construct their professional experiences (Kramsch, 2003: 125), direct our ..... different types of materials within TEACHER AS BUILDER metaphor (e.g. teacher is .... determining metaphors â CURRICULUM AS PATHWAY, TEACHER AS PATHFINDER, ... Predominant metaphors in this category include 'coordinator', 'guide',.
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3 A Journey into the Mind: Exploring Metaphors of EFL Pre-Service Teachers in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Introduction
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This study examines how teaching and learning processes are conceptualised metaphorically by two generations of pre-service teachers in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) over the first decade of the educational reform period. It draws on our first-hand experience of university-level English as a Foreign Language (EFL) programmes and our involvement in the establishment of the English department at the University of Tuzla and the University of Zenica as ‘visiting lecturers’ between 2004 and 2014. The Bosnia and Herzegovina of 2004 was a post-war country divided roughly in half between Serb and Muslim-Croat entities (the Republika Srpska [RS] and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina [FBiH]) whose inhabitants, despite the destruction and poverty, desperately attempted to maintain a sense of normality in their lives. The education system was still recovering from the grave material and personnel deficiencies of the war period, but as a ‘potential’ EU candidate, the country needed to initiate far-reaching reforms to harmonise educational structures and programmes with the EU. In 2014, the education system had (on paper) undergone over a decade of reform, but, as noted in the 2014 EU Progress Report (EU Commission, 2014), reforms in the eduction sector remained limited. Access to external funding through BiH’s participation in the EU programmes, overall growth in higher education enrolment and the regeneration of teaching cadre through increasing numbers of university graduates had, however, contributed to alleviating the immediate material and staffing shortcomings in schools and universities.
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The aim of this chapter is to identify differences in the metaphorical constructions of teacher–learner roles produced by two generations of Bosnian EFL pre-service teachers over the period of one decade. Indirectly, it sheds light on how the larger context of sociopolitical change and educational reform in which BiH has been submerged since 1995 impact upon individuals’ conceptualisation of education.
Higher education and society in changing times: Looking back and looking forward
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Before the beginning of the war in 1992, BiH had 4 universities with 46 colleges (faculties), arts academies and advanced higher education institutions with a total of 1,600 university teachers serving approximately 30,000 students. In a policy brief of August 1994 issued by the national Ministry of Education, figures given for higher education suggested a dramatic decline in the number of institutions, students and teaching staff since the beginning of the war. According to one study, the tetiary sector in 1994 lost about 2,000 research-active staff, or 60% of its former staff, and between 1990 and 1995, enrolment in higher education declined from 35,000 to about 18,000 (Spaulding et al., 1995). Poor communication between central government and local administration, and unremitting emigration made it very difficult to obtain fully reliable data, however. Currently, the Federation of BiH (FBiH) has 6 state and 10 private universities, while the RS has 3 state and 12 private universities, colleges and high schools. Students in the Brčko District (a separate administrative district) may enrol in a private university or a technical institute. Pedagogical training is offered at eight public universities across BiH and two private higher education institutions (Agency for Development of Higher Education and Quality Assurance of Bosnia and Herzegovina, n.d.). Higher education is expanding. Not only institutions but also student enrolment has expanded over the years since the independence of BiH. In the 2012/2013 academic year, there were 44,720 students enrolled in tertiary education in the RS1 compared to 27,421 in 2005/2006. In the FBiH, student enrolment reached 72,332 compared to 62,5462 in 2005/2006. The ratification by BiH of the Bologna Declaration in 2003 paved the way for the higher education reform adopted in BiH in 2007. The BiH educational area required a higher education framework that was consistent with the principles and values of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) as developed by the Bologna Process3 and consistent with the standards established by the European Association for Quality Assurance in Higher Education. Over the period of a decade (from 2004 to 2014), we witnessed many dramatic and positive changes first-hand. These included an increased number of higher education institutions and English programmes, larger numbers of enrolled EFL students, an increase in
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foreign students, better international cooperation, the modernisation of the curricula, more effective practical training for pre-service teachers, better professional development for in-service English teachers and improved teacher recruitment procedures. An important goal of the 2007 education reform was to strengthen teachers’ pedagogical competency in the contexts of social and cultural diversity. The recently introduced focus on teaching competencies placed the emphasis firmly upon the actual classroom setting and the interaction between learners and teachers. The reform process is ongoing and still requires substantial changes with regard to catering for cultural diversity (cultural and language identity, religious background, gender equality, non-discrimination) and raising the quality of higher education (the introduction of learning outcomes and teacher competences as foundations for the new curricula, student admissions and achievements, mobility, employability, institutional capacities for quality assurance, inclusive educational practices).
