamic pattern of our perceptual interactions and motor programs that gives coherence and structure to our experience.”(1987:xiv). In his definition experience is the key word, which refers to psychology and physical domains. Later he refined his definition. “Human bodily movement, manipulation of objects, and perceptual interactions involve recurring patterns without which our experience would be chaotic and incomprehensible. I call these patterns ‘image schema’, because they function primary as abstract structures of images. ” (Johnson, 1987: xvx) Lakoff (1987:267) gives another definition of image schema: “relatively simple structures that constantly recur in our everyday bodily experience: CONTAINER, PATHS, LINKS, FORCES, BALANCE, and in carious orientations and relations: UP-DOWN, FRONT-BACK, PART-WHOLE, CENTER-PEREIPHERY, etc.” He also gives there properties of image schema: the bodily experience is the source of schema, schema specifies the structural elements, and the basic logic itself has the virtue of yielding.

2.2.1.2 Other significant Definitions Mark Turner’s (1991:57,177) put forward a broad definition. He asserts that image schema is a kind of “extremely skeletal images”, which follows “vertical lines...ordered by relative size.” Mandler’s (2004:81) definition is a representation one is left with when one has forgotten most of the details of an event. In the same year, Oakley (2004:81) gives more detailed definition. He says “Briefly, an image schema is a condensed redescription of perceptual experience for the purpose of mapping spatial structure onto conceptual structure.” Holmsville (**) believes that “image schema could be said to be that part of a picture which remains when all the structure is removed from the picture, except for that which belongs to a single morpheme, a sentence or a piece of text in a linguistic description of a picture (...), That which remains is a highly fluid image, specified in some aspects...but completely unspecified in others...” Gibbs and Colston (1995:349) regard image schema as “Image schemas can be generally be defined as dynamic analog representation of spatial relations and movements in space.” Gibbs thinks that image schema is based on the language and thought and appearing as a sort of experiential gestalts instantaneously when the interaction happens between body, brain and environment. It emphasizes the analog representation of experience.

2.2.1.3 Grady’s refined definition As what mentioned above, we can clearly see that the definition of image schema various from people to people. Since linguistic intend to go further on this area, it is extremely important for researcher to reach an agreement on a precise definition. After all, it is much more complex than simply the disparate angle of view that makes the definition various. The nature of cognition is the key element which complicates the definition. Joseph Graph (2005:44) clears the definition of image schema in the paper Image schemas and perception: refining a definition. In his opinion, many scholars mix up sensory and non-sensory schemas so that they can hardly delimit what is image schema. He believes the definition can be refined from two aspects. One is the degree of specificity that allow; the other one is the extent to which the schemas must be tied to perception. As a conclusion, the most sensible way to understand image schema is to define them as mental representations of fundamental units of sensory experience (Grady, 2005:44). He further classifies image schema hierarchically as specific schema, response schema and superschema. Specific schema such as Up for which Grady reserves the designation “image schema. Response schema is defined as a picture that transfers specific conceptions to abstract one on account of the experience who encountered before. What’s more? It is the non-sensory schema associated with our understanding of and responses to the world. Our assessments of the physical circumstances around us and the nature and the meaning of those assessments (Grady, 2005:54). Superschema refers to the abstract schemas which are formed through a primary metaphor. Superschema is a conception that much more abstract on account of having the function of extension upon the primary metaphor. The following table reveals the interrelationship between specific schema, response schema and superschema related to metaphoric source concepts, target concepts and structure shared by these.
|Specific schema |Response Schema |Superschema |
| | |Bounded event |
|Arriving at a Destination |Complete |Involving an TR and a LM |
| | | |
|Heat |Ecstasy |Unbounded entity |
| | |Binary temporal relation |
|From |Source |Involving TR and LM |
| | | |
|Up |Overflow |Scalar property |

Figure2.1. Specific schema, response schema and superschema All in all, superschema is a kind of shared structure between specific schema and response schema.

2.2.2 Properties of image schema As what we have mentioned above, the definition of image schema is difference. Nevertheless, all the linguistic scholars happen to coincide the ground believe that the image schema is the term that highlights the different structures of human’s conceptualization and the schemas have distinctive properties to be summarized.

Image schema perceptually structure human’s embodied experience. The image schema is formed unconsciously during the process of human’s experience physically and mentally. Mandler (2004) asserts that once the recurrent congestion information has been kept in reserve, they will evolve relative image schemas eventually. That is to say, image schema is the foundation of all other conceptions. One reason is it arose out of sensory-perceptual experience. The other reason is that it’s a specific schema which formed in human’s mind initially. Here is an example. Through our daily life we have a visual-reception of container. Then people reach the common sense of what is the meaning of placing an object in a container. When some relative term ben mentioned such as IN and OUT, the CONTAINER image schema will be aroused in our mind. Then we can understand the container without really seeing a container. (Mark Johnson, 2005:22). The container entity can be various in color, size or shape, but the image schema will be the same.
Image schema can be expressed by schematic sketches. Obviously, image schema can be represented by words and sketches. Sketches are concise, explicit and straightforward. While words are exact opposite.
Thus, there is a trend of using sketches to understanding the structure of image schema and the relationship between trajectory and landmark. Here the author proves an example. As the figure 2.2 below, it shows the PATH image schema and it explain the bodily movement (case as Ann goes to the school from her home.)However, we cannot say schematic sketches are image schemas. Sketches only are image schemas’ analogues

[pic] Figure2.2 PATH (Johnson, 1987:29)
The internal structure of image schema is complex and flexible. The structure of image schema is flexibility. Which reveals in the transformations because of the various contexts and the emphasis of cognition. The transformation of image schemas related to the switch of attention focus. (Beate Hampe, 2005:1-2). For example, a PATH image schema indicates the movement from place A to place B. It contains a SOURCE (the starting place) and a Goal (the target place) and the trajectory. The following example explains that the various usage of vocabulary profile the different path components. (See Example 2.1) Example 2.1 (Evans & Green, 2006:185) A. SOURCE The train departs from Beijing. B. GOAL The train arrived in Shanghai. C. SOURCE-GOAL The train goes from Beijing to Shanghai. D.PATH-GOAL The train goes through Nanjing to Shanghai. E. SOURCE-PATH-GOAL The train goes from Beijing through Nanjing to Shanghai.
Image schema is a concept which can be both dynamic and static. The image schema can be used to express a state of one subject. At the same time it can also describe the process of changing or moving. For instance, when we fill a bottle, a dynamic CONTAINER image schema would be aroused in our mind. But when we just mention a cup, we experience a CONTAINER image schema statically. The BALANCE image schema is in the same case. If we regard balance as a noun, it is a static schema. It can also be a dynamic schema when it is used as a verb to describe keeping balance.

