Metaphor in Classroom Activity[1]

8/14/2019 Metaphor in Classroom Activity[1]

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/metaphor-in-classroom-activity1 1/12

6e t l i h o rin classroom activity

In this chapter we look at the role of metaphor in classroom activity.The eight discourse events (listed in Table 3.1) each involved a rangeof ty pes of pedagogic action. This chapter presents the results ofanalysing metaphor use in pedagogic action. We will see howmetaphor contributes to the construction of opportunities for learningand participation, as well as finding out more about the nature ofmetaphor used for different purposes.

The recorded and transcribed discourse events were analysed in

terms of mediated action by labelling the teaching sequences (listed inTable 3.3) that occurred within them. When the identified linguisticmetaphors were mapped on to these pedagogic descriptions, two clearfindings emerged:

Different types of teaching action make differential use ofmetaphor.

Metaphors frequently occur in clusters, rather than beingdistributed randomly throughout the discourse.

The geology lesson is taken first and metaphor use is described in some

detail to illustr ate the processes of analysis and the nature of theresults. A brief presentation of the results for the other discourseevents follows. We then look at typical uses of metaphor in differenttypes of teaching sequences. The natu re of the clustering of metaphorsand the affective role of metaphor are discussed. Finally, the fewinstances of students' use of metaphor are reported.

Metaphor use in the geology lesson

The geology lesson took place at t he end of a school day, after dancingpractice and a break. It was teacher-led and structured through the use

of a worksheet that the students completed as the lesson proceeded.The topic was the three major rock types - igneous, sedil ent ry andmetamorphic. Th e teacher's overall goal (as stated at the beginning andas evidenced from the action) was to introduce these labels andexplain each of them, then to relate them to the students ' recent school

Metophor in clossroorn ctivity

trip to Cumbria where they had seen examples of the rock types.In Vygotskyan ter ms, the students' spontaneous, experientially

based concepts about rocks were to be developed towards the scientificconcept s around the classification of rocks according to their formation.

The lesson began with Framing sequences: Organization of theworksheets, followed by Agenda Management, in which the teacher set

out what the lesson would contain and how it related to future lessons.

When the stu dents began to read the worksheet, the term classificationwas encountered, and this led to an episode in which Explanationsequences explicated and exemplified the idea of classifying. In thisepisode, the teacher first used a verbal example, of sorting marbles bycolour, and then a concrete example, in which the students weremovcd around into groups by sex, size. and hair colour. The idea ofclassifying was the n related to the work of geologists wh o classifyrocks and the explanation of each type began. Although igneous rockscame first on the worksheet, discussion of them was delayed a little,and sedimentary rocks were talked about first. The teacher introducedthe subtopic of crinoids, small organisms that are found fossilized insedimentary rocks. To explain metamorphic rocks, the teacher took a

plastic cup and squashed it to exemplify how pressure can change theform of rocks. Igneous rocks were then explained, by reference to

volcanoes and volcanic lava as the source of igneous rocks (as

described in Chapter 5).

At the end of the volcanic lava epis ode, the topic of the talkshifted to Cumbria and examples of the types of rock that the studentshad seen there. The worksheet was filled in as the discourseprogressed. After a final Summarizing sequence about rocks inCumbria, the teacher concluded the lesson with Framing sequencesin which she set out the agenda for the next lesson and organizedclearing away of materials.

Mapping metaphors onto teachin g action

Mapping metaphors onto the teaching sequences is shown inAppendix 2. The event as mediated action is also portrayed visuallyin Figure 6.1, which shows t he cumulative frequency of metaphorsover the time of the lesson. In the study of complex dynamic systems,visual display is a central tool of analysis. In the study of discourse,

however, visual display is underused as a support for understandingdynamics by presenting both product and process of discourse in oneimage (but see Nelson's visualization of the talk of her child subject ina first language acquisition study, Nelson 1996). To capture thedynamics of metaphor production, I followed Corts and Pollio (1999)



etophorin educational discourse

but with one major difference. Their (spoken) lecture data were

divided into blocks of five 'sentences', bu t such a uni t makes no sense

for spoken data. Some other unit was needed. I decided to work withblocks of ten transcribed words, using the assumption made in Chapter

that a spoken 'sentence' in a prepared lecture is likely to averagearound ten words. The number of metaphors was counted, cumula -

tively, over each 10-word unit from the start of the lesson to the end(258blocks of 1 words) , to produce th e graph of cumulative frequency

(Figure 6.1).The steepness of the li ne on the graph indicates the rate ofproduction of linguistic metaphors as the lesson proceeds.