Status of English as a foreign language, EFL teachers and teacher training
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The 35 years spanning the existence of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) left its imprint on the educational policy of BiH and Croatia. Sharing a common historical background and under the influence of a similar dynamic process of higher education reform (Delić & Šarić, 2013; Pantić, 2008; Rajković & Radunović, 2007, Zgaga, 2006), we, as visiting lecturers to Croatia, could easily relate to many of our Bosnian colleagues’ challenges and obstacles. Indeed, Croatia’s education system was engaged in a similar raft of reforms, as had been foreseen by the EU harmonization requirements. (cf. Lučin et al., 2007; Polšek, 2004; Vilke, 2007). Rooted in an educational tradition inspried by the Soviet Union, the organisation of higher education in BiH and Croatia suffered from bureaucratic obstacles, inefficiency, slow recruitment procedures and inadequate staffing numbers in both academic and administrative spheres. Studies on existing teacher training in the BiH region (Pantić, 2008; Rajković & Radunović, 2007; Zgaga, 2006) invariably underscore the dominance of theoretical and subject-related knowledge and the lack of hands-on classroom teaching experience. This was also noted in a report by the European University Association (EUA) in 2004: Curricula are overloaded and based heavily, if not exclusively, on ex cathedra teaching and rote learning. Academic courses tend to be too specialized and rigid, with many overlaps and incoherencies, thus denying students the flexibility needed to face the future….Theoretical knowledge predominates over practical learning. Timetabling is poor,
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resulting in many hours lost for the students, without adequate library or other independent learning facilities. All these mean that there is a generalized and urgent need for a learning-oriented approach across all universities, where the student is at the centre of the process, rather than an accidental element on the periphery. (EUA, 2004: 18)
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In the former Yugoslavia, EFL teachers were trained in the two-year tertiary-level pedagogical institutes. As discussed in Chapters 1 and 2 of this volume, the former Yugoslavia’s orientation towards Eastern Europe meant that there was little demand for English at that time. During the war period (1992–1995), however, English replaced Russian and, to a lesser extent, German and French, practically overnight. Until that time, most EFL teachers received their degree from the Faculty of Philosophy at the University of Sarajevo. However, the number of enrolled EFL students at the Department of English Language and Literature in Sarajevo was limited to 10 students per academic year. Under such circumstances, it was patently obvious that the Tuzla canton would not have sufficient qualified EFL teachers for decades. This prompted a small but determined group of young visionaries and their senior colleagues to work towards establishing an English language department at the University of Tuzla. The dearth of qualified academic staff led the university to invite associate and assistant professors from the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences in Osijek, Croatia, to support the development of the nascent English department. Being in a similar post-war situation, and sharing the same concerns regarding the quality of the study programmes and the existence of the English department we had once established in Osijek, Croatia, we offered our full cooperation. Over the years, we travelled to Tuzla on a monthly basis to hold lectures and support the new institution through advice on syllabi and course development. Assistance also came from visiting lecturers from other universities in Croatia and Serbia. Apart from a severe shortage of qualified academic staff, outdated methods of instruction and assessment, traditional teacher-centred approaches posed challenges. In the early years of the English department at the University of Tuzla, the unfavourable student–teacher ratio (150–180 enrolled first-year students) exceeded institutional capacity. The role of the ‘visiting lecturers’ was, therefore, to teach courses that would otherwise not have been taught due to lack of academic staff, thereby enabling students to complete their degree programme. The presence of ‘visiting lecturers’ is captured in every student book, or index from that period (see Figure 3.1). The lecturer’s signature affirmed that the student had fulfilled attendance requirements and was eligible to sit the final exam. Occasionally, when the visiting lecturers were unable to arrive in Tuzla before course grade deadlines, a pile of indexes were (unofficially) sent across the border to be signed.