2.2.3 The structure of Image schema The internal structure of an image schema consists of the trajectory (TR), the landmark (LK) and the path (Langacker, 1987:217). This kind of decomposition is wildly accepted. While it emphasizes on the spatial relation between entities but not the detailed description on internal structure of an image schema. Johnson (1987:112) believes that every image schema has its own definite internal structure. Meanwhile, Langacker (1987:217) asserts that “each spatial scene can be an asymmetrical relationship with a certain kind between the TR and the LM”. People don't put equal attention to all the elements in a relation. As Ungerer and Schmid (2001:156) said, this is caused by the figure/ground segregation. Based on this principle, the focus element of the relation is called Trajectory (TR) and the background element the Landmark (LM). The path traced by the trajectory is called the Trajectory when the relation between the two elements is not static.

2.2.4 Basic Image Schema The basic image schema is “pervasive, well-defined and full of sufficient internal structure(s) to constrain our understanding and reasoning” (Johnson, 1987:126). These schema is easily for us to understand because they are formed by the human embodies experience. Thus, they are closely associated with our physical activities and manipulation of objects. Because of this scholars have different opinions on the category of basic image schemas. Lakoff (1987:282-283) believes there are 7 basic image schemas: LINK, BALANCE, CONTAINERS, PART-WHOLE, CENTER-PERIPHERY, SOURCE-PATH-GOAL, UP-DOWN, FRONT-BACK. Johnson (1987:126) offers the following main image schemas: CONTAINER BLOCKAGE BALANCE RESTRAINT COUNTERFORCE ATTRACTION COMPULSION MASS-COUNT ENABLEMENT PATH NEAR-FAR PULL-EMPYT CONTACT CYCLE MATCHING SCALE PROCESS SURFACE SUPERIMPOSITION REMOVAL PART-WHOLE CENTER-PERIPHSRY LINK COLLECTION MERGING SPLITTING ITERATION COLLECTION

From these we can clear see that CONTAINMENT, PATH/SOURCE-PATH-GOAL, LINK PART-WHOLE and CENTER-PERIPHERY are all been mentioned by Lakoff and Johnson. Cienki (1997:3-12). Some other researchers add new basic image schemas. Such as, INANIMENT MOTION,SELF MOTION, ANIMATE MOTION, CAUSED MOTION Mandler(1992:593-596); LOCOMOTION(Dodge and Lakoff);EXPANSION(Turner 1991:171);RESISRANCE(Gibbs 1994:235) STRAIGHT(Cienki 1998),LEFT-RUGHT(Clausner and Croft 1999:15).

2.3 Cognitive studies on spatial prepositions One of the main achievements in cognitive paradigm is the researches on the usage of prepositional. Brugman is the first man who conducts the work concerning the polysemy of the English spatial preposition over. Layoff (1987), Dewell (1994) and Kreit (1997) keep on doing the researches on the analysis of polysemy of SP. In this section the author plan to discuss some researchers’ cognitive studies on prepositions, such as Brugman, Lakoff, Kreitzer and Taylor.

2.3.1 Brugman’s Study Brugman is renowned for her pioneering research on the polysemous words, OVER, from the cognitive aspect. In her opinion the prepositions denote the spatial relationship between two elements. One is in focus which is regarded as the figure. The other one is not in focus which is regarded as the ground. Brugman rises that the analysis of prepositions should be connected with syntactic considerations. What she had done is to apply sketches to illustrate the meaning of preposition but she did not combine the structure categories with the meaning networks. In her work she discussed the variation of SP’s meanings depending on the minor shifts. Which happen in the semantic explanation of every configuration. At the same time she pointed out the how the semantic configuration is formed according to features of the verb and the nominal expression that contains the SP. Brugman’s work took an extremely elaborate approach to the semantics of SP.

2.3.2 Langaker’s Study Langaker (1987) is the first researcher who quoted TRAJECTORY (TR) and LANDMARK (LM) to depict the spatial relational predication. In his book Foundation of cognitive Grammar, the image schema is used to describe simple relational predication, in which an asymmetry exists between the participants. The TR, one of the participants, is regarded as the figure accompanied by a relational profile. TR illustrates the motion and describes the path of physical activity during the process. The LM, as another participant in the relational predication, is naturally looked as the locations of the trajectory. In Langacker’s opinion, when we analyze the schema, we should pay more attention to the definition of SP’s image schema and the image schema need to be analyzed in both manners, abstractly and generally. He asserts that the mental pictures of SP will be linked to other usages through means of elaboration, while people use a SP frequently.

2.3.3 Lakoff’s Study When we study the lexical relations, polysemous and homonymy are two concepts which are always confuse learners. Polysemous is a word with two related meanings, while homonymy is a word with two totally unrelated meanings or completely two different words with the same spelling. Lakoff thinks that a polysemous word may have a primary sense, and then other senses develop based on it. Primary sense as the backbone of the semantic frame ot is much more important than any other sense. Lakoff continued the researches of Brugman and try to analyze the various sense of preposition over. He viewed SP as revealing the spatial relation between one object in focus, called the figure, and the one out of focus called the ground. A network model is carried out by Lakoff. He intent to find out the most foundational meaning of over and regard is as its primary sense. In the network, all the other senses have less or more relation with the primary sense. Lakoff gave specific examples for very conceptual categories in the radial structured network. In his study, Lakoff used the Full Specification to category distinct but related structures at a rather elaborated level. Every distinct image schema represents a sense, while between each image schema there are different kinds of link and transformation. Speaking from the Cognitive Grammar, the terms of trajectory (TR) and Landmark (LM) derive from figure-ground relations. Lakoff explains that the distinct meaning in the semantic network related with over accounts for the various dimensionality of LM. Lakoff(1987 ) takes 2 sentences below as the example: (1) The helicopter hovered over the ocean. (2) The humming bird hovered over the flower In the sentence (1) over shows the spatial relation between a TR the helicopter, and a LM, the ocean, is extended. In the sentence (2) the relationship between TR, the humming bird, and LM, the flower, is not extended. He clarifies that the different perspectives of the LMs cause the semantic difference. Tyler and Evans(2003) try to explain the polysemous in a metaphorical way. In their work, image schema is the input of metaphor and a great deal of metaphorical models takes a spatial domain as their source domain. The conceptual metaphor is used as primary sense to explain other metaphorical senses of prepositions.
2.3.4 Kreitzer’s work In Kreitzer’s work, he uses Partial Specification approach to divide schematization into three distinct levels,which are the component level, the relational level, and the integrative level. In the component level, several conceptual primitives are mentioned, such as LM, TR,PATH, lack of contact, contact between TR and LM, whether the LM is extended,vertical, and so on. The relational level is the combination of these information. The applicability of a particular sense is widened by image-schema transformations. (Tyler and Evans:2003) in his view, contact and extendedness, as the basic spatial relation between the TR and LM, are situated at the component level. They have no capability to depict image schemas or senses. Kreizer do a great job in restrain Lakoff’s study. However, his analysis has a big shortness that there is arbitrarily connection between the three basic sensed of over. The basic senses can not be explained by the same configuration.

