Title: A Psycholinguistics Study on Metaphor Comprehension in English as a Second Language
Authors: Aliyah A. Acobo
Volume: 9
Issue: 4
Pages: 158-171
Publication Date: 2025/04/28
Abstract:
: Metaphors often pose a problem for non-native speakers to comprehend in written texts (Aardal, 2014). This exploratory study examines the linguistic metaphor comprehension of the eight (8) Bachelor of Secondary Education students majoring in English. The study investigates their interpretation of ten novel linguistic metaphors with and without contextual cues of Ferreira (2008) based on online editions of English and American newspapers. Findings indicate the critical role of context in understanding linguistic metaphors. In the absence of context, participants interpreted metaphor literally or as basic comparisons. However, with the context, their interpretations ranged from more abstract to specific meanings depending on context which they mostly relate on exploitation, emotions, and social issues. These results further support the notion that situational and linguistic cues facilitate metaphor comprehension, consistent with previous studies emphasizing the role of context in metaphor processing.