The boxes were placed at points where the gradient of the linewas particularly steep, indicating the places where metaphorsoccurred in a cluster, or burst. The clusters represent the followingteaching sequences in the event:

Cluster 1 Agenda Management: opening sequenceCluster 2 Explication of classificationCluster 3 Explication of putting into groups as circlesCluster Explicat ion of crinoidsCluster 5 Explication of volcanic lavaCluster 6 Explication of slate roofs in Wales

Cluster 7 Agenda Management: summarizing and closingsequence

The position of the boxes across the lesson also shows the

symmetry of metaphor use in the event, with metaphorically charged

Agenda Management sequences opening and closing the lesson, andframing a series of explanation sequences using ideational metaphor.The volcanic lava episode acts as a centrepiece to the lesson.

The preponderance of metaphors in Agenda Management.Summarizing and Explication sequences in the geology lesson isstriking, but needs to be checked across a wider range of types ofclassroom activity. This event did not, for example, include Feedback

or Control sequen ces. The next section describes briefly the struct ureand dynamics of each of the other events, and the use of metaphor in

their teaching sequences.

Metaphor use in the other discourse events

Class work

Class work was quite different in nature from the teacher -fronted.whole-class lessons like geology, and constituted a large part. around50 per cent, of the chi ldren 's daily school experience. In the class work



Metophor in edu otionol discourse

events, the teacher typically sat at her desk while the students workedmore or less independently. Although they sat in small groups, thework I observed was indi vidual, and student-student talk was mostlyoff -task. Students would go to the teacher at intervals to have workcorrected or to read aloud from their read ing books. At times theteacher wou ld walk around the class, checking on students' progress.She might also address the whole class to ask for information, or to

explain a point that had arisen with one student but was of relevanceto the whole class. The discourse that could be analysed into teachingsequences were episodes when the teacher addressed the whole class,a group or an individual student. Each episode had its own alteritiesand pedagogic goals, many of which arose contingently, as happenedin the lollipop trees episode ( pp. 117-18).

Metaphors were heavily used in the Framing (Agenda Manage -

ment) sequences that began Class work 1 when the students had toreport on what they had achieved the day before and the teacher setthem thei r own agendas of work to be done. The two class work eventsalso included metaphor in Control sequences, mainly when groups gottoo talkative, and in Feedback sequences, when the teachers workedwith individual students. Class work also included some Explana-

tion sequences that used metaphor.

Dancing practice

Again, this was a very different type of event, since physical rather thanintellectual activity was central as the teacher led the students throughseveral maypole dances in preparation for a public performance.(Maypole dancing is an ancient English tradition in w hich dancers eachhold a ribbon attached to a central pole and move so that the ribbonsoverlap and interweave into intricate patterns.) Music was played on acassette recorder, and the event was structured through the series ofdances that were practised. Not surprisingly, Organization and Controlsequences featured strongly, with Explanation sequences occurringwhen the teacher explained or demonstrated the moves of the dances.

The teacher also gave Feedback, both evaluative and strategic, toimprove performance and to keep stude nts motivated. The affective useof metaphor in Control and Feedback was particularly striking.

Maths 7

This event took up most of a morning, interrupted by a schoolassembly. The teacher's goals, stated at the en d, were to help studentswith the concept and process of 'finding an average'. To achieve thisshe presented them with a problem - how m ny times would a

Metophor in classroom o tivrty

brontosourusfit into the school field?- and led them through solvingi t by having each child pace out the school field and then, back in

the classroom, adding and dividing the results to calculate anaverage length of the field. The length of the field was then dividedby the length of a brontosaurus.

Metaphor again occurred in the Agenda Management sequencesthat framed each part of the event. The problem-setting and problem-

solving nature of the event meant that alterity was managed'contingently through questions and answers. Explanations of ideaswere constructed interactionally, built up through answers andfeedback, rather than being offered to the students through presenta -tion talk (Chang-Wells and Wells 1993) as in the geology lesson. Theteacher used metaphor in summarizing ideas at the end of a stretch of

interaction. Metaphor was used affectively, most obviously in Feed-

back sequences, but also in metatalk around stages of the problem.Sub-technical language around division and averaging also involvedmetaphor as in Extract 5.4).

Apostro p he lesson

This and the Maths 2 event were taken by the second teacher, whosedifferent personal style also affected the use of metaphor. The lessonwas on how to use the apostrophe to indicate possession, building on

previous work on apostrophes to show contraction. It startedexperientially with students asked to find examples of apostrophesin their reading, and was structured by the use of a book that gave rulesfor use (that the teacher explained and exemplified] and practiceexercises (copied on to the board for students to complete). As thevoice of authority in the lesson, the 'holder' of scientific concepts, thetextbook was like an additional discourse player, with the teachermediating the textbook content for the students. She sometimesaligned herself with the students rather than with the book, as whenshe commented on an exercise item:

this is a funny one ( . wonder who thought this one U

In the by now familiar pattern, metaphor was used in the Framing(Agenda Management) sequences that opened the l esson and that wereneeded procedurally at other points. The other main use of metaphorwas in Explanation sequences around the apostrophe and in CheckingUnderstanding, in both of which the technical language of apostropheuse was 'softened' (see Extract 5.7).



