Higher Language Proficiency Doesn'T Help: A Study of Efl Learners' Perception of Figurative Language Expressions

Metaphors are considered in traditional linguistic approaches as a matter of language only-independent of any conceptual system (kovecses & szaho, 1996), while in modern cognitive approaches, they are considered differently, i.e. they form our ordinary conceptual system in terms of which we both think and act (lakoff and johnson, 1980).teaching efl learners to internalize figurative language has always proved a difficult experience. the difficulty seems to be irreducible as the learners' language proficiency develops. at the same time, in typologically-different languages like english and farsi, certain tropes may cause more problems for efl learners,e.g. metaphors are more problematic for overseas students (littlemore, 2001). on this basis, the present study aims at developing a documented profile of the relationship between the efl learners' level of language proficiency and the extent of their ability to understand figurative language, thereby testing the following hypotheses: a) the development of the efl learners' general language proficiency does not reduce their problem with internalizing figurative language in a significant way, and b) metaphorical expressions are more robust than other tropes in the learning process