2.3.5 Taylor’s Study Compared with Langacker’s analysis, Taylor pays is in an effort to contrast all the TR-LM relationship to find out the differences. One of the significant difference found by Taylor is the static and dynamic relationship. The preposition bespeaks the trajectory’s position when it is static. Conversely, it bespeaks a path. Many other elements are also discussed in his study, such as size, shape and the presence or absence of contact between the trajectory and landmark;the presence or absence of contact between the trajectory and landmark;the orientation of trajectory with respect to landmark ,and so on(Taylor:1995). When Taylor studies on over, he found that the different meanings of over is related in someway. The unique element that is different in the sense changing is the state of trajectory. The state of trajectory changes between static and dynamic. The study of over from Taylor focus on the the spatial senses,while the metaphorical senses are not be mentioned untile the launch of cognitive linguistics.

2.3.6 Tyler and Evan’s Study The Principle Polysemy Network is putted forward by Tyler and Evan. To some degree, all the analysis of linguistic is subjective. The scholars intend to apply methodology to make the linguistic analysis as much subjective as possible. Therefore, they introduce Five Criteria to judge the protoscene and the methods to distinguish different senses. In their view, our conceptual system is formed by the reflection of the experiential world in our mind. Once our conceptual system has stored the meaning of language, the information can be inferred whenever it is mentioned. They believes that human can seize the meanings of prepositions through the help of prepositions’ semantic network, but they can hardly understand by background or context information. At the same time, they also make series of analysis concerning prepositions of orientation, the perpendicular axis and prepositions related to specific range of LM. These SP contain in front of, above, down, above,under,into,out, through and so on. The blemish of their research is the ignorance of connection between form and contextual sense and the potential extend sense .

Chapter 3 Methodology
The author has discuss the primary sense , the extended sense, image schema and the cognitive studies on SP. It is obversely that, the various sense of a polysemy is not random. There is less or more internal relationship between them ,which can be explained by the image schema.In this chapter, the author designs an experiment and a survey to figure out if the image theory is helpful for the SP teaching and how to apply image schema theory in english SP teaching. The author will clarify the hypotheses of the study ,a detailed introduction of the subjects and the instruments. Last, the date-collection and the data-analysis will be illustrated.

3.1 Research Hypothesis

This research is based on the previous theoretical discussion and existed findings by other linguistic scholars. The following questions will be addressed in the experiment.
1. Can the application of image schema make the english SP teaching more effective, when compered with traditional teaching method without Image Schema Theory?
2. How can image schema theory be applied in EFL pedagogy?
3. What is the learners attitude to the image schema applied teaching method?

3.2 Subjects The subjects involved in the study are all grade-one students from electronic power vocational college. In 2012, all the grade-one students are randomly assigned into 21 class. To minimize the differences between two experimental class, the author chose two normal class from the same major-Mechatronics. The reason that chose the major is that in this major, the proportions of female students and male students are relatively same. The author labeled one as the Control Class(CC) , and the other on as Experiment Class(EC). The table 3.2 shows the basic information of two classes.
| |Number of Female |Number of Mela |Number of total |Average Age |Average Score of |
| |Students |Students |Students | |English Entrance |
| | | | | |Exam |
|Control Class |18 |21 |39 |18.27 |50.03 |
|Experiment |16 |25 |41 |18.68 |46.89 |
|Class | | | | | |

Table 3.2
From the table 3.2,we can see that the foundational conditions of two class are almost same. The female students’ proportions are 46% and 64% respectively. And the gap of average score of English Entrance Exam is controlled in 5 scores (the full score is 150). The low average score shows that these students all have weak foundation about English. This phenomenon is an advantage of the experiment. Since it means the previous cognition of SP is rather fuzzy and the students’ previous knowing about SP can seldom influence the experimental result. The over 18 year’s average age ensure the ability of abstract thinking,which is an indispensable ability in Image Schematic teaching method.

3.3 A description of Image-schematic method This section contains three parts. One is an analysis of SP’ image scheme and their Chinese semantic equivalents. Another one is the analysis of the relationship between the extended sense and image schema.Another one is the detailed description of Image-schematic method. During the teaching term, on,over,out,up,in,under and through ,as the typical Sp ,will be taught. However, in the first two parts, the author only dwell on the image schemas of in. According to the Chinese Lerner English Corpus(CLEC), IN is most frequently used SP. Additionally, it is also the most high-frequency SP in Practical English Test for Colleges(PRETCO),which is an national exam designed to test the English ability of vocational college students. On the hand, IN owns as much as 17 different kinds of meaning. It provides a large space or author to categorize and analyze.

3.3.1 Meanings of IN and their Chinese semantic equivalents. As the author has mentioned in Chapter one, English Language Learners (ELL) always try to find out the “semantic equivalents” in their native language. Meanwhile English classroom teachers usually introduce a new SP with its Chinese semantic equivalent, which is called traditional method.In this part, the author endeavors to figure out the relationship between the meanings of IN and their Chinese semantic equivalents to judge if traditional method workable theoretically. Ma (2005) puts forward that the spatial relations represented by IN can be described by 5 components: containment(C), occluding(O), enclosure (EN) embedding(EM) and part-whole(P-W). Moreover, there are three truth-value markers: non-(N-), full-(F-) and partial-(P-),which are used in front of the components for more accurate description Tyler and Evans(2001) put forward that there are seven spatial sense in the content of IN. The meanings are divided as below, according to Ma’s approach:
F-En+F-O
E.g A doll is in the case.
P-En+P-O
E.g there is some water in the bowl.
F-En+N-O
E.g They belted up the road in the rain.
P-W +P-En+N-O
E.g Some flowers are drawn in the margin of the card.
P-W+F-En+F-O
E.g There is a pain in my arm.
P-En+P-Em+P-O
E.g There is a candle in the birthday cake.
P-En+P-Em+N-O
E.g There is a spot in the vase. the first two can be regarded as the core senses.Meanwhile, it is not hard to find that every sense above contains two basic elements.which are enclosure and occluding. Actually, enclosure is the unique component of IN which can hardly find in other meanings of SP. Since other SP also have the meaning of occluding, ELL have a potential misuse of different SP. In the English classroom teaching, when IN is introduced by teachers, it is always explained as zai...li (在...里). Thus, ELL can easily build up the connection between the sense of IN with Chinese SP, zai...li. The following analysis indicates that the low efficiency that would cause in this kind of explanation. Lan(2008) decomposed the Chinese SP ，zai...li, into four spatial senses:
F-En+F-O
E.g (在) 箱子里有个娃娃。
P-En+P-O
E.g (在)碗里有点水。
P-W+P-EN+N-O
E.g (在)信里写了我的电话。
F-En+ N-O
E.g (在)天空中有朵云。 As a Chinese SP, zai...li only contains 4 sense, which means that zai...li is not the semantic equivalent of other three sense of IN. However, we can still find another Chinese equivalent,but not zai...li any more. The meanings of IN in sentences5.6.7can find another semantic equivalent. That is zai...shang.
5. There is a pain in my arm.
我的胳膊上有点疼
P-W+F-En+F-O
6. There is a candle in the birthday cake.
生日蛋糕上有个蜡烛。
P-En+P-Em+P-O
There is a spot in the vase.
花瓶上有个斑点
P-En+P-Em+N-O These three sentences show that, another sematic equivalent of IN is zai...shang. This blending of meaning or even the empty of sematic equivalence will strengthen the difficulty in the comprehension of SP for ELL. Sematic equivalence is a tool for understanding the surface meanings of a SP, but not concerning the internal relational between different senses.Thus, teaching SP in the traditional teaching method is less effective.