Metophor in educotionol discourse

Maths 2

This event was structured by a test that the students had completed in

a previou s lesson. The overall goal of th e lesson was to go overthe test,

to take each item in turn and discuss it. It began and ended withAgenda Management and with Evaluative Feedback on the overallresults of the maths test. As each item was talked a bout, metaphor was

heavily used in Feedback about students' success or otherwise in

getting the right answers. Some of the Feedback sequences evolvedinto Explanations of mathematical concepts or processes. The sub-technical language and mediation of these ideas made use of metaphor.Alterity was often affective as well as conceptual, with commentsmade on the correctness, the effort and the success of individualstudents and the class as a whole. Metaphor played an important rolein these commen ts, and in thereby re)constructing the expected norms

of the classroom.

programme

The TV event had two separate stages: watching the programme andteacher-led discussion of the content. In the actual programme, thenarrator's commentary included very little metaphor, whereas the

short film clips of school activity included the types of metaphorssimilar to those used in the study school. In the discussion that

followed, metaphors occurred in s ome of the anecdotes, particularly in

Summarizing sequences.

Summary

While the aims and nature of the particular discourse events led toeach one showing a different balance of action types, there wasconsistency across events in t he use of metaphor in each type of

teaching sequence and in the tendency for certain types of teachingsequence to use more metaphor than others.

The analysis of metaphor in teaching action across the discours e

events showed that:The teaching sequences most likely to involve metaphor wereSummarizing, Agenda Management an d Evaluative Feedback.

More than half of these sequences contained at least onemetaphor.

Metaphors occurred in about one-third of Control, StrategicFeedback and Explication sequences.

Very few metaph ors were use d in Exemplification, CheckingUnderstanding, Organizing and Information Search sequences.

Metaphor in classroom activity

The clustering of metaphors apparent in the geology lesson was alsoobserved in the other events, not just in Agenda Management and

Explanation sequences but in other types of teaching action too. AnI explanation of metaphor clustering is multidimensional, in that it arises

from several interacting factors relating both to metaphor use and todiscourse processes. It is further described on pp. 137-9. Meanwhile

we take a closer look at metaphor in the teaching sequences.

The use of metaphor in teaching sequences

This section focuses on the teaching sequences which featuredsignificant use of metaphor. Typical and telling examples are takenfrom the discourse data to discuss the nature of the metaphors used(Research Question 1 and the opportunities offered by the metaphorsfor the mediation of thinking, learning, affect and action (ResearchQuestion 2).

Metaphors in framing Agenda Management

Agenda Management sequences were, across all the events, the most

likely places to find metaphor in use. Metaphors occurred at the

beginning and end of every event, and throughout every event, as sub-

topics and sub-goals shifted in the dynamics of the activity. Thecombination of frequency of occurrence of the sequence type an d a highprobability of metaphor use in any one sequence showed that AgendaManagement metaphors were the most common type of metaphor.

Extract 6.1 from the geology lesson shows how, after the studentswere organized with worksheets and pencils, the teacher set outthe agenda of the forthcoming lesson s). Agenda Management startsat the first line; an Explication of the verb weather (line 6) occursinside t he Agenda Management sequence at lines 7-9; and the agendais restated in lines 10-12.

xtruct6.1 Metaphors in genda Management: opening the geology lesson

1 now what I'm going to do ( . ) this afternoon 1 O)

2 because I can't think of any other way to do it ( l.O)is to ive you a little bit of information (2.0)

w k we c m . ) our understanding 1.0)of . ) rocks 4.0)

S and the minerals thatcome out of rocks I O)

6 and also . ) how roc- 2.0)

7 in other words ( . ) what happens to rocks (l .O)

8 when . ) the snow ( . and the wind and the ice and the rain and the temperature 1.0)

9 ock U on them ( . )

10

so t ere are really two things we're going to Jook (2.0)this half term (1.0)1 one is . how the rocks weather ( l 0)

12 and the other is ( . ) about the minerals ( . ) that are in them ( . ) that we can use



Metaphor in educotionol discourse

As in most Agenda Management sequences, metaphor is used to talk

about two aspects of the lesson activity: procedure and content. Theprocedures and processes of teaching and learning are described in

terms of looking at, giving information, and building understanding.

The content of the lessons ahead involves conventionalized metaphorto describe inanimate geological processes as animate action: come ou t

of act s upon. In giving a forward-looking summary of lesson content,

the teacher offers the students what has been called an 'advance

organiser' (A usubel 1960). Advance organizers are held to hel plearning by provid ing 'hooks to hang ideas o n', i.e. ways to organizeand recall new content as it is presented.

