A Study on the Metaphor Judgement and Comprehension of EFL in Chinese Universities—Taking Senior English Major Students as Example

Metaphor comprehension remains a central concern in linguistic research. This study investigates metaphor judgment and comprehension among senior English majors from five types of Chinese universities—Project 985, Project 211, language-featured, normal, and basic public institutions—to examine the effects of institutional type and English proficiency. A total of 50 participants (5 males and 5 females per university) who had passed TEM-4 were recruited. A mixed-methods design was employed: quantitative data were collected using a metaphor comprehension questionnaire adapted from Xu (2013), and qualitative data were obtained through semi-structured interviews with high- and low-scoring groups (one male and one female each). Pearson correlation and regression analyses revealed three major findings. First, the overall metaphor judgment and comprehension ability of senior English majors reached a qualified level, accompanied by adequate listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills. Second, English proficiency significantly influenced both metaphor judgment and comprehension, with high-proficiency learners outperforming low-proficiency learners; however, performance on individual metaphor items was comparable. Third, gender emerged as a contributing factor, with males generally outperforming females, though the gender gap was negligible in basic public universities. Implications for EFL teaching and directions for future research are discussed.