3.3.2 Image schema of IN and it’s extended meanings In the theory above, text description is used to show the spatial relation of IN. According to the image schema,pictorial description has more directly perceived through the sense. The author analyze again the seven spatial sense from another perspective.

[pic]Figure3.1 I mange schema of F-En+F-O
E.g There is a egg in the box

The first image schema of IN is viewed as the typical one. In the schema, LM is a relative big and sealed cub, while the TR suppose to be ball-shaped,a comparatively small object,which is inset in the cub completely.
Extended sense: Used to indicate the direction of a action. E.g to go in the room;rush in the classroom; In this sense, the executor of the action is the TR, while LM is the direction.

[pic]. Figure3.2 Image Schema of P-En+P-O
E.g There is some flower in the vase. The second schema shares almost the same feature with the first one. The only different is that the TR is not completely inset in the LM,with a proportion out of TR . That means the LM is not a sealed space,which highlight the N-O character
.Extended sense:
Used to indicate the clothes and accessories worn by somebody, E.g a lady in glasses. In this case, the TR(the lady ) becomes much more bigger than the LM(glasses), and TR is partial in the LM.

[pic]Figure 3.3 Image Schema of F-En+N-O
E.g Dust floats in the air. In the third schema, two contradictory features,F-En and N-O, are presented, which makes it hard to handle. The LM is represented as a dotted cube to illustrate the intangible feature, while the TR is ordinary ball-shaped as usual.
Extended sense:
1.Used to indicate inclusion within something abstract or immaterial. E.g in summary (period); in all aspects( abstract scope);to be in business(occupation or activities;in bad health(situation); As the LM is a dotted cube, it would be easily regarded as an abstract item. Thus, some kind of abstract and immaterial elements can be viewed as LM,such as period, occupation, activities and so on. Meanwhile, the subject is totally flooded in the condition.`
Used to indicate object or purpose.E.g speaking in honor of the event; the boy cried in fright. Purpose, reseason and motivation are something abstract and always give the background information in the sentence. The dotted LM has the feature to give us some fundamental information,when the TR(event) happens in it.
[pic]Figure 3.4 Image Schema of P-W+F-En+F-O E.g There is a pain in my arm. The fourth sense is much more indigestible, because the LM is zoned into three parts,while TR is the middle part of LM. The most noticeable feature of this schema is TR is not a separate individual any more while it is a part of LM,surrounded by other parts of LM. Extended sense: used to indicate means.E.g talk in English; pay in cash; in alphabetic order
In this case, the LM (means) and the TR(action process) can be regarded as a whole without clear inclusive relationship. Conversely, LM is an element of the TR. used to indicate degree, number and proportion. E.g one in te; in thousands. This is another sense ,which results from this image schema. This sense emphasizes the proportion of LM and TR. From the schema ,we can see the cube is separated by LM and TR. When we focus on the volume,occupied by each component, this extended sense can be easily formed. used to indicate transition from one state to another : E.g to break in half; divide into three parts According to he extended sense2, this schema can show the proportion. When we separate the cube by the proportion of LM and TR, the third sense of the image schema can be produced.

[pic]Figure 3.5 Image Schema of P-En+P-Em+P-O
E.g I write my phone number in the letter. Compared with schemas before, the fifth schema is a two dimensional structure. The LM is assumed to be a square , and the TR is another relatively small dotted surface. It can clearly indicate the Part-whole relationship,when TR is inside of LM.
Extended sense:
Used to indicate the appositive relationship or equal relationship; E.g she recognized in Roger a dangerous man. When the size of TR and LM approach to same, we can extract this extend sense.

[pic]Figure3.6 Image Schema of P-En+P-Em+P-O
E.g There is a candle in the birthday cake. The sixth schema is also a two dimensional structure with an irregular shaped TR. The TR has a part overlapped with LM, while the rest part is out of the LM square.The two components are separated by ordinary line,which means the are to individuals .This kind of combination can emphasize the “P-Em feature.”
Extended sense: none
[pic] Figure 3.7 Image Schema of P-En+P-Em+P-O
E.g There is a spot in the vase. The last schema is a kind of thorny, because the TR may not be an a entity and anything with volume,such as a spot or a hole. Thus, the boundaries of TR is dotted and it can be a small part to full the missing part of LM’s irregular shape.
Extended sense :
Used to indicate the characteristic for ability of something or somebody; E.g I don’t think he had it in him
The TR (characteristic or ability) is something attached on the LM, and they are abstract with no volume. This feature is completely fit this image schema.

3.3.3 application of Image Schematic Method
Before discuss the Image Schematic Method we first go over the traditional method of SP teaching which will be applied in the CC.
According to the interview of three english teacher and my own experience, the traditional method can be summarized as below: 1. Introduce SP with a Chinese semantic equivalent,and then explain the usage with several model sentences. 2. List the special usage of SP and ask ELL to memorize by rote.
However, in the chapter 3.3.1, we have discussed the incomplete coincidence between the meanings of SP and their sematic equivalents and the weakness of traditional method. On the contrary , Image Schema theory aims to build up the an initial structure of SP in ELL’s mind to be a basic for identifying the various meanings, without the connection with native language. The author designed the image schematic method as below:
List two or three sentences ,containing a same SP with identical spatial meaning on blackboard.
Ask ELL to draw a pictures to illustrate the meanings for each sentence.
Help ELL find out the common points of these pictures and from one image schema of the SP.
Explain the image schema and clarify the key points which differ this image schema with others. similar and commonly confused SPs.
Explain the extended sense that extract from the image schema. In the practices, it is less acceptable for ELL to handle all the meanings of a SP in one time. Thus, the teaching should be separated into serval rounds. In the light of the theory of mental information processing mechanism, there should be about a week between each round. What’s more,before every round, the previous knowledge would be recalled, which can consolidate the learning effect.

3.4 Procedure and Instruments
This study try to testify the hypothesis proposed by the author. Therefor, two classes is selected to apply two different teaching methods,traditional method and image schematic method. In this section, the author will introduce the content of the treatment and instruments ,containing questionnaire and the tests respectively.

