Language Teaching Software and Image Schemas in Teaching English Prepositions: The Case Study of Iranian Pre-Intermediate EFL Learners

The current study investigated the effect of Image schemas and software strategies on students’ English prepositions learning. Through Oxford Placement Test (OPT), ۶۰ students out of ۱۰۰ were chosen and randomly divided into three groups. Two experimental and one control group, each group was composed of ۲۰ homogeneous students. The first two groups namely experimental groups were instructed how to apply Image schemas and Software on the same preposition materials respectively, but the control group received traditional methods of teaching prepositions. The required data were collected through pre-test, post-test and delayed posttest and the instruction lasted for three months. The mean scores of three groups were compared through One-way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The results of analysis indicated that the learners who utilized image schema and Software strategies outperformed the control group in leaning and retention of the prepositions. Furthermore, the first experimental group who received Image schema treatment revealed a significant efficiency in prepositions than the second experimental group namely software group. As a result, it might be concluded that image schema and Software activities have positive effect on students’ preposition mastery.

کلیدواژه ها:

“Image schemas ، CALL ، Preposition ، Cognitive Linguistics (CL)”