The metaphoric competence does not have the importance it deserves in the field of Spanish as a foreign language; the metaphoric language must cease to be considered as an exclusive language of the literary text. This paper addresses and discusses theories related to metaphor and particularly, the implications of metaphoric competence (MC) in the teaching and learning of languages. Furthermore, we will describe a small experiment that was conducted at the University of Stockholm in which we sought to prove that the explicit instruction of theory and practice of metaphor makes the acquisition of metaphoric competence easier for students of Spanish as a foreign language. The results of this experiment were not as expected; however, it could be concluded that much remains to be done in research on the acquisition of MC in the field of Spanish as a Foreign Language. Finally, and on the basis of the revised theories, a teaching proposal that seeks to develop the metaphoric competence in students of Spanish as a foreign language will be presented.

隱喻及轉喻被廣泛的使用在日常生活語言中。認知語言學主張：隱喻及轉喻實為人類思想與溝通的中心。因此，語言學習者必須具備覺察及理解用以表示抽象概念的隱喻及轉喻用語的能力。然而，因為語言及文化的顯著差異，第二語言學習者在發展溝通能力時，也應培養譬喻能力。 許多學者提出各式教學方法。現存文獻中，使用以概念引喻為主的教學方式，著重於點出用以對比的兩者間之相對特徵，已獲得實驗證實能提升語言學習者之覺察能力、理解能力、及記憶力。然而此教學方法忽略了語言文化間的差異填補，亦輕忽了轉喻的重要性。另一方面，使用隱喻映射為主的教學方式，能藉由實體映射及知識映射有系統條理的闡述用以對比的兩者間之對照關係，不僅有助於彌補因文化不同而造成的認知差異，亦將轉喻與譬喻視為同等重要。因而以隱喻映射為主的教學方式被認為是具備潛力的教學方法，但仍缺少實證。 本論文旨在以實證方式，研究以概念引喻及以隱喻映射為主的兩種教學方式對於以英語為外語學習者在覺察能力、理解能力、及記憶力之學習成效。共有115位、分別來自一般大學及科技大學之大學一年級學生參與本實驗。參與者分成兩組，分別接受兩種教學方式。實驗分兩週進行：第一週先完成電腦化的譬喻能力測驗之前測，接著進行教學，第二週則進行電腦化的譬喻能力測驗之後測。測驗之結果則經由量化及質化方式進行分析。 實驗結果發現：兩種教學方式均對於參與者在覺察能力、理解能力、及記憶力有正面成效。然而儘接受以隱喻映射為主之教學方式的參與者在覺察能力測驗中獲得顯著進步，特別是對於不包含體驗性描述的轉喻性隱喻及隱喻用語，表現尤佳。至於理解力測驗部分，以隱喻映射為主之教學方式對於解讀含有文化差異性的用語特別有助益。另一方面，相較兩組教學方式的表現成果而言，以隱喻映射為主之教學方式造成參與者的學習成果呈現較一致且穩固的成長。總而言之，以隱喻映射為主之教學方式因為提供了具結構性、系統性及邏輯性的映射過程，而促進學習者較容易覺察包含抽象概念的譬喻用語，克服因文化差異性而造成的理解困難，及獲致較穩固的學習成長。 本研究為以英語為外語學習者在學習譬喻用語—包含隱喻及轉喻—上提供了三點貢獻。其一，透過學習者培養譬喻能力之實驗成果，直接教學方式對於第二語言習得的效益再次獲得證實。其二，本實驗成果顯示：轉喻與隱喻實為密不可分的兩種概念，在教學過程中應把轉喻列為與隱喻一樣重要。其三，學習者的中介語包含了語言的普同性及差異性概念，因此應被視為連續體而非階段性結構；在設計教學教材時，應把此連續體的概念併入考量。總結而言，本實驗的成果不只在應用語言學領域提出見解，亦在第二語言習得領域有所貢獻。 / Metaphor and metonymy, pervasively found in everyday language, has been shown by cognitive linguistic research to lie at the heart of human thought and communication. Thus, ability to notice and comprehend metaphoric and metonymic expressions in expressing abstract concepts is indispensible for language users. However, since languages and cultures vary in a wide array of ways to employ metaphor and metonymy, L2 learners should develop metaphoric competence along with communicative competence. Various methods to develop L2 learners’ metaphoric competence have been proposed. In the extant literature, instruction involving conceptual metaphors (CM), which focuses on correspondences of general traits, has been proved effective in raising learners’ awareness, comprehension, and retention for Hungarian and Dutch EFL learners. Its effectiveness in Chinese speaking context is worth attested empirically. On the other hand, metaphoric mappings, which illustrate both ontological mappings and epistemic mappings of two concepts in more systematic and detailed manners, offer a promising method for EFL language learning. Hence, instruction involving metaphoric mappings (MM) is assumed to be more effective than instruction of CM. The effectiveness of such a method is also worth attested empirically. The present study aimed to test the effects of CM and MM on EFL learners’ awareness, comprehension, and retention of metaphoric and metonymic expressions with empirical evidence from a carefully-designed experiment. Finer-grained analyses on three important issues were provided: first, an in-depth examination of the intricate interaction of metonymy and metaphor as a continuum, and its influences on figurative language learning was conducted. Second, cultural universality and specificity among languages and the different degrees of difficulties for EFL learners in transferring expressions between L2 and L1 were also investigated. Third, whether structural and logical mappings between languages and cultures could assist learners to better grasp abstract concepts was examined. The participants included 115 Taiwanese EFL learners, who were freshmen of a general university and a four-year technological university. The English proficiency of the former group was high-intermediate and that of the latter was low-intermediate. The experiment contained three phases: pre-teaching, teaching and post-teaching. The participants were divided into two sub-groups: one received instruction involving CM, and the other received instruction involving MM. They were asked to complete the computerized metaphoric competence test before and after receiving instructions. The results of the tests were collected and analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. The results showed that both instructions could lead to better awareness, comprehension, and retention. However, only the participants of the MM groups performed significantly better in the posttest regarding the Awareness Test, especially in finding metonymic-metaphoric and metaphoric expressions that contained no bodily descriptions, the two categories which were considered the most abstract among the expressions. Regarding the Comprehension Test, MM instruction was found to be especially beneficial for the participants in interpreting expressions involving cultural-specific conceptual metaphors. Moreover, MM instruction resulted in convergent effects in the participants’ performances and led toward relatively more consistent and steady progress. To conclude, MM instruction, with its structural, systematic, and logical mapping processes, was found to be especially helpful in facilitating learners’ awareness of expressions involving more abstract concepts, overcoming difficulties caused by cultural specificity, and leading to longer-term effects on retention. The present study sheds light on the application of metaphor and metonymy to EFL teaching and learning of figurative language in three aspects. First, that explicit instructions on second language acquisition carry beneficial effects is validated for the development of learners’ metaphoric competence in the target language. In addition, metonymy is suggested as equally important as metaphor, and should be included in EFL language learning programs. Moreover, that learners’ interlanguage system is a continuum encompassing expressions with universal and specific cultural characteristics is also validated. Therefore, designs of EFL teaching materials are suggested to take such a continuum into consideration. In brief, the results of the study contribute not only to applied linguistics but also to second language acquisition.