3.4.1 Treatment the traditional method and image schema syllabus are all consisted of seven SP,such as on,over,out,up, in,through,across,All the meanings taught in two syllabus are selected from Hill(1968),Lakoff(1987), Brugman(1988),Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and A New English-Chinese Dictionary. The treatment of the CC and EC were all conducted by the author in the school, where the author took her internship. During the experiment, the author arrange one class for the SP teaching per week for each class. The whole teaching process of each class lasted 2 month (8 class hours). The pretest and posttest are additionally 2 class hours. The teaching each model ,which the author followed is presented in chapter 3.3.3.

3.4.2 Language Tests
3.4.2.1 Pretest The pretest is a gap-filling test. It was consisted of two narrative passages and had 58 gaps to fill.The options are all prepositions,which contains the seven SP,mentioned before. The subjects asked to select the most suitable SP from the given box. The words listed in the box is much less the gap. That is to say, some words would be used twice or more,but not every word would be used. This test aims at detecting the general mastery of SP before the experiment. The testing passage is chosen from Exercises on Prepositions and Adverbial Particle(Hill,1969). See the complete pretest paper on the back page.

3.4.2.2posttest
The posttest was in three different forms: Translation, True-or- False, and Short-term retention 1) Paper 1 ,Translation, had 14 sentences contains on, over,out, up, in, through and across. After the sentences, there are 4 options, among which one is most precise one. The other 3 options are inappropriate in different degree. The objects are asked to selected the beast translation from the others.These sentences came from Hill(1968),Lakoff(1987), Brugman(1988),Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary and A New English-Chinese Dictionary. These sentences are carefully chosen ,avoiding the repeated meaning of a SP. What’s more, all the sentences were not taught in the teaching section.
Paper 2, true-or-false, was consisted by 14 sentences with these seven SP. In the sentences, the usage s of SP were occasionally right. The subjects need to tell the right usages from the wrongs. The right sentences were selected from the same sources above, while the wrongs were mad up by the author.
Paper 3,short- term retention, firstly, the subjects were given a list of 40 phrases containing these seven SP, such as , dry up, hang on, make over,look through, and so on. These phrases are selected form the A new English-Chinese Dictionary and the meanings of SP in these phrases were all extended meanings and didn’t be involved in the teaching process. Their Chinese meanings were proved after these phrases. The subjects had 10 minutes to remember the English expressions and their Chinese meanings. the subjects were given the test paper immediately. The test paper was consisted of 20 phrases in English and 20 meanings in Chinese. The corresponding Chinese meanings or English phrases were asked to write. The author disrupted the order of the list offered before,avoiding the subjects guess the meaning by the order. The test paper was designed by the author herself to detect the effectiveness of image schematic method. To ensure the authenticity of testing result, the tests of three different form were presented on three separate papers . In this way, the testing time can be easily controlled. To avoid the misunderstanding of test, the instructions are proved in both English and Chinese. In the beginning of the test, independency and honesty were emphasized to the subjects. See the complete posttest paper on the back page.

3.4..2.3 Questionnaire The ELL’s attitude of the image schematic method was revealed by the questionnaire.
1) Brief description of the questionnaire Five statement were included in the questionnaire. The subject of the questionnaire is the ELL who were applied image schematic method in English SP teaching. Aiming at testing their attitude of image schematic method, the questionnaire proved five different attitudes for each statements. They are strongly agree, agree, neutral, disagree and strongly disagree. The five statements were list below.
(1)It is easy for me to understand the image schema of the SP.
(2)I am not interested in these image schemas
(3)These image schemas are helpful for me to understanding the various meanings of the SP
(4)I am confused by the image schemas, which make the SP learning much more complicate.
(5)I hope teacher can use image schemas in future English teaching. Explanation of Questionnaire. The five statements were carefully designed and had closely bonded with the aim of the research. The five statements concerning following aspects: the complexity of image schemas:2) the the popularity degree of image schema.;3) the effectiveness of image schematic method;4) the operability of image schematic method;5)the expectation of future application in English Teaching. All the aspects intend to indicate the acceptability of image schematic method among ELL. In the questionnaire, the author applied “dual statement”,which is that a qualified questionnaire should involve in both positive and negative statements . In Wen’s(2004;106) research, the answers of a questionnaire would be influenced by the positive or negative attitude of the statements. Therefor, he author applied two negative statements and three positive statements in the questionnaire. In order to ensure the accuracy of the test result and avoid the misunderstanding caused by language ability , the statements were proved in Chinese and English. See the questionnaire on the bake page.

3.5 Date Collection The pretest was held two two days before the teaching process in CC and EC. The author monitored the test by herself, and the interval of pretest of two class was 20 minutes. Every test lasted for 20 minutes. There is no absent student, and all the test papers were valid and collected. The teaching process was conducted by the author under the permission of head master of the vocational college from November.1st from January 1st. According to the school calender, both of the classed had 4 class hours per week uninterruptedly. The author spent one class hour per week on teaching SP in traditional method and image schematic method respectively. The other 3 class hours followed the regulatory teaching schedule. On January 2cd, the posttest was taken, which took 1hour. The posttests of two were taken simultaneously under the monitor of teachers. The EC was asked to take the questionnaire after the posttest,which only took 5 minutes. The questionnaire was anonymous and the author who taught them was not present, because sometimes the subjects would be shamed to give the true thought when parties is there.

3.6 Date Analysis All the test paper and questionnaire were scored by the author. The results of two test and questionnaire were putted in the computer and were analyzed by independent-samples t-test in SPSS. It compared the means of each test part between CC and EC. The data of questionnaire was analyzed through EXCEL.

3.6.1 Pretest scoring The gap-filling test had 58 gasp to fill and every correct answer was assigned one point, while wrong answer and unknown answer didn’t deduct full marks which was 58points.
3.6.2 Posttest scoring Paper One aimed at testing the understanding of SP’s meaning in a whole sentence. Among the 4 options, the most appropriate one was assigned 1.5 points while other 3 options inappropriate in different degree were assigned 1.0,0.5 and 0 respectively. This kind of testing form is the same the translation part in PRECTO which is the unified state examination for the vocational college students. What’s more, this kind of testing form is typical and cannot be found in any other national English Exams. Thus , the author chose this form due to its strong authority and pertinency. For example, for sentence 1:I’m not one of the regular people here, I’m just filling in time before I go to college.:
我不是这里的常客，我只是在去学校之前在这里玩儿一会。
我不是这里的固定工作人员，我只是在去上大学以前临时工作一段时间而已。
我不是这里的固定工作人员，我只是在去学校之前在这玩儿一会儿。
我不是这里的常客，我只是在学上大学之前临时工作一段时间而已。 For this sentence, the most appropriate option is B. Thus this option worth 1.5 points. The less appropriate one is D,which worth 1.0 point. The reason is that this option appropriately translated fill in time under the context, while the regular people is not translated properly. The least appropriate options are C (0.5 point) and D (0 point). The full mark is 21 points. For Paper Two and Three, the scoring rule was the same ,which was one point for correct answer and zero point for wrong and empty answer. The full marks were 14 points and 40 points respectively. The posttest included three separated test, and each was presented in different testing paper. At the end of posttest, the score of each part did not be added up, and the author analyzed and compared the scores of each test from different aspect.
3.6.3 Questionnaire evaluation The questionnaire was designed by the author herself to estimate the objects’ attitude towards the image schematic method. All the questionnaires were The data was valid and analyzed by Excel.
Chapter Four Results and Discussion In this chapter, the author analyzes the results of the experiment and the survey. The main founding from the results are presented. According to the foundings , the author also discussed the reasons and suggestions.
4.1 Findings of the pretest The following table indicate the means, the standard derivations and the value of Independent-t test.
| |mean |Scoring average |SD |T-value |P |
|CC(N=39) |18.34 |0.382 |9.550 |.248 |0.794 |
|EC(N=41) |17.02 |0.354 |8.762 | | |

