Metaphorical Analysis of Iranian High School Students’ Beliefs About Conceptual Themes of Foreign Language Education
Keywords:
Metaphor analysis, EFL learner, Gender, conception of English teaching, conception of learningAbstract
Metaphor analysis has been used as a cognitive tool to raise awareness about assumptions and beliefs held by teachers and learners about the process of learning and teaching. Motivated by such an ambition, this study conducted with a quantitative and descriptive design examined the metaphors produced by Iranian high school students in an EFL context about the concept of English teacher, EFL learner, teaching, learning, English textbook, and English language classroom. The study used the convenient sampling technique. The participants of this study included 200 individuals (female= 100, male=100) from Khajenasir and Rahmany high schools in Maragheh, Iran. For gathering the data, a metaphor elicitation instrument adapted from Can, Bedir, and Kiliańska-Przybyło’ s (2011) study was employed. It consisted of six prompts to elicit students’ associations and images related to the selected concepts of foreign language education: “1. English teacher is like….” “2. English learner is like….” “3. Teaching English is like…” “4. Learning English is like…” 5. English textbook is like….” “6. English classroom is like….” According to the findings, participants conceptualized selected components with about 370 metaphors categorized under 19 categories. There were similarities and differences in learners’ conceptualization of these concepts regarding the participants’ gender. The findings of this study might shed light on the view cultural linguistics represents a framework that provides a basis for understanding cultural conceptualizations and their realization in language.
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