Metaphern im universitären Wirtschaftsunterricht

ein Werkzeug des Wissenstransfers

Abstract

This paper gives insights into the didactic potential of conceptual metaphor theory in the Business English classroom at German universities. The following two main tenets of Cognitive Linguistics serve as a basis for the study reported here: (1) metaphors are not lengthy lexical units of speech but are motivated and thus may become explainable to learners of English; (2) metaphors are not only linguistic features but are also conceptual phenomena that systematically map vocabulary from one domain to another. The experiment presented exemplifies how to concretely put theory into practice in the foreign language classroom. The students’ reaction to the material and the new method of teaching as well as the impact on their productive skills in free writing exercises represent the paper’s main focus.