At the end of the lesson, the teacher looks forward to the nextlesson in a closing Agenda Management sequence Exlract 6.2). Again,metaphor s are used to talk about both pr ocedure , with a further use ofthe verb metaphor look at, and the content.

Extract6.2 Meta p hors in Agenda Management: closing the geology lesson

now tomorrow again . ) we'll ( . ) hove a look . ) g . )

why are all three rock types present ( . )and how do the local rocks of Cumbria fit into the overall picture of the age of the earth

2.0)

and I've got a very interesting diagram 1 O) to show you ( . )

that shows how old we are ( . )

in comparison with the rocks we were walking over (3.0)

All the events had a similar pattern of metaphor rich Agenda

Management sequences at their start, and at points during an eventwhere procedures were renegotiated or restated. Extract 6.3 shows the

teacher in the dancing practice doing some procedural talk betweenepisode s of action to explain to stud ents which dance they will do next

(a dance called Spider's Web) while also motivating them to keepworking at the dance steps.

xtract6.3 Metaphors in Agend a Management: during the dancing practice

T: now . ) I'm really pushing you this afternoon (.

)

because the more we can get practised and worked out (2.0)the more time we have ( . ) to really ( . ) polish it ( . )and make it look p ssional (2.0)

5 so . ) if you all feelu . )

I thought we'd have a go at Spider's Web

We can also see in Extract 6 .3 how these framing metaphors often

mediated affective as well as ideational content. In the first line, theuse of a vivid metaphor push ing emphasi zes the toughness of the task

Metaphor in clossroorn octivrly

that the teacher is setting, but she shifts to the inclusive first person

plural we (lines 3 and 6) to align herself with the stud ents. Alongsidegrammatical choices, lexical choices may also act in an affective way to

mitigate possible threats. Verbs like give or look at, as used in Extracts6.2 and 6.3, are uncomplicated and, with additional use of meta -phorical determinatives like a little bit (Extract 6.2, line 3). seem to try

to reassure stud ents by d ownplaying the effort that might be required

in participating in the lesson and the shared discourse, and in

mastering the content. We return to the affective role of metaphor laterin the chapter (pp. 139-40).

Lexical choices in Agenda Management meta phors were seldomvivid or striking. Rather they showed evidence of systematic use ofverbs of movement to describe lesson procedures and shifts of topic.

The verbs go and come, often followed by one or more prepositions,were consistently used to refer to working, writing, thinking or talkingabout:

let's quickly through them [ = exercise items) apostrophe lesson)we'll come back in a moment to .. (geology lesson)do you want togo and do day three? (class work)right ( . ) let's go back . ) these rocks 1.0)

fire formed (2.0) (geology lesson)

let's just go into that a little bit more (geology lesson)

The systematicity of this group of metaphors is examined further inChapter 10

To summariz e thu s far, in Agenda Management the teacher often

verbalizes her perception of the alterity that she will deal with in theforthcoming discourse. Agenda Management metaphors play ametacognitive role, often h elping to construct student s' experienc e ofevents at three levels: at an overall level in opening and closing

sequenc es, at the level of episodes of action within an event, an d at the

utterance level through lexical choice of the Vehicle terms of themetaphors. Th e pattern of heavy and quite systematic metaphor use in

Framing discourse means tha t learning and participa tion opportunities

were frequently presented and described in metaphorical ways.By sharing her perception of the alterity that will drive the event,the teacher offers the students shared access to goals and intentions.Through th e discourse constructio n of advance organizers of conten t,and of the teaching and learning processes in these sequences,

metaphor plays a key role in students' access to learning opportunities.

Metaphors in Explication sequences

Metaphor theory emphasizes the cognitive role of metaphor in



Metophor in edvcotronol discourse

understanding new or difficult concepts (e.g. Kittay 1987 , and so itmight be expected that metaphor might figure highly in Explicationsequences. This was not the case in this study, where other types ofteaching action seemed to make greater use of metaphor and wheredevices other than metaphor were used to reduce alterity aroundconcepts, including:

Practical demonstration: squashing a p lastic cup to show th e

effect of pressure on rocks.Practical activity: having the students pace out the field andcount paces to calculate an average.

Writing about their experience: the diary of their school trip.

Exemplification and non-metaphorical analogy: remindingstudents of the type of stone used in the entrance to a local shop.

It will be recalled that Explanation sequences were of two types:Explication, in which more information about a topic was presented,and Exemplification, in which the teacher gave an ex ample, verbally,with realia, or by demonstration. Metaphors were used in very fewExemplification sequences but are found clustering in Explicationsequences. However, even there, many of the metaphors were notdeliberately used to explain, but were conventionalized ways ofreferring to the concepts being talked about (Chapter 5).

