EFL teachers‟ conceptualizations of their roles through metaphor analysis

Metaphors reflect the way people think and know the world. When they are considered within teaching profession, they can be strong agents revealing teachers‟ beliefs about their profession. They may also explore the meaning that teachers attach to themselves. Despite their strength to shed light on how teachers conceptualize themselves, metaphor studies seem to be limited. For this reason, this study set out to reveal what EFL teachers think about their roles through metaphorical representations. 24 EFL teachers, with varied experience in teaching, responded to a metaphor elicitation task through the statement “An English teacher is like …………… because…………………..”. The data were analyzed with reference to the ESL teachers‟ role categorization provided by De Guerrero and Villamil (2000). Thus a theory-driven, deductive content analysis was employed. The analysis revealed that the data only matched with 6 out of 9 categories of De Guerrero and Villamil. Therefore, for the metaphors that did not fit in their categorization, a new category was emerged. Revealing the teachers‟ interpretations and philosophies regarding teaching, the metaphors within the dominant categories showed that the teachers‟ conceptualizations regarding their roles were more traditional and teacher-centered. The variety in metaphors suggests the multi-dynamic nature of teaching.

Yabancı dil olarak İngilizce öğreten öğretmenlerin rollerini metafor analizi yoluyla kavramsallaştırmaları

Metaforlar insanların düşünme ve dünyayı algılamalarını yansıtırlar. Öğretmenlik mesleğinde düşünüldüklerinde, öğretmenlerin meslekleri hakkındaki görüşlerini yansıtan güçlü göstergeler olabilirler. Öğretmenlerin kendileri ile ilişkilendirdikleri anlamı da ortaya çıkarabilirler. Öğretmenlerin kendilerini nasıl kavramsallaştırdıkları noktasındaki önemine rağmen, yapılan çalışma sayısı oldukça düşüktür. Bu nedenle bu çalışma metaforik tanımlamalarla yabancı dil olarak İngilizce öğreten öğretmenlerin kendi rolleri hakkında ne düşündüklerini ortaya çıkarmak için kurgulanmıştır. Farklı deneyimlere sahip 24 İngilizce öğretmeni, "Bir İngilizce öğretmeni ........................gibidir çünkü......................." ifadesini içeren ölçme aracını doldurmuştur. Veri, De Guerrero ve Villamil'in (2000) ortaya çıkardığı ikinci dil olarak İngilizce öğreten öğretmen rolleri sınıflandırmasına göre analiz edilmiştir. Bu nedenle, teori temelli çıkarımsal içerik analizi kullanılmıştır. Analiz, verinin De Guerrero ve Villamil'in sınıflandırmasındaki 9 kategorisinden yalnızca 6 kategorisi ile örtüştüğünü ortaya koymuştur. Bu sınıflandırmaya uygun düşmeyen metaforlar için yeni bir kategori ortaya çıkmıştır. Öğretmenlerin öğretmeyle ilgili yorumlarını ve felsefelerini ortaya çıkaran metaforlar, öğretmenlerin kendi rollerini daha çok geleneksel ve öğretmen merkezli gördüklerini göstermiştir. Metaforlardaki çeşitlilik öğretmenin sürekli dinamik yapısını göstermektedir.