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Figure 3.1 Student’s book or index (University of Tuzla, academic year 2002/2003)
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BiH, often perceived as the ‘miniature Balkans’, is currently undergoing major changes in the higher education system. These are perceived as being primarily influenced externally by the Bologna Process and the effects of globalization on the education sector, and internally by the multiethnic composition of the nation (Jurin, 2003). The next sections will examine whether the changes in the higher education system are reflected among the participants of the EFL classroom setting.
Conceptualisations of learner, teachers and learning in EFL settings
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Much research in second language acquisition has less to say about learners than learning (Lantolf, 1996). In contrast, the present study sets out to explore potential changes in Bosnian pre-service EFL teachers’ conceptualisation of the learner, the teacher and the teaching process. The investigation rests on the belief that teachers, learners and teaching – as mutually interdependent elements – contribute equally to the classroom setting. Moreover, pre-service teachers’ beliefs and perceptions of teaching can influence their future teaching in schools. In this respect, it is important for teacher trainers to understand how pre-service teachers think about themselves and other participants in the class. The majority of previous studies on the conceptualisations of teaching through metaphor focused on teacher-produced images and adopted a qualitative approach to metaphor analysis (Block, 1992; Chen, 2003; Herron, 1982; Oxford et al., 1998; Saban et al., 2006; White & Smith, 1994). The present study also employs a qualitative analysis to examine the dimensions around which metaphors align but partially depart from this format by focusing on the student-generated metaphors about language teaching and the role distribution in the classroom setting. The present
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chapter will thus offer insight into a fairly neglected or marginalised perspective of learners whose thoughts and beliefs equally shape the kind of learning that takes place in EFL classrooms.
Theoretical Background Why metaphors in teachers’ and learners’ discourse?
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As Shuell (1990: 102) once stated: ‘If a picture is worth 1,000 words, a metaphor is worth 1,000 pictures. For a picture provides only a static image while a metaphor provides a conceptual framework for thinking about something’. Studies in the fields of psychology, general education and language pedagogy recognise the importance of metaphor as a research tool, and suggest that human thinking and communication are profoundly metaphorical in nature. In keeping with Grant (1992), who claimed that at the root of an individual teacher ’s practice is a knowledge base framed by a metaphorical conception of teaching, Thornbury (1991) states:
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To teachers in their classrooms, then, it is the image of teaching that has potency, not the theory of teaching: theories are only as persuasive as the images they evoke, and only that which is intuitively attractive (i.e. consistent with one’s image) is given much credence in the methodological market-place. (Thornbury, 1991: 196)
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Thus, unconsciously used metaphors can help teachers articulate and construct their professional experiences (Kramsch, 2003: 125), direct our perceptions and resultant behaviour and evidently improve the classroom practice (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999: 155). According to Lakoff and Johnson (1980), a central objective of cognitive linguistics is to explain the conceptual system and language through the study of the brain and the mind. Metaphors are, thus, described as conceptual devices used for understanding or creating reality, rather than describing it. Metaphors are everywhere. Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 3) state that they are ‘pervasive in everyday life, not just in language, but in thought and action’. Each of us sees the process of education, our role as an educator and the student in a different manner. Lakoff and Johnson (1980) recommend searching for appropriate metaphors as a step towards self-understanding. In other words, metaphors serve the function of facilitating the understanding of abstract concepts and theories and helping us make sense of the world around us. They are susceptible to change and can adopt different forms, but are nevertheless effective as an instrument of imaginative rationality (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980). Lakoff and Johnson (1980: 232–233) suggest that ‘we seek out personal metaphors to highlight and make coherent our own pasts, our present activities, and our dreams,