Metaphor was used in approximately half of the Explicationsequences to help students understand concepts and processesincluding:

the shape of trees in a drawing (Extract 5.10) (class work]the fertilization of human ovathe derivation of a name (Extract 5.1)the meaning of 'to feel persecuted'crinoids (geology)the formation of igneous rocks (Extract 5.2)the pattern of a dance (dancing practice)arithmetic series (maths)converting fractions to decimalsthe use of apostrophes (apostrophe lesson)

The patterns of talk around deliberate metaphors described in Chaptershowed that it is not the metaphors alone that explicate, but the use

of metaphors in the discourse, and the interplay of metaphorical andnon-metaphorical language, to reduce alterity.

If we look at the lexis and s yntax of the deliberate linguisticmetaphors used in Explication, we find two main ways in which the

mapping between Topic and Vehicle domains was encoded -

Metophor in clossroorn ocfivity

comparison and approximation. Metaphors in comparisons directlyrelated the Topic concept to the Vehicle using a verb and the particle

like. Both Topic and Vehicle are explicitly mentioned. The Vehicle wasusually more familiar, more concrete, or less complex than the Topic.

the trees looked like little lollipops[rock] becomes like sticky treacle

Some comparisons are also analogies, in that they map not only

properties from Vehicle to Topic, but also the relations that holdwithin the domains. In the other type of deliberate metaphor, thelexicogrammar introduces a Vehicle concept that approximatesto the Topic concept. The approximation is signalled by markers likea sort of/kind of

[the fertilization of an egg by a sperm is]a sort ofchemical reaction

In both approximation an d comparison, the teacher has tuned the talk

to the studen ts,probably increasing their chances of understandin g.Conventionalized metaphors linked Topic and Vehicle domains

less explicitly, but again using Vehicle lexis that was likely to be morefamiliar, more concrete, or simpler than Topic lexis would have been.For example, instead o f using the word contraction, the more familiar

and more concrete term shortening was used to talk about t he functionof apostrophes. In the same lesson, the word singular was replaced bythe more concrete a noun which is talking about more than one thing.Many of these metaphors involved animation or personification of theTopic. Since this was the case across the data (not just in Explication]the phenomenon will be discussed as an example of systematicity inChapter 10

To summarize, metaphors in Explication adjust conceptualalterity along three dimensions:

the degree of abstraction how abstract or concrete an idea is

the degree of familiarity how far an idea concerns content

familiar to student sthe degree of complexity how complicated an idea is in

terms of other linke d ideas thatmust also be understood

In most conventionalized metaphors, the adjustment in conceptualalterity was downwards: Vehicle concepts were less abstract, morefamiliar, simpler th an th e Topic concepts. In addi tion, if we considerthe conceptual content of lexical items on a general to specificcontinuum, metaphor Vehicles were often less specificlmore generalthan the Topic:



Metaphor in educational discourse T Metaphor in classroom activity

the k y is to keep these shoulders together[a number pattern] was going up in threes

what S classif ication a word for?do it in your head = carry out the (mathematical] process withoutwriting it down]

There appears to be a problem here. If classroom discou4e (particu-

larly explication of concepts) aims to push stu dents' thinking to higher

levels of abstraction and complexity, how can metaphor possibly helpin this process if it tends to reduce abstraction and complexity? Toresolve this we need to recall the complex systems idea of action onseveral interacting timescales and th e nature of metaphor in dis coursedescribed in Chapter 5.

On the micro timescale of interaction in Explication sequences,the teacher's immediate goal is to reduce concep tual alterity from state

a, to state a2, where a, is her perception of students' initialunderstanding and a, is her perception of what they need to

understand. To get from a, to az, the teacher may use convention-

alized metaphors, or she may present, unpack and re -assembledeliberate metaphors. At each interim step, the Vehicle of theconventionalized metaphor may be less abstract or complex than its

Topic, but the overall gradient, across the various Vehicles, isupwards. We can describe the process of reducing alterity in Extract5.1 in this way:

a, = students do not unders tand the derivation of the name Skidda

a2= students unders tand derivation as a corruption of the name ofthe hill Skiddaw

Conventionalized metaphors: comes from, after, dropare used to build up understanding of

Deliberate metaphors: nicknome, corruption

The discourse about igneous rocks in Extract 5.2 uses both conven-

tionalized and deliberate metaphors with less abstract, more familiarand simpl er Vehicles. but the relexicalization and development of the

Vehicle help to increase the complexity of the less familiar Topic asthe talking-and-thinking proceeds.

The mediation of conceptual alterity can be visualized as theteacher reaching across the gap, offering stepping stones, and helpingstudents move across the stepping stones to the new understanding.The skill of the teacher lies in estimating the gap, the number andpositioning of the stones, and the help needed. Metaphors can act asstepping stones and as a description of the end point , and can occur in

the discourse assistance the teacher provides.

