Review
article about Metaphor
Reviewed by Rianti
Title
: The Use of Metaphors in
the Processes of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education
Post by : Ana Mouraz, Ana Vale Pereira & Raquel Monteiro
|
International Online Journal of
Educational Sciences
|
Abstract :
Due
to growing concern about the quality of learning, higher education institutions
are looking at their academic achievements and developing initiatives related
to research into their teaching activities. The main aim of this article is to
contribute to broader knowledge about pedagogical issues in higher education
regarding reasoning structure used in the classroom. On a more objective level,
the article focuses on the importance of analogical reasoning and the specific
use of metaphors as vehicles for learning. It is a case study focused on the
use of metaphors in a particular course, which seeks to research the mode and
effectiveness of using metaphors as interpretive and explanatory models of
scientific phenomena in the processes of teaching and learning. Research shows
that the two main uses of metaphors served educational purposes and produced
foundational knowledge. Additionally, the use of metaphors was an opportunity
to promote teacher awareness of his/her own teaching.
The
article give us the material about Metaphors :
The evolution of the
concept of metaphor comes from a traditional line that is based on the unity of
the being, in the primacy of the idea over the word, in the concept of
representation, in comparison and likeness. The contemporary meanings of the
metaphor are related to the iconic moment of metaphor, to the psycholinguistics
and to the discussion of the concept of metaphorical truth. In combination,
this conceptual change is itself founder of the new rhetoric. Henceforth the
metaphor will be considered not only as an act of effective and persuasive
communication but also as being able to postulate and transmit knowledge.
Crossing
the literary and rhetorical view of metaphor operates an effective figure of
thought. It is also the research line followed by Lakoff and Johnson (1980),
known as Conceptual Metaphor Theory (or CMT, later evolved into the
Contemporary Theory of Metaphor or CTM; Lakoff, 1993) who argued that metaphor
is not primarily a matter of language but of cognition: people make use of some
concepts to understand, talk and reason about others: “Metaphors as linguistic
expressions are possible precisely because they are conceptual metaphors in the
system of a person” (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). According to this order of
reasoning, metaphors are characterized as being able to form and establish a
conceptual relationship between a given source domain and a respective target
domain, a relationship in which properties are designed by inferences from the
source domain (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Again, relations of similarity
produce the initial binding loop that is inherent to how we think. Accordingly,
this loop arises from experience: “The essence of metaphor is understanding and
experiencing one kind of thing in terms of another” (Lakoff & Johnson,
1980).
That
lack of research supports the relevance of the present study. The aim of this
article is to contribute to broader knowledge about pedagogical issues in
higher education regarding reasoning structure used in the classroom. To what
extend analogical reasoning and metaphors are vehicles for learning is the
research question. This paper examines how effectively metaphors are used as
modes of explanation and interpretation of scientific phenomena, both from the
standpoint of production and from the point of view of teaching and learning.
Specific
objectives are as follows:
Ø To
list the functions attributed to the use of metaphors in the learning
environment;
Ø To
assess the impact of the use of metaphors in motivating students to study
course;
Ø To
assess the impact of the use of metaphors in allowing students to reach the
scientific field of the course.
Methodology
The
research consists of a case study focused on the use of metaphors in higher
education. As inquired object is metaphor in discourse and as it regards the
study of contemporary events (Yin, 2002), qualitative inquiry and,
particularly, case study was the most adequate methodology approach.
Furthermore, case study is a kind of methodology that goes deeper on subject
matter and collects different data from different sources and using a variety
of instruments. As the main goal is to produce the most reliable picture of the
research object, it aloud both qualitative and quantitative data and analysis,
as it happens in present study (Yin, 2002).
Inquired
object is metaphor in discourse and not in the word or phrase, as the project
is embodied in the analysis of the modes as a course uses metaphors and
promotes understanding of the content of the curriculum. Pragglejaz Group
(2007) proposed a “metaphor identification procedure” (MIP). The main axis of
procedure, that is similar to that one that is used in present research, is
about to identify:
a) contextual meaning:
For each lexical unit in the text, establish its meaning in context, that is,
how it applies to an entity, relation, or attribute in the situation evoked by
the text (contextual meaning). Take into account what comes before and after
the lexical unit.
b) basic meaning For each
lexical unit, determine if it has a more basic contemporary meaning in other
contexts than the one in the given context. For our purposes, basic meanings
tend to be
—More concrete [what they evoke
is easier to imagine, see, hear, feel, smell, and taste];
—Related to bodily action;
—More precise (as opposed to
vague);
—Historically older;
Basic meanings are not
necessarily the most frequent meanings of the lexical unit.
c) contextual meaning versus
basic meaning If the lexical unit has a more basic current–contemporary
meaning in other contexts than the given context, decide whether the contextual
meaning contrasts with the basic meaning but can be understood in comparison
with it.
“Metaphorically used? If yes, mark the lexical unit as
metaphorical” (Pragglejaz Group, 2007, p. 3).
This procedure is not
significantly different from that it is used in present research as metaphors
were identified if an expression from a source domain was transferred to a
second - target domain. The main difference relates to expression wide. As it
was referred previously, present research focuses significantly sentences as
the research unit.
The decision to use a case study
was due to the fact that it allows the study of metaphors both from the
standpoint of its use in the production of knowledge, and from the point of
view of the fact that learning involves entering into the epistemic structure
of the scientific field concerned as well as within the processes of conceptual
reorganization that mobilizes the teacher to promote students’ learning.
Strengthen of this article is:
Explain
some case about metaphors in higher and easy
to
broader knowledge about pedagogical issues in higher education regarding
reasoning structure used in the classroom.
Weakness of this articles :
Fortunatly
in this article, there is no clearly explanation metaphors generally.
Conclusion :
The metaphors that
circulate in the classes of the case study come from the teacher’s personal
style and are selected according to their heuristic power as perceived at the
time of production. The use of life experience, but also cultural artifacts in
circulation (movies, books, pictures/paintings etc.) are the main references of
domain of the metaphors.
