earticle

영어

This paper examines English phrasal verbs used in secondary school English textbooks in Korea from a cognitive point of view. The goals of the study are first to find out how English phrasal verbs are presented in the Korea secondary school English textbooks in order to identify the difficulties learners undergo in learning English phrasal verbs. Second, based on the cognitive analysis, the authors will suggest a more effective way of teaching them. The data consisting of 30 phrasal verbs were obtained from 30 middle school and high school English textbooks. In analyzing the phrasal verbs, the authors have adopted the two approaches suggested by Dirven and Verspoor (1998): the form-based approach (semasiology) and the concept-based approach (onomasiology). Based on the analysis of the data in terms of the four cognitive categories, it has been concluded that the comparison across textbooks and cognitive categories have shown more differences than similarities. In order to teach English phrasal verbs to Korean secondary school students more effectively, the authors have made several suggestions. First, English phrasal verbs should be presented in both the prototype meaning and the abstract meaning. Second, both the idiomatic meaning and literal meaning of English phrasal verbs should be provided to learners. Third, the polysemic nature of language transfer of phrasal verbs from learners’ first language to the target language should not be overlooked. In order to understand a variety of meanings of English phrasal verbs, they should be presented through various example sentences of their use. Lastly, English phrasal verbs should be presented together with other phrasal verbs related to their meaning, to systematically understand the behaviors of English phrasal verbs.