Table4.1 The datum indicate that the students of two classed are in the same level of mastery of English SP before the experiment. Although compared with the full marks(48 points), the mean（18.34 and 17.02）and the scoring average (0.382 and 0.354)is a kind of low, it doesn’t affect the process of the experiment and the validity of the experiment. On the contrary, the low mean illustrates that the students of both classes are weak on the usage of SP. That is to say, the previous knowledge of SP is lack and obscure. Therefor, the knowledge of SP can be easily refresh and the effect of two different kinds of teaching method can be more distinct. The T-value(-2.48) is much higher than 0.05, which also revealed the unconspicuous difference between two class.
4.2.Findings of the posttest.
The following table shows the datum about posttest, including three parts.
|Subject |class |N |Mean |SA |SD |T-Value |P |
|Paper One |CC |39 |11.24 |0.535 |1.71 |－4.18 |.001 |
|(Translation) | | | | | | | |
| |EC |41 |13.89 |0.661 |1.66 | | |
|Paper Two |CC |39 |5.98 |0.427 |1.87 |－5.43 |.001 |
|(True-False) | | | | | | | |
| |EC |41 |7.30 |0.521 |2.11 | | |
|Paper Three |CC |39 |18.61 |0.465 |6.33 |－6.65 |.000 |
|(Short-term Retention) | | | | | | | |
| |EC |41 |24.02 |0.601 |5.41 | | |

Table 4.2.1
From the table, wo can see the Mean and the Scoring Average(SA) of EC are all higher than those of CC in all three parts. The Independent-sample P-test also indicates the noticeable difference in the posttest, when the three T-values are high to 4.18,5.43 and 6.65 respectively. In additionally, the P-values which are less than or equal to 0.01 also prove that point. Since the posttest tied to estimate the degree that class’s understanding of SP, the significant different of two classes shows that the students in EC can better understand and use SP than the students of CC. Furthermore, the teaching method , which used in EC is much more effective that the one used in CC. The image schematic method does a great help in the students’ understanding about the various meanings of SP although we can’t observe the comprehending process in students’ mind . The author , as the conductor of the executor of teaching process, notices that the image schematic method can attract more students’ attention in the class than the traditional method without image schema. To discuss from the vertical view,the table below shows the different between pretest and posttest of a same class
| |N |SA of Pertest |SA of Posttest(P 1) |SA of Posttest(P 2) |SA of Posttest(P 3) |
|CC |39 |0.382 |0.535 |0.427 |0.465 |
|EC |41 |0.354 |0.661 |0.521 |0.601 |

Table 4.2.2
Since the full marks of every testing part are different, the Mean can’t be compared together. In the table4.2.2.2, the author compares the scoring average of every testing part to indicate how students performed differently before and after the teaching process. A slight increasing of SA can be noticed in the pertest and posttest,a raise by at least 0.045,which indicates that by accepting 8 class hours’ SP teaching in traditional method, the objects in CC improved their performance on SP in some degree. A relatively observably increase can be found in the results of EC. The highest SA, which is 0.661 happens in the Paper one, while the comparatively slow increase happens in the Paper Two. These datum shows that the students in EC improved their performance on SP after 8 class hours, and the improvement was more noticeable than that in CC. A common points can be recognized in both CC and EC, which is the SAs of Paper One are the highest, following by the SAs of Paper three and SAs of Paper two. In the author’s opinion, the reasons would be like these:1. The vocational college students are familiar with the testing form of Paper One, which is the regular question type of PRETCO. In the regular class hour, the students already received the relative training and mastered the skills of answering this type of questions. Along with the specialized training, the SAs are naturally higher than the other two. 2.In Paper Two, the true -or- false question is simple in form, but the meanings tested in the paper two are a little bit indigestible and most of them are extended meanings. Thus, the SAs in this part are relatively low.3. For the third part, the SAs are higher than that in paper two,but lower than that in paper one. On one hand, after two testing paper, some knowledge of SP is recalled. The process of testing is also a process of reviewing. Therefor , the SAs are higher. On the other hand, the difficulty is much higher than other two parts, because this is the only part that does’t have options. Meanwhile, this Paper examined up to 40 meanings, which are all extended meanings of SP. To sum up, the students of both classes improved their performance on SP, while the improvement is more noticeable in EC than in CC. Due to some integrated reasons, the increasing spends are different in three testing part. They can still prove the hypothesis right. At the same time, it also shows that, teaching program is comprehensive,which can be influenced by many factors,such as pedagogy, educational environment, and students’ basic knowledge, and so on. Thus, under the same pedagogy, the results would be a slight difference with the same trend.
4.3 Finding of the questionnaire
An effective method is not only judged from the testing , but also from the many other kinds of elements,such as, student engagement, students’ emotional attitude and influence for further learning. The questionnaire tests these elements except for scores. Only did students of EC take the questionnaire, which contains five statements. the results of five statement will be discussed separately below.
Statement 1:(1)It is easy for me to understand the image schema of the SP.

| |Strong Agree |Agree |Neutral |Disagree |Strong Disagree |Total |
|Frequency |8 |12 |11 |5 |3 |39 |

Table 4.3.1: Responses to statement 1
\[pic]
Chart 4.3.2. : percentage of different attitudes for statement 1 From Table 4.3.1 and Chart 4.3.2, it is obvious that over half of the students (52%) hold positive attitude towards image schematic method, since they think it is easy for them to understand. Among the students, who just agree with the statement occupy 31%. During an unofficial interview, the students explain that they think image schema is too abstract sometimes, and they cannot understand all the image schemas represented in the class. 11 students hold neutral point of view ,while three students strongly disagree with the statement. The three students express that they completely don’t understand image schema. They think it is hard for them to build up an image schema in their mind, let alone use them to understand other things. In general, image schema is simple and easy to understand for the majority of students.
(2)I am not interested in these image schemas
| |Strong Agree |Agree |Neutral |Disagree |Strong Disagree |Total |
|Frequency |1 |5 |14 |13 |6 |39 |

Table 4.3.3 Responses to statement2
[pic]
Chart 4.3.4 Percentage of different attitudes for statement 2 Statement 2 can estimate the popularity of image schema.From the statistics in Table 4.3.3 and the Chart 4.3.4, we can see that, over one third of the students hold nature attitude, while another one third of the students slightly disagree with the negative statement. Those two parts occupy almost 70%, which means there is no huge divergence on this statement. One of the students ,who holds neutral point of view said that I can accept the image schematic method, but I don’t think it is interesting. Only one students think that the image schema is extremely boring, while six students are intensely interested in image schema.One of the six students said, never did I think in this way and I was absorbed in the fangle. To sum up, there is a positive trend that image schema is interesting.

