Ideational grammatical metaphor in English discourse for specific purposes

Abstract

Grammatical metaphor is an important concept in Systemic Functional Grammar theory. Grammatical metaphors include ideational metaphors, interpersonal metaphors, and textual metaphors. However, in English discourses for Specific Purposes, ideational grammatical metaphor is used with high density and is considered a feature of this kind of discourse. Therefore, in this article, we attempt to find out some significant characteristics in the use of ideational grammatical metaphors in English discourses for Specific Purposes from Systemic Functional Grammar perspective. On that basis, some suggestions are given to improve the effectiveness of teaching and learning English for Specific Purposes, contributing to improve the quality of English teaching and learning as well as the foreign language proficiency of students at universities, colleges and educational institutions in Vietnam.