The effect of the conceptual metaphor theory on the teaching of orientation idioms in teaching Turkish as a foreign language

In this study, the effects of the conceptual metaphor theory (CMT) on the teaching of orientation idioms was investigated. The study was designed as an action research project and was conducted with 45 B2 level students from 21 countries who were native speakers of 10 different languages. The students were learning Turkish to pursue the undergraduate degrees in Turkish universities. The students were learning and using Turkish for their daily interactions with Turkish people but continued to use their native languages in their closely knit communities. Thus, they formed good examples of true bilingual individuals. At the planning stage of the study, the orientation idioms in the Turkish as a foreign language course books were identified to be used in the teaching activities during the study and a list of orientation idioms was prepared. The students were asked to write the meanings of those idioms and use each one in a sentence to determine whether they had already learned those idioms. The orientation idioms in the B2 level course books were taught through activities based on CMT. At the end of the study, the students were asked to write the meanings of the idioms and use each one in a sentence once again. Pre- and poststudy mean scores of the students' performances were compared. It was determined that the implementation based on CMT developed the students' ability to learn metaphors and use them contextually appropriately. Furthermore, it was observed that the teaching activities based on the theory made it easier for the students to learn the idioms and increased their retention in the students' minds. It was also observed that the students had developed the skills of guessing the meanings of new orientation idioms from the contexts they were used in and using them more easily.