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hopes and goals as well’. Eventually, the way we see ourselves and picture our roles influence the way in which we teach and how we interact with our students. Although able to understand an infinitely large range of metaphors, we tend to reuse a well-defined set. These are referred to as ‘conventionalised metaphors’. Examples of such metaphors, of which we will find versions operating widely in EFL, are PEOPLE ARE CONTAINERS4 and PEOPLE ARE MACHINES. As Lakoff and Turner (1989: 63) put it, ‘anything we rely on constantly, unconsciously, and automatically is so much a part of us that it cannot be easily resisted, in large part because it is barely noticed’. Following the same premise, Ellis and Barkhuizen (2005) investigated foreign language learners’ account of their own language and claimed the following:
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the analysis of the metaphors that L2 learners use to talk about their learning can shed light on how they conceptualize the language they are learning, the process of learning itself and, in particular, the problems and obstacles they experience on the ‘learning journey’. Metaphors provide ‘widows’ for examining the cognitions and feelings of learners. Because they are usually employed without consciousness on the part of learners they are arguably less subject to false-representation than learners’ direct comments about learning. (Ellis & Barkhuizen, 2005: 313)
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It has become evident that metaphors that both teachers and learners use are of substantial effect on classroom practice. The images that teachers use metaphorically help to organise their sets of beliefs and serve as an aid to reflection-on-practice. However, equally important and suggestive are EFL learners in their contribution to conceptualisations (see Cameron, 2003; Cortazzi & Jin, 1999; Villamil & de Guerrero, 2005) when it comes to raising awareness of key concepts and issues in the classroom. To explore what images of language learning and teacher–student identity lurk deep in the shadows of pre-service teachers’ automatic responses, we turned to the theorectical frame or of metaphor analysis as a springboard for a reflection of their perceptions and preconceptions. Previously overlooked, preservice teacher inquiry and reflections are now viewed as important in the development of language teaching theory and appropriate practice. They are perceived as being able to shed new light on cognition, the interpretation of knowledge, the role of reflection in teacher development and subsequent teaching behaviour.
Taxonomy of metaphors about teaching, teachers and learners Previous studies have adopted a wider theoretical perspective and offered a conceptualisation or taxonomy of metaphors on teaching and learning
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(Chen, 2003; Oxford et al., 1998). Most of our metaphor classifications about teaching and teachers rest upon Chen’s (2003: 24) taxonomy, while metaphor classifications about learners are derived from Ellis (2001: 72). Chen (2003) compiled metaphors on education from various sources and organised them into five categories, each of which highlights a different aspect of the teaching–learning process. The metaphors in these five categories describe teaching as (1) art, (2) business, (3) science, (4) power and (5) personal dynamics. The art-oriented metaphors highlight the creative and artistic side of teaching (e.g. ‘teaching is an art’, ‘teaching is a show’, ‘teaching is acting’, ‘teaching is presenting’). The focus is rather on teacher’s ability to perform or present ‘a skill’, ‘ability’ or ‘talent’. The business-oriented metaphors highlight the productive aspect of teaching (e.g. ‘give/collect/gain/share/get knowledge/ information’). According to this representation, teachers are possessors of knowledge, i.e. ideas, and knowledge is perceived as a commodity, a massproduced service, which has to be successfully delivered (Chen, 2003: 26). Such a dominant marketing trait of teaching is very much in line with the constant need of today’s consumer society to buy or sell. Science-oriented metaphors describe teaching as following a certain set of rules and principles that can be reproduced and ‘verified empirically’ (Chen, 2003: 27). The teaching process in such a classroom setting is observed as a routinised and automatic activity with little or no room for teacher’s creativity. Power-oriented metaphors view classroom activities from the perspective of control over the teaching–learning process and an imbalance of power. Personal dynamics metaphors (e.g. TEACHING AS A JOURNEY) view teaching as ‘an activity that occurs amidst many other activities’ (Chen, 2003: 29). It gives a much broader and complex perspective on the teaching profession that goes beyond the mere classroom walls.