(3)These image schemas are helpful for me to understanding the various meanings of the SP.
| |Strong Agree |Agree |Neutral |Disagree |Strong Disagree |Total |
|Frequency |7 |19 |6 |4 |3 |39 |

Table4.3.5Responses to statement3
[pic]
Chart 4.3.6 Percentage of different attitudes for statement 3 For this statement, the attitude centralizes on agreed point of view, which occupies almost half of the frequency. Another seven students strongly agree with the statement. To add up these two parts, there are 67% positive attitude towards the statement, which means image schematic method is effective at least form the subjective perception. Subjective perception may not as precise as objective reality, but it will influence the learning motivation of students, which is also one of the considerations of effectiveness. In additionally, this data is much higher than these of two previous statements(53% and 53%), especially , the percentage of students who have neutral point of view fall sharply to 15% from 28% and 36%. This phenomenon indicates that the students think applying image schema in English SP teaching can really help them understand the various meanings of SP, although they don’t fully understand the structure of image schema, or they don’t think image schema is interesting , they still believe image schema helps them in the understanding of English SP.

(4)I am confused by the image schemas, which make the SP learning much more complicate.
| |Strong Agree |Agree |Neutral |Disagree |Strong Disagree |Total |
|Frequency |1 |5 |9 |1 8 |6 |39 |

Table4.3.7Responses to statement4

[pic]
Chart 4.3.8 Percentage of different attitudes for statement 4 Actually, the statement 4 estimate the similar thing with the statement 3, but it presents in a negative way to ensure the truth of the questionnaire. If the results of the two statements are similar, it shows the validity of the questionnaire. On the contrary, if the results are out of the error range, it means that the objects don’t sure their opinions on image schematic method and the datum of the questionnaire are trustless. According to the Table4.3.7 and Chart 4.3.8, 61%(46% for disagree and 15% for strongly disagree) students hold an negative on the view that image schema make the English SP more complicate and confusable. The percentage is close to the positive view of statement three(67%, 18% for strongly agree and 49% for agree). However, the percentage of neutral view raises up to 23%, and the percentage of pros reduces reduces to 16%. This phenomenon some people, who strongly disagree or agree with statement three change their mind to nature in the similar but negative statement four. That is to say, some objects are not sure their own attitude towards the effectiveness of image schematic method,because they give different opinion for the almost same statements. Nevertheless, what we do we know is that these objects don’t think image schematic is helpful.
I hope teacher can use image schemas in the future English teaching.
| |Strong Agree |Agree |Neutral |Disagree |Strong Disagree |Total |
|Frequency |8 |17 |11 |3 |0 |39 |

Table4.3.9Responses to statement5
[pic]
Chart 4.3.10 Percentage of different attitudes for statement 5
The last statement reveals the objects expectation of the application in future English teaching. It is obvious that most students expect teacher applying image schematic method in English teaching, since over 60% of students have approving attitude. 28% of students don’t care the method applied by the teacher. The disapproving attitude of this statement is extremely low, only 8%. This is to say, although some students don’t think image schematic method is effective, they are not averse to this kind of method. To sum up, the general idea we can notice from the questionnaire is that the majority objects hold he positive opinion on the image schemas and approve the application of image schema in English SP teaching, although there are a small parts of students don’t. Additionally, this questionnaire proves the third hypothesis, which is mentioned in the Chapter one right in some extent.