PDF

___

Alger, C. L. (2009). Secondary teachers‟ conceptual metaphors of teaching and learning: Changes over the career span. Teaching and Teacher Education, 25, 743-751.
Barcelos, A. M. F. (2003). Researching beliefs about SLA: A critical review. In Kalaja, P., Barcelos, A.M.F. (Eds.), Beliefs about SLA: New Research Approaches (pp. 7-33). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publisher.
Boostrom, R., (1998). „Safe spaces‟: Reflections on an educational metaphor. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 30, 397– 408.
Brown, H. D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy second edition. White Plains, NY: Longman.
Chamot, A. U. (2004). Issues in language learning strategy research and teaching. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 1(1), 14-26.
De Guerrero, M. C. M., & Villamil, O. S. (2000). Exploring ESL teachers' roles through metaphor analysis. Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Inc. (TESOL), 34 (2), 341-351.
De Guerrero, M. C., & Villamil, O. S. (2001). Metaphor analysis in second/foreign language instruction: A sociocultural perspective. Revised version of paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Association of Applied Linguistics, St. Louis, MO, February 24- 27.
De Guerrero, M. C., & Villamil, O. S. (2002). Metaphorical conceptualizations of EFL teaching and learning. Language Teaching Research, 6 (2), 95-120.
Eren, A., & Tekinarslan, E. (2013). Prospective teachers‟ metaphors: Teacher, teaching, learning, instructional material and evaluation concepts. International Journal of Social Sciences and Education, 3(2), 435-445.
Fainsilber, L., & Ortony, A. (1987). Metaphorical uses of language in the expression of emotion. Metaphor and Symbolic Activity, 2, 239-250.
Fenwick, T. (2000). Adventure guides, outfitters, firestarters, and caregivers: Continuing educators' images of identity. Canadian Journal of University Continuing Education, 26 (1), 53-77.
Gibbs, R. W. (1994). The poetics of mind. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Goldstein, L. S. (2005). Becoming a teacher as a hero‟s journey: Using metaphor in pre-service teacher education. Teacher Education Quarterly, 32 (1), 7–24.
Hammadou, J. A., & Bernhardt, E. (1987). On being and becoming a foreign language teacher. Theory into Practice, 26, 301–306.
Harden, R. M., & Crosby, J. R. (2000). The good teacher is more than a lecturer-the twelve roles of the teacher. AMEE Medical Education Guide, 20. Medical Teacher, 22(4), 334-347.
Harmer, J. (2007). The practice of English language teaching. (3 rd ed.). Longman
Jensen, D.F.N. (2006). Metaphors as a bridge to understanding educational and social Contexts. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 5(1), 1-17.
Kalra, M. B., & Bajeva, B. (2012). Teacher thinking about knowledge, learning and learners: A metaphor analysis. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 55, 317-326.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Leavy, A. M., McSorley, F. A., & Bote, L. A. (2007). An examination of what metaphor construction reveals about the evolution of pre-service teachers‟ beliefs about teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher Education, 23, 1217-1233.
Lin, W. C., Paichi, P. S., & Shu, C. Y. (2012). Exploring personal EFL teaching metaphors in preservice teacher education, English Teaching: Practice and Critique, 11(1), 183-199.
Michael, K., & Katerina, M. (2009). Exploring Greek teachers‟ beliefs using metaphors. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 34(2), 63-83.
Miller, S. (1987). Some comments on the utility of metaphors for educational theory and practice. Educational Theory, 37, 219-227.
Moser, K. S. (2000). Metaphor analysis in psychology: method, theory, and fields of application. Forum: Qualitative Social Research [On-line journal], 1(2). Available from http://www.qualitative-research.net/fqs-texte/2-00/2-00moser-e.htm.
Munby, H. (1986). Metaphor in the thinking of teachers: An exploratory study. Journal of Curriculum Studies, 18 (2), 197-209.
Nikitina, L., & Furuoka, F. (2008). "A language teacher is like…": examining Malaysian students‟ perceptions of language teachers through metaphor analysis. Electronic Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 5(2), 192-205.
Oksanen, J. (2005). Students‟ beliefs about themselves as users of Finnish, Swedish and English: analysis of metaphorical constructions. Unpublished MA thesis. University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.
Oktay, Y. B., & Vancı Osam, Ü. (2013) Viewing foreign language teachers‟ roles through the eyes of teachers and students, Hacettepe Üniversitesi Eğitim Fakültesi Dergisi [H. U. Journal of Education] 44, 249-261.
Ortony, A. (1975). Why metaphors are necessary and not just nice. Educational Theory, 25, 45-53.
Ortony, A., & Fainsilber, L. (1989). The role of metaphors in descriptions of emotions. In Yorick Wilks (Eds.), Theoretical issues in natural language processing (pp. 181-184). Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum.
Oxford, R. T., S. Barcelos, A., Harrington, C., Lavine, R. Z., Saleh, A., & Longhini, A. (1998). Clashing metaphors about classroom teachers: Toward a systematic typology for the language teaching field, System 26(1), 3-50.
Pajares, M. F. (1992). Teachers‟ beliefs and educational research: clearing up a messy construct. Review of Educational Research, 62 (3), 307-32.
Pishghadam, R., Rajabali, A. T., & Safoora, N. (2009). Metaphor analysis of teachers‟ beliefs and conceptions of language teaching and learning in Iranian high schools and language institutes: A qualitative study, Iranian EFL Journal, 4, 6-40.
Renandya, W.A. (2011). Teacher roles in EIL. Paper presented at the English Department, Faculty of Language and Literature, Satya Wacana Christian University, Salatiga.
Saban, A. (2004). Prospective classroom teachers‟ metaphorical images of selves and comparing them to those they have of their elementary and cooperating teachers. International Journal of Educational Development, 24 (6), 617-635.
Saban, A., Koçbeker B. N., & Saban, A. (2006). An investigation of the concept of teacher among prospective teachers through metaphor analysis. Educational Sciences: Theory & Practice, 6(2), 509-522.
Saban, A., Kocbeker, B. N., & Saban, A. (2007). Prospective teachers' conceptions of teaching and learning revealed through metaphor analysis. Learning and Instruction, 17(2), 123-139.
Torghabeh, R.A., Elahi, M., & Khanalipour, S. (2009). Examining Iranian EFL learners' and teachers' beliefs about teachers through metaphor analysis. Iranian EFL Journal, 5, 115-138.
Turunen, P. (2003). Metaphorical expressions used by university students about themselves as learners of English and about their teachers. Unpublished MA thesis. University of Jyvaskyla, Finland.
Wan. W., Low, G. D., & Li, M. (2012). From students‟ and teachers‟ perspectives: Metaphor analysis of beliefs about EFL teachers‟ roles. System, 39, 403-415.
Williams, M., & Burden, R. L. (1997). Psychology for language teachers: A social constructivist approach. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wright, V. H., Sundberg, C. W., Yarbrough, S., Wilson, E., & Stallworth, B. J. (2003). Construction of teaching metaphors through the use of technology. Electronic Journal for the Integration of Technology in Education, 2 (1), 2-22.
Yesilbursa, A. (2012). Using metaphor to explore the professional role identities of higher education English language instructors. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 46, 468-472.