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The Study
The present study examines the value of metaphors for EFL pre-service teachers by gathering empirical evidence from their implicit evaluation of the foreign language teaching process and teacher–learner interaction in the classroom. Moreover, it seeks to gather practical evidence for the value of reflective and critical thinking development, a strategy identified as beneficial to learners, teachers, policymakers and curriculum designers in promoting learner autonomy. The aims of the study are therefore twofold: (i) to examine the personal teaching metaphors of EFL preservice teachers and (ii) to identify conceptual themes derived from these metaphorical conceptualisations. In terms of contemporary theory on language learning and teaching, the language learner identity addresses the ways in which language learners perceive their interaction in the sociocultural contexts, across time and
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space, and how the learners comprehend their reflections for the past and possibilities for the future (Norton, 2000). Built on previous relevant research findings (Lantolf & Pavlenko, 2001; Wang, 2010) which support the idea of the changeable nature of learner identity, the main questions addressed in this study are as follows:
Methods
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(1) What are students’ perceptions regarding metaphors in language teaching and learning? (2) What can metaphors reveal about a student’s classroom identity? (3) Are there consistencies in the metaphor types gathered from two distinct generations of Bosnian pre-service EFL teachers? (4) To what extent and in what ways have pre-service teachers’ conceptualisations of the learner, the teacher and the teaching process changed over time? (5) What are the possible reasons for metaphor (in)flexibility?
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An anonymous questionnaire was used to elicit information about learners’ images and metaphors depicting their conceptualisation of teaching English and teacher/learner roles. The questionnaire required students to provide answers to three incomplete sentences about the nature of teaching a foreign language by finishing these prompts: ‘Teaching English as a foreign language is …’ ‘English teachers are …’ ‘Learners are …’ (cf. Nikitina & Furuoka, 2008). Unlike Nikitina and Furuoka’s (2008) questionnaire, respondents were not explicitly instructed to use metaphorical images (implied by the statement formats), or to provide explanations or entailments for the given metaphors, but rather to provide automatic and routinized definitions close to their beliefs (by omitting the word ‘like’ from the statements). As all participants were majoring in English language and literature and possessed an approximate English level of B2, the questionnaire was in English. The questionnaire was carried out in 2004 and 2014 among two groups of participants, all of whom were students of EFL at the University of Tuzla and the University of Zenica (BiH). In 2004, 68 students participated in the study, whereas in 2014, the number increased to 154, due to the higher number of students enrolled that year. The age of the participants ranged from 18 to 20. As the student-generated data were descriptive in nature, the metaphors were examined according to the analytic inductive technique and content analysis. The conceptual framework used for this purpose was based on Chen’s (2003) and Ellis’s (2001) taxonomies of metaphors about language teaching, teachers and learners. Subsequently, the responses were analysed for patterns, similarities and common themes. Metaphors which held the
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same characteristics were coded according to the respective typologies, i.e. art, business, science, power and personal dynamics. we used an introspective and recursive approach by repeated cross-examination of the data (Cameron, 2003) classified by each author. The final categorisation of the metaphors was a product of both researchers’ interpretation of each metaphorical construction. The relative frequency of recurring metaphors is provided to allow a comparison of their choice of metaphorical expressions across time. Following standard definitions of metaphor (Cameron, 1999; Lakoff & Johnson, 1980), an expression may be considered metaphorical if it contains an explicit and implicit comparison involving an attempt to express some kind of anomalous relationship between a tenor and a vehicle. Our approach to metaphor identification and classification may be summarised as follows:
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(1) Isolate metaphorical expressions in the respondents’ definitions. (2) Reduce the metaphorical expressions to the metaphors they represent by identifying the source/vehicle (e.g. ART) and target/tenor (e.g. TEACHING) domains. (3) Sort these metaphors into coherent groups, thereby establishing the ‘dominant metaphors’ that occur more frequently. (4) Consider the possible entailment (or further elaboration) of each dominant metaphor when assigning it a category.
