Perhaps the most persistent and recalcitrant problems of second-language teaching (SLT) is the inability of most learners to achieve "conceptual fluency" in the second language. Conceptual fluency is defined as the ability to know how a language reflects or encodes concepts on the basis of metaphorical structuring. Some recent research on metaphor relevant to this issue is discussed. Several pilot studies are briefly described. The studies suggest that language students are not exposed in any systematic way to the ways in which metaphor structures concepts in the target language. Some pedagogical implications are discussed. (Copyright 1994, Sociological Abstracts, Inc., all rights reserved.) (B. Annesser Murray in LLBA 1994, vol. 28, n. 4)