Teachers should also have a sensitivity to the student's own culture in terms of how metaphors create implied meanings -- in Chinese culture, for example, arguing is considered a negative thing in contrast to the West, which made it difficult for Chinese ELL students to understand the phrase "her criticism was right on target" is meant in a good way, because of the violent nature of the metaphor (Dong 2004: 31). One way to get a sense of the student's own referential framework of metaphors is to assign short creative writing assignments where metaphors are created by the students in English. This helps the teacher see what sort of cultural orientation and emotions the students have about certain words in English, as a point of contrast with the teacher's own native fluency. Also, it helps illustrate if the students understand the concept of metaphors, encourages metaphorical thinking in the acquired...

Of course, not every metaphor in English can be deconstructed, but exposing students and making ELL learners aware of the importance of metaphors in English, and how they cannot assume what is literally spoken is perfectly congruent with meaning is an important step in creating greater fluency. Finally, the act of discussing English as a language, and composing in English in a way that evokes thoughts and feelings, encourages students to feel more confident in their acquired language.
Works Cited

Dong, Yu Ren. (Mar., 2004). "Don't keep them in the dark! Teaching metaphors to English…