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Respondents were not limited in the amount of information they could write and, consequently, more than one metaphor might occur. These were classified into conceptual categories (five categories per each concept). These were further broken down into subcategories to assist the potential identification of relationships across metaphors. On closer inspection, the overlapping character of the metaphor categories about three different yet related concepts helped us determine the number of dominant metaphor categories. Let us illustrate the crosscategory relationships and their possible subcategories entailing different
Table 3.1 Dominant metaphors about pre-service teachers Generation of preservice teachers 2004 2014
TEACHING
generated by two generations of EFL
Metaphors 1 n (%)
2 n (%)
3 n (%)
4 n (%)
5 n (%)
Total (n)
18 (13.1) 8 (5.6)
30 (21.9) 40 (28)
3 (2.2) 4 (2.8)
6 (4.4) 3 (2.1)
16 (11.7) 15 (10.5)
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Key to metaphors: 1. TEACHING AS ART. 2. TEACHING AS BUSINESS. 3. TEACHING AS SCIENCE. 4. TEACHING AS POWER. 5. TEACHING AS PERSONAL DYNAMICS.
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metaphorical instantiations which, due to space limitations, are not listed in Tables 3.1 to 3.3. If we compare the first dominant category for each of the generated concepts (TEACHING, TEACHERS, LEARNERS), we may notice that TEACHING AS ART metaphor (see Table 3.1) implies two other related metaphorical conceptualisations – TEACHER AS ARTIST (see Table 3.2) and LEARNER AS OBSERVER/NEGOTIATOR. However, the categories labelled as TEACHING AS ART and TEACHERS AS ARTIST contained metaphors that can be further classified into more specific subcategories, depending on the types of artistic performance (TEACHING AS PERFORMING, TEACHING AS ENTERTAINING, TEACHING AS SPEAKING, TEACHING AS ACTING) and the performers’ characteristics, respectively (TEACHER AS PERFORMER, TEACHER AS ENTERTAINER, TEACHER AS SPEAKER, TEACHER AS ACTOR). The second dominant category in Table 3.1, TEACHING AS BUSINESS, implies that the teaching process is very much like a production process. It corresponds with the second categories of the other two concepts, namely, TEACHER AS INPUT PROVIDER /GIVER /VESSEL FILLER and LEARNER AS RECIPIENT/ CONTAINER /EMPTY VESSEL. Respondents also provided some additional metaphorical instantiations, which could be placed under the previously mentioned categories (e.g. TEACHER AS SALESMAN, LEARNER AS BUYER, LEARNER AS COLLECTOR OF KNOWLEDGE). The fourth dominant category in Table 3.1, TEACHING AS POWER, implies the authoritative role of the teacher in TEACHER AS SUPERIOR AUTHORITY FIGURE (see Table 3.2). However, under this dominant category, we placed metaphorical expressions referring to different aspects of teacher’s control and responsibility (e.g. TEACHER AS CONDUCTOR, TEACHER AS DIRECTOR, TEACHER AS LEADER , TEACHER AS COACH). Subsequently, in LEARNER AS FOLLOWER (see Table 3.3) dominant category, we placed the following metaphorical expressions: LEARNER AS LISTENER, LEARNER AS SUFFERER, LEARNER AS STRUGGLER, LEARNER AS TEAM MEMBER. This category also appeared to hold mostly negative connotations for those using it. Respondents’ additional elaboration of the definition revealed their dissatisfaction with a rather ‘passive’ and ‘struggling’ role they assume in the learning process. Table 3.2 Dominant metaphors about pre-service teachers Generation of preservice teachers 2004 2014
TEACHERS
generated by two generations of EFL
Metaphors 1 n (%)
2 n (%)
3 n (%)
4 n (%)
5 n (%)
Total (n)
10 (8.3) 8 (4)
48 (64.7) 8 (4)
7 (5.8) 3 (1.5)
3 (2.5) 4 (2)
15 (12.5) 27 (13.5)
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Key to metaphors: 1. TEACHER AS ARTIST. 2. TEACHER AS INPUT PROVIDER/GIVER/VESSEL FILLER. 3. TEACHER AS REPAIRER. 4. TEACHER AS SUPERIOR AUTHORITY FIGURE. 5. TEACHER AS COOPERATIVE LEADER.
