A Comparative Study of Two Cognitive Models in Teaching Idiomatic Phrasal Verbs: Tyler and Evan’s vs. Lakoff and Johnson’s Approach

This study was an attempt to examine whether Tyler and Evan's approach could have any advantageous contribution to teaching and learning idiomatic PVs in comparison with Lakoff and Johnsons' approach in an Iranian EFL context. To this end, 60 English learners at intermediate level of language proficiency were assigned to two equal groups: group A, treated with Tyler and Evans' approach an group B, treated with Lakoff and Johnsons' approach. Both groups received 40 idiomatic phrasal verbs with the same particles (up, down, in, out, off, away, on). The participants in group A were presented with the underlying systematicity of the particles based on Tyler and Evans' (2003) Principled Polysemy Theory within the Cognitive Linguistics framework. Group B received their instruction following Lakoff and Johnson's (1980) Metaphor Awareness. The data were collected through a pre-posttest assessment and analyzed by T-Test procedure using SPSS demonstrated the superiority of Tyler and Evan's approach and revealed a strategy transfer to unrehearsed PVs as well. Index Terms--phrasal verbs, cognitive linguistics, particles, embodiment motivation conceptualization, spatial scene, vantage point strategy, transfer