Chapter One Introduction
1.1Research Background
With the development of digital technologies, many fields involving cognitive scienceand literacy have gradually testified the effects of multimedia instruction on learning. Moreand more scholars and teachers believe that the application of multimedia can promote andenhance the second language learning, especially memorization on vocabulary. Theinteraction between sound, textual material and the image of object can greatly enhancememorization on vocabulary. In the view of cognitive linguistics, textual materials and visualmaterials (e.g. figures, graphs andillustrations) are processed through different modes ofrepresentation. Proposition models (Anderson, 1983) indicate that there is only onerepresentation of knowledge in memory, to wit, the textual material. Research done byShepard (1967) indicates that learners’ recognition of images is better than recognition ofwords and sentences. In addition, research shows retention of images or pictures is better thanthat of textual materials (Ducharme&Fraisse, 1965).Paivio et al. (1968) explains the reason for this superiority, to wit, textual materials arestored in the format of proposition while images are stored both in propositional and visualformats. And it is the Dual Coding Theorythat works. Psychologist Allan UrhoPaivio putforward the Dual Coding Theory in 1969. He stresses the same significance of verbal andnonverbal information in the information process. The memory system of human beings ismade up of two information-processing codings which are independent butinterconnected.Dual CodingTheory which based on the cognitive theory refers that there are two cognitive sub-systems when brain recognizes and processes information, one is the verbalsystem which is specialized for the processing of linguistic information, and the other is thenonverbal system which is specialized for the processing of imagery.The Dual Coding Theory indicates that information is processed and recognized throughboth the verbal and nonverbal channels. When processing information via the two channelssimultaneously, brains will establish connections between these two channels, and this canenhance and strengthen our abilities to learn the new knowledge (Clark &Paivio, 1991).
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1.2Research Purpose and Significance
In the recent decades, scholars abroad have conducted a series of researches with DualCoding Theory as the theoretical basis.The great effectiveness and benefits of Dual CodingTheory on reading comprehension, vocabulary acquisition, and metaphor comprehension havebeen highlighted and emphasized. In China, in 1980s, Cheng Xiaoguang is the leading scholarwho firstly applies Dual Coding Theory on reading comprehension, and later, more and moreresearches have sprung up to investigate and explore the positive effects of Dual CodingTheory on reading comprehension and vocabulary acquisition. Nevertheless, few researchesbased on Dual Coding Theory are relevant to metaphor comprehension. Therefore, based on the researches done by foreign scholars such as Lindstromberg and Boers (2005) whoinvestigate the benefits of Dual Coding Theoryon metaphor comprehension, with DualCoding Theory as the theoretical basis, this paper further explores the effects of the form ofdual coding on Chinese English-learners’ comprehension of metaphorical usages of verbs.Thus, in this way, the respective effects of the form of dual coding and those of the form ofcommon coding on Chinese English-learners’ comprehension of metaphorical usages of verbscan be respectively explored and compared. Therefore, the effective and beneficial teachingmethod of promoting learners’ comprehension of metaphorical usages of verbs can beexplored. The design of the current research is based on the two questions put forward byLindstromberg and Boers (2005).The questions put forward by Lindstromberg and Boers in their discussions are asfollows:1) Whether the Enactment & Mime-based instruction