Meta p hors in Summarizing sequences

Summarizing occurred throughout the data in all events and at all

levels. Summarizing sequences were one of the most likely places toencounter metaphor. Ends of events typically involved summaries but

so did the end of shorter sequences of all types. For example, at the endof the volcanoes episode (Extract 5 .2 , line 39) the teacher summarizes

the discussion of the formation of igneous rocks with a S ummarizing

statement that describes formation metaphorically as movement from aplace:

so that's wh r these rocks come from

At the end of explaining the lesson agenda (Extract 6.1) the teachersummarizes the content agenda:

so there are really two things we're going to look at this half tern

Summaries, in p ulling together ideas, tend to use lexis of a less specific

nature than that used in th e talk being summarized. Metaphor is wellsuited to this level of talk, as Drew and Holt (1988) found i n their stu dy

of idioms in talk p.24). In addition, because summaries tend to comeat the end of a topic or subtopic, this results in frequent metaphor use

at topic change points.It is typical of summaries of both content and process that the

metaphor Vehicle is abstract and general. In Extract 6.4 (dancingpractice) the teacher uses the shared metaphor of the pattern of a dance

as spokes in a wheel to summarize her Feedback sequence. The wheelis not further specified.

Extract6.4 Content met phors in Summarizing sequences: spokes in a wheel

elanie ( . ) you're a little bit ( . ) turned towards the centre ( . ) can you turn . out (2.0)that's right ( . ) people the outsides ( . ) should be right b ck . )

remember these okes in a wheelI-

At the end of the maths lesson on averaging, the teacher summarizedthe process with:

and all of this ( I arose out ofme . ) wanting you 1.0)to know I .how to work out 5.01 an average

Summarizing metaphor s also sometimes carried affective value, again inparallel with Drew and Holt's findings for adult-adult telephoneconversations. In Extract 6.5, the teacher brings to a close an anecdoteabout teaching deaf children in the discussion after the TV programme.

The Summarizing sequence begins with the so at line 3, and closes with ametaphorical idiom that emphasizes values about judging other people.



Metophor in educational discourse

in my head in your headring a bell in your mind if any bells ring in your mind

make a mental note make a little mental note

Some of metaphor clustering may result from the general tenden cy indiscourse to repeat and reformulate lexis.

Content factors in metaphor clustering

The topic being talked about may generate multiple use of metapho r.

This may happen be cause conventionalized metaphor is ne eded to talkabout the topic, or, as we saw with deliberate metaphors mediatingconceptual content (p. 103),a topic that involves deliberate metaphormay require several metaphorical expressions to develop and thensummarize the ideas.

sycholinguistic factors in metaphor clustering

A shift to metaphorical ways of talking may perhaps have a knock -oneffect through activated mental connections after the initial use of ametaphor. This remains a tentative suggestion, since the only evidence

available is on the surface of the discourse . There is no access to thepsycholinguistic processes of participants.

Once a shift to metaphorical thinking has taken place, further use

of metaphor may become more likely. Extract 6.8 showed the teacherusing a second, contrasting, metaphor not like harlie Chaplin very

soon after the first, your toes are . . . at five to one.The data also contain some examples of parallelism in the lexico-

grammar of metaphors that occur close to each other in the discourse:

off her own bat . . . . off you go[writing]goes on . . . . time's gone on

Finally, there is just one example in the data of the phenomen on I havecalled, after Freud, 'parapraxis', which seems to arise from sub -conscious mental connections, or 'serendipitous Freudian slips'Dennett 1991: 243). In Extract 6.10, two terms with semantic

connections, lock and key, occur close to each other in the talk butare used a s Vehicles for two quite different Topics.

Extract 6.10 Parapraxis in the dance lesson

right now ( . ) double plaiting (2.0)

Ellenand Rebecca (1 .O) you must hold hands Bif you want to your arms inside each other ( . ) that's fine ( . ) but hold hands (4.0)

hors it . right . ) because ( . the key is ( . ) to keep those shoulders . ) together . ) if you

can

Metophor in classroom octivity

The humorous possibilities of exploiting links between metaphors

were noticed by the stude nts in their subversive discourse, reported in

a later section (pp. 140-2).

Metaphor and the mediation of affect

In this section, the affective impact of metaphor, noted earlier in

passing, is explored further. We have seen how metaphors in Feedbackand Control sequences were used to mitigate potential threats tostudents' self -esteem from explicit expressions of disapproval. Asmany of the examples in this and the previous chapters suggest, the

choice of Vehicle lexis often simplified and concretized Topicconcepts in a child-friendly way. Indeed, the Vehicle often seemedto over-simplify well below the capacities of the students. But when

we look at the discou rse around the Vehicle terms, we find many other

ways in which the language could be seen as offering opportunities tomediate attitudes and values. These are summarized in Table 6.1.