4.4 Discussion on Problems Existing in the Research According to the results of the experiment, some problems are found in the traditional teaching method. Under the implication of traditional teaching method, the students are accustomed to rote memory,without the understanding of interrelationship. In this part, the author discussed the problems existing in the research and the suggestions.
4.4.1 Rote memory. The most obvious problem ,which are noticed in the research is that the students try to learn Sp by rote. In the CC, the SPs are introduced with the Chinese semantic equivalency and some sentences for memorizing and practicing.Take IN as an example. First of all, the main meanings of IN are listed on the blackboard as follow:1.(used to indicate inclusion within space, a place, or limits): The boy puts his toy in a red and blue box.
2. (used to indicate inclusion within something abstract or immaterial): In this educational environment, the students are under the great pressure of schoolwork
3. (used to indicate inclusion within or occurrence during a period or limit of time): In the modern time, internet is extremely important for the interpersonal communication.
4. (used to indicate limitation or qualification, as of situation, condition, relation, manner, action, etc.): The names are list in the order of alphabet.
5. (used to indicate means): The novel has been translated in Chinese.
6. (used to indicate motion or direction from outside to a point within) into: She went in the church.
7. (used to indicate transition from one state to another): The cake are divided into four pieces.
8. (used to indicate object or purpose): In order to lose weight, she has been eating apple as dinner for two weeks. The students memorize the SP mechanically by the superficially explanation and the example sentences. However, this kind of learning way has boundedness, which means when the SP appears in a different sentences with an changing of object or subject, the students can hardly grasp the meanings any more. Sometimes the mechanical memory will be account to the failure of exams,because the example sentence have no chance to cover all the fields, which the SP is used in. An old saying goes well,teaching one to fish is better than giving him fish. The traditional teaching method is akin to give somebody fish without teaching them how to fish.
4.4.2 Misusing of SP. From the results of pretest and the posttest, the author found that the misusing of SP happens frequently among students. In the author’s opinion there are three main reasons: First one, also the most primary one, is that the application of traditional teaching method. When a SP is first introduced with a simple Chinese Translation and a limited quantity of sample sentences, these information will be rooted in students’ mind. If the students are asked to use these SPs in some other situation, the misusing will probably happen. It is impossible for teachers to involve all the situation,because language renewed continually with the development of society. For example, in CC, one of the sentence that list by the author is “In this situation, I would like to suggest you clam down first”. From the feed back of the class, the students already understood this sentence and the usage of IN in this situation. However, after the analysis of Posttest, the author find that, there are still 40% students in CC thinking the sentence, On this circumstance, some problems have arisen during teaching English in large classes. It is obviously that, in the two sentence IN is used in a same meaning, which all express a state. Nevertheless, due to the inflexible of traditional method, the students make mistakes. The second reason is some SPs can be categorized in more than one classes. The mix word class will cause the misusing of SP.,For example, IN ,OVER and UP can be categorized in as much as four word classes,preposition, adverb, adjective and noun. Except that four word class, OUT can also be a verb. It is obvious that when the usage refer to some other unfamiliar word classes, the students will be confused. For instance, in look forward to an look down to the to is in different class one is a preposition and the latter one is infinitive form. Due to the different form the word after the two phrase need to be in different forms too. After all, the second reason is out of the characteristic of functional words themself. No matter which pedagogy is applied, only can this problem be improved, but not be completely solved. Last, but definitely no least is that traditional method reduce students’ interest to English learning and decrease students’ study efficiency. Stimulating students’ internal learning motivation is some thing that every teacher spare no effort to pursue. The traditional method is simple in instructional model and lacking in the interaction with students. The whole process is vapidity. This will not only influence the effective learning of SP, the more terrible thing is that it will influence students’ attitude towards English in the future.
4.4.3 Misunderstanding on SP. The misunderstanding of SP is rather widespread for the ELL.The misusing of SP in writing and speaking will cause a great many difficulties for English native speakers and arise embarrassment. Once the misunderstanding of SP form in students’ mind, it is hard to correct it again no matter how many times the teachers explain it. However, the misunderstanding of SP is not only caused by the meanings of words, but also the structure of sentence. For example, there are many difference between in the hospital and in hospital, on earth and on the earth. In these examples, the in the hospital focus on the description of location, while in hospital means seeing a doctor. On earth is used with question words to convey surprise, while on the earth means upon the ground. Another representative example is “The girl in coat with a furry side in is in”. To understand this sentence, the students should grasp the usage of IN in different world class and divide the sentence element correctly. First of all the main clause is “The girl is in”. In this sentence, IN is a adjective, which means fashionable. The “in coat with a furry side” is Postpositive attributive, which describes the the feature of the girl. In this structure the first in is a preposition and the second one is an adverb.
4.5 Suggestions The traditional method causes some problems in English SP learning and reduces the learning efficiency. The problems lie in that the traditional teaching method tries to list the rules of usage of SP without helping them memorize flexible.In the practical teaching process, the whole meanings and collocations of SP are impossible to covered because of the creativity of language. Additionally, this kind of explanation stays at the surface of language when we all know that language is developed with some deeper causes. Thus, another pedagogy should be applied in the English teaching to clarify the internal relationship of language. It is a challenge to accomplish this experiment,because there are two pedagogy involved.The first one is traditional method, when be applied, the meanings of SP list on the blackboard. The students try to remember all of them by writing them down and reciting again and again. This mechanically process is inefficiency and boring. On the contrary, if there is a pedagogy avoiding rote memory and interesting, the students would have a completely distinctive experiment during SP learning. As we all know, teenagers would be easy absorbed by fangle, let along an workable, effective and inventive one. Image schematic method is a kind of this pedagogy, which focus on the internal relationship of various meanings of SP and stimulates the student’s imagination. This approach can break the tedious atmosphere of English class and arouse the internal motivation of English learning. When the various meanings of SP are memorized with the help of image schemas, it is will be much more effortless and firm. Take the preposition OVER as an example. When teachers try to explain the meaning of OVER, it will be much more easy with the help below. [pic]

Figure 4.5.1

This ABOVE-ACORSS figure is regarded as the central image schema of over , which represents its basic sense. In the schema, LM is an entity, which has no contact with the TR.

This above-across sense of over schematized in this schema is exemplified in sentence(1):

John steps over some books piled on the floor.

The bridge is over the river.

When the LM is some abstract item, over 's sense is been added while collocating with other verbs, such as :step ,slide and get.

I can't pass over this problem unnoticed (the problem is the LM)

We can't slide over a ticklish question(the question is the LM)

The step above is a underlay for further illustrate. When the basic image schema be formed for the first time, it can be used later on directly or with several minutes review. After introduce the structure of basic image schema, the transformation of basic image schema can be presented as below. In this schema, the difference is the LM becomes vertical.

[pic]Figure 4.5.2

This figure specifies the motion of the TR that moves above and cross the LM that id vertical. Sentence(6)is a typical example that entails the basic spatial relations represented by this schema.

The horse jumped over the fence.

(6) She looked over the wall at us. From the two image schemas above, relations can be clearly seen. No further explanation is needed in the understanding of jumper over and look over. During the process of transformation, the students can get the point by themself and the abstract thinking process make them more concentrative.
Chapter 5 Conclusion
5.1 Major Findings According to the results of pretest and posttest and compared withe the traditional method which ignores the internal relationship between various meanings of SP, the image schematic approach is more practical in the English SP teaching. From the datum of questionnaire, most students hold the positive attitude toward the application of image schema. However, we have to admit that a small quantity of students cannot adapt this new teaching method, because it asks for the ability of abstract thinking and imagination. On the other hand, some students already get used to the passive learning. They just try to memorize what the teacher taught mechanically. When some new method applied with the requirement of active thinking, they would psychological resistance to change.Sometimes, students need a process of adaption. After they get used to the new pedagogy, the students turn to focus on the internal relationship between the various meanings of SP and begin to understand the SP at an cognitive level,which is totally difference with the traditional approach. Moreover, the image schematic influence the ELL in a long-term way. It can arouse the enthusiasm of students and create an active classroom atmosphere, which can stimulate the internal motivation of learning English. ELL can be engaged in the class maturely by teachers when teachers ask them to create an image schema by themself. Once interestingness and sense of achievement exist simultaneously in English class, the English teaching will be much more effective.
5.2 Limitation of the Study Due to the limited reference books and original works, there are some parts need to be improved. First of all, there are only seven SP are involved in the experiment and only one SP’s meanings are analyzed by the image schema. However, the SP selected in the experiment are representative. It is very difficult to cover all the SP in the experiment because of the limited time. Additionally, to analyze all the image schemas of each SP also need a large chunk, and it is hard to present all the extended meanings, because the meanings will be differ in different context, which is hard to control. Secondly, the number of subjects in the experiment is limited. There are total 80 students involved in the experiment. Compared with the whole number of ELL in the modern life, it is really a small number. What’s more, these 80 objects come from a vocational college,which means the selection of object is not random and the group of objects have their own features on age,educational background and learning habit. They cannot represent all the ELL in the world. Obviously, it is a negative part of the experiment. Thirdly,the experimental time is relatively short. According to the school calender, every class only have 4 class hours per week. The author isn’t allowed to spend more than one class hour on the specialized SP training, because the norm teaching progress cannot be disorganize. Expect for the protest , posttest and questionnaire, the teaching process lasts for two months (totally 8 class hours). In the comparatively short time, the teaching effect can not be fully reflected., which will influence the results of the research.