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Table 3.3 Dominant metaphors about pre-service teacher Generation of preservice teachers 2004 2014
LEARNERS
generated by two generations of EFL
Metaphors 1 n (%)
2 n (%)
3 n (%)
4 n (%)
5 n (%)
Total (n)
26 (19.5) 18 (9.72)
30 (22.5) 15 (8.1)
5 (3.75) 4 (2.16)
3 (2.25) 8 (4.32)
11 (8.25) 9 (4.86)
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Key to metaphors: 1. LEARNER AS NEGOTIATOR. 2. LEARNER AS RECIPIENT/CONTAINER/EMPTY VESSEL. 3. LEARNER AS MACHINE. 4. LEARNER AS FOLLOWER. 5. LEARNER AS TRAVELLER.
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The final dominant category labelled TEACHING AS PERSONAL DYNAMICS puts the teacher into the guiding position, but assumes a more cooperative role between the participants involved. Thus, learners in Table 3.3, category five, are usually metaphorically defined as travellers. However, cross-category metaphorical expressions profile different aspects of travelling, which are eventually all placed under the same dominant category. For some respondents, teaching is ‘crossing the bridge’, learners are ‘passengers crossing the bridge’ and teacher is ‘a bridge constructor’ (taking the passengers across the bridge). For others, teaching is ‘a road’, learners are ‘travellers along the road’ and the teacher is ‘the driver’. Individual respondents even go further in their description, specifying ‘the road taken’ as ‘a one-way’ or ‘a two-way road’. Similarly, we identified other metaphorical expressions which also fit into TEACHING AS PERSONAL DYNAMICS category. Respondents indicated some form of creation using different types of materials within TEACHER AS BUILDER metaphor (e.g. teacher is ‘molder’, ‘builder’ and ‘character former’). Determining exactly what was metaphorical in the respondents’ definitions did not prove easy. Single concepts were often elaborated extensively in the form of open-ended statements and it was not obvious to determine whether a particular expression was metaphorical. For example, does ‘reproduce’, as used in phrases like ‘reproduce knowledge’, draw on a production metaphor or is it a linguistic expression whose literal meaning is ‘to repeat’. Moreover, most respondents included all three concepts while trying to define a single one, thus providing redundant metaphorical expressions which were not easy to classify. As mentioned above, due to space limitations, only major or ‘dominant’ conceptual categories are presented in the tables. Dominant conceptual categories are characterised by higher frequency of occurrence. More refined subclassifications and keyword examples are elaborated descriptively.