Table6.1 Features ofmetaphor use that mediate affect

wture of metaphor use Data example

'childish' or simple lexis

'diminishing' determinativesdirect expressions of solidarity

inclusive 'we' pronouns

humour

hyperbole

'diminishing' adverbs

'diminishing' adjectives

lollipop trees

a little bit o\ informationmy brain won't manage that

we got as far as we've so far practised

not like harlie haplin

thought someone was at least dead

go back just a whisper

we have a linleproblem

Graumann 1990),in a stu dy of interactive spoken discourse, identifiedthree dimensions of affect or 'perspective': evaluation, alignment1

distancing, and emphasis.The d iscourse use of metaphor was particularly noticeable for its

aligning and emphasizing impact. Mechanisms of alignment includethe direct expressions of solidarity and humour, and the use of

inclusive first person plural pronouns and possessive adjectives. Theinformality of much of the metaphorically used lexis might also signalalignment from teacher to students.

Both emphasis and de-emphasis occurred around and with

metaphor. Hyperbole emphasized, with the humour acting todefuse the risk of distancing. One of the most noticeable affectivefeatures of the use of metaphor was the de -emphasizing of the effortdemanded of the students through the use of 'diminishing' determi-

natives, adverbs and adjectives, and by the choice of Vehicle lexis. For



Metaphor in educational discourse

example, in explaining the learning agenda of the geology lesson(Extract 6 .1 , the teacher both de-emphasized the processes andaligned herself through her choice of pronouns:

[I'm going to] giv you a little bit of informationon which we can uild our understanding

The process for students is turned into one of receiving (give); thecontent is diminished into something non-threatening ( a little bit);and

longer term conceptual development is a reassuringly simple processof construction (build our understanding), which the teacher will bedoing alongside them. Across the data, subject knowledge came inlittle bits, writing was saying or pu tt in g, studying was looking at,understanding was seeing, remembering was bells ringing, calculatingwas findi ng o ut . These metapho rs seem to be designed to pre-empt anyprobability that students might be demotivated by the size of thelearning task, i.e. their perceptions of alterity.

Metaphor was used systematically to mediate affect, particularlywhere alignment or motivation was potentially threatened, as inFeedback and Control, and to a lesser extent Agenda Management andExplication sequences. This accords with findings from adult-adultinteraction (Strassler 1982; Drew and Holt 1998) but differs impor-

tantly in being one-way, from teacher to studen t. The status of the

participants in classroom discourse is asymmetric. Teachers' status isgiven by virtue of their position in the institution, and is thus non-

negotiable, and teachers are freed to attend to students' self -esteem.The systematicity of this practice suggests that the teachers areworking with an underlying belief that students should share withthem a common sense of endeavour and engagement with content,something that may be threatened if alterity seems too great. The use ofmetaphor, and talk around metaphor, plays a key role in mediating andmanaging affect and perceptions of alterity.

Student use of and response to linguistic metaphors

This section summarize s student s' use of metaphor. Of the few uses ofmetaphor that occur red, most were produced in some type of responseto a teacher's metaphor. The only instance of a student initiating theuse of a metaphor in talk with the teacher was in the volcanic lavaepisode (Extract 5 .2 , is volcanic lava l ike melted wax? Student

initiated metaphors in peer talk were mostly humorous.

Student repetition o f teacher's metaphor

The most frequent type of response to a teacher's use of metaphor was

Mefophor I clossr oorn o;trvty

repetition of the Vehicle word or phrase. Often, as in Extract 6.11, thelexical item seemed to make some phonological or semantic impactthat led t o its repetition. Here, the teacher's use of the idiomatic formearwig to mean 'eavesdrop' or 'listen in' seems to be relished by Ellen,who repeated the word in a whisper as she carried on with her ownwork.

Extract 6.1 1 Student repetition o f teacher's metaphor

T I hope all the conversation ( . ) is . ] all about your friend helping you with something

to do with your HumphreyHead work ( . ) having earwigged a little bit ( . ) =

E whispers [ earwigged

T = to what is being said . ) I don't think ( . ) that's what's happening . )

think some people are having a good old gossip . ) am right? . )

Louise repeated the teacher's use of treacle in a similar way i n Extract5.2, line 22, and lollipop trees in Extract 5.10, line 29. This 'privaterepetition' became apparent because Louise, who was wearing themicrophone, was part of a larger ongoing 'commentary' on classroomevents that took place between her and her friends.

Student extension of teacher's metaphor

There were several instances where students played with a metaphorby re-using the Vehicle term literally. This was done both publicly andprivately. Extract 6.12 shows a student noticing the teacher'sconventionalized metaphor about time, uttered in passing as she wentto help Louise, and extending it in a response several minutes later.

Extract 6.12 Student extension of teacher metaphor

T: (to the class] where does the time go? (2.0)(to louise finished?

L: (to 7) I'm having trouble with this

T: you stuck? ( . ) right ( . ) . . .

. . . yes Paul?

P: I know where the time goes 1.O)into the ost* . ) you're right ???P?

T: -u~cy ~ntothe past

In the next extract, a student does something similar but the extensionis addressed only to other students sitting at the same table, possiblybecause the extension is rather subversive. The class has to choose ahymn to sing in the whole school assembly on the theme of God as thegood shephe rd, and the teacher discusses the possibility of singing the



etophorin educofionoi discourse

psalm 'The Lord is my shepherd'. The student playfully links the

religious metaphor to a nursery rhyme.

Extract 6 13 Pupil extension of convenfion lized met phor

we've got to think of a hymn ( . ) about (2.0) the good shepherd (2.0)the Lord's m she herd ) do you ? ( . )

don t kno*ou.coud rnonageh e Lord's my shepherd . ) could you ? . )

it's quite difficu lt ( . ) for the breathing

P: (to Friends) boa baa black sheep

These examples show that students are alert to the potentialincongruity and creativity of even conventionalized and prosaicmetaphors. As Gibbs (1994) argues, this kind of subconsciousawareness of metaphors renders inappropriate the traditional label'dead metaphor'.

Metaphors that were produced by students tended to involveexaggeration:

I've done millions of sumsloads nd loads of uswhoever did this is going to be squashed meat with pepper ll overit and mustardthis r sh is driving m e insane

Suc h metaphors cou ld reflect the hyperbolic nat ure of peer talk among10-year-olds, but may also reflect the relatively powerless participatoryrole allocated to st udents in classroom discourse. While teacher-classtalk is officially sanctioned, their own talk is off stage and hence bothfreer and a contributor to the construction of sub-group identity andmembership. Hyperbole is one discourse device that contrasts with thetypical discourse of the teacher-class group.

Other voices and mini - dramas

The data i ncluded further types of talk that characterize peer interactionfreed from the constraints of teacher control, and that have a link tometaphor. On several occasions, students switch into other voices,

literally as well as in the Bakhtinian sense Maybin 1996). Thesituations were away from the hearing of adults, e.g. over lunch or ina queue at th e teacher's desk. The voices and roles adopted were usually

those of adults, as whe n one girl said to anoth er in t he voice of a teacher:

you ought to be proud of yourself my girl

Metophor in cl ssroom ctivify

Sometimes an adult voice was adopted for a single utterance,

sometimes over several turns of talk to produce a kind of mini -drama,

as when two students, while eating their sandwiches, acted out a

scenario of a policeman stopping a driver who had been drinking.This kind of discourse resembles metaphor in that it imports an

incongruous semantic content into talk. It differs from metaphor inthat the content is not used as a Vehicle domain to be linked tosomething in the ongoing discourse context.

Student use of meta p hor: discussion

The use of other voices and the playing out of mini-dramas reminds usof the extent of students' discourse resources and their capacity todraw on them contingently in on-line discourse. Together with the

private repetition and extension of metaphor, this provides someevidence of the thinking that occurs in conjunction with talking.Discourse data show us only what is actually said, but, beneath thisexterior talk, minds are teeming with possibilities for the alternative

content that Dennett (1991: 237) calls 'a pandemonium of worddemons'. From this nonlinear, dynamical CO-adapting of multipleideas and words, talk emerges. Metaphor, because of incongruousVehicle content, may play a somewhat special role in thi s talking-and -

thinking process, of whic h the intriguing phenomenon of parapraxis

may be only the most ob vious manifestation.

Conclusion

The possibilities of metaphor create a range of opportunities oraffordances ( van Lier 2000). Analysis at the level of teach ing sequen ceshelps us to see how parti cipants avail themselves of the opportuniti esand how they stretch them to meet their interactional needs. In thediscourse examined her e, metaphor contributed most markedly to the

mediation of the agenda a nd proced ures of events, to the description ofupcoming content and processes, to give feedback on perfo rmance, andto summarize content and processes. In mediating conceptual alterity,

deliberate and conventionalized metaphors helped bridge the gap withconcepts and discourse. Metaphor was also used to prevent prob-

lematic discourse encounters when teachers might need to correct orcontrol students. Various features of metaphor were exploited foraffective purposes, often to mediate students' perceptions of alterityand t he cognitive effort being required of them. Finally , we have seenhow metaphor offers students a way to comment on teacher talk,publicly or privately, and to construct their own sub-group discourse.

Metaphor in Classroom Activity[1]

Documents

Transcript of Metaphor in Classroom Activity[1]