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Results EFL pre-service teachers’ conceptualisation of teaching
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We identified five categories of metaphors about teaching (see Table 3.1). Respondents in 2004 generated 73 metaphors, whereas respondents in 2014 provided 70 metaphors. The dominant category for both generations of preservice teachers was labelled as TEACHING AS BUSINESS. It implies that the teaching process is very much like ‘a production process’ whose final goal is to ‘deliver a product’. Some of the keywords point to the trade business and involve actions like ‘giving/collecting/gaining/sharing/getting’.5 The object of trade which has to be successfully delivered is usually ‘knowledge/ information/language’. During the analysis of metaphors related to teaching, representations of the ‘conduit metaphor’ (Lakoff & Johnson, 1980) came to our attention. This refers to respondents’ perception of knowledge and is placed under TEACHING AS BUSINESS metaphor. It is not illustrated separately in the table since it refers to a different target concept – ‘knowledge’. Knowledge is taken as an object that is stored and can be retrieved from the teacher’s mind; it can further be transferred to another container – the student’s mind – via a conduit or channel. The dominant subcategory in the conceptualisation of TEACHING AS BUSINESS is the KNOWLEDGE IS OBJECT conduit metaphor, which could be derived into TEACHING IS FILLING A CONTAINER and TEACHING IS TRANSFER metaphor. Thinking of KNOWLEDGE AS OBJECT (‘things, classes, practical advice, doctrine, something, facts, issues, subjects, information, language, rules, topics, lecture, resources’) focuses attention on how this knowledge will be received (‘stuffing, filling learners’ minds with facts’). Some of the additional conceptualisations of knowledge are: KNOWLEDGE IS POSSESSION, KNOWLEDGE IS VALUABLE COMMODITY/SOMETHING FOR WHICH THERE IS A NEED (‘skill a person needs, ability one wishes to know’), KNOWLEDGE IS SOMETHING THAT CAN BE QUANTIFIED (‘maximum knowledge, collective, accumulated’). Metaphors in the second dominant category focused on the artistic aspect of teaching in TEACHING AS ART (‘form of art, act, show, presentation, skill, ability’) category and on student–teacher interaction in the TEACHING AS PERSONAL DYNAMICS category. The latter category promotes a more democratic approach to teaching and indicates the long-lasting nature of teaching. Some of the metaphors that belong to this generic category, but are not included in the Table 3.1, are: TEACHING IS A STRUCTURED PROCESS (‘in an organised way, in a planned way, through communication’), TEACHING IS A (LIFELONG/ONGOING) PROCESS OF A CERTAIN LENGTH (‘long process, active, continuous, something we are connected with all our life’), TEACHING IS CONSTRUCTION (‘building up already known into better known’), TEACHING IS GROWTH/DEVELOPMENT/SOMETHING MOVING AND BRINGING CHANGES (‘improve abilities, evolution of humans, become better in specific things we deal with, enable to further develop, become better’).
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Of particular note in our study is TEACHING AS JOURNEY metaphor (‘find the best way, extend horizons the youngsters have, two-way street’) which seems to act as a global metaphor that serves as an organiser for other roledetermining metaphors – CURRICULUM AS PATHWAY, TEACHER AS PATHFINDER, KNOWLEDGE AS OBJECT. In classrooms where the journey metaphor governs teaching and learning practices, we observe the predominant activity to be learners complying with teacher-directed learning activities. Even though the metaphor TEACHING IS CONSTRUCTION/TEACHING IS GROWTH identifies learners’ prior knowledge as the foundation of their new conceptual development and the potential to become more involved in the learning process, TEACHING AS A JOURNEY still facilitates teacher-led activities and guidance. The least dominant metaphors, labelled as TEACHING AS SCIENCE and TEACHING AS POWER , point to the classroom atmosphere which, in line with our hypothesis, revolves less around the issue of power-sharing in the classroom and the perception of the teacher as ‘a precise mechanism’ among both generations of respondents. As Table 3.1 shows, there are some striking consistencies in the frequency of the metaphor distributions across five generic categories of teaching across time. It follows that there are no significant changes in the metaphorical conceptualisation of teaching among two different generations of Bosnian EFL pre-service teachers. Even though the period of a decade might seem sufficient for some changes of the learners’ belief system to appear, the findings point in the other direction. Although the dominant metaphorical conceptualisations reflect the characteristics of the modern business world and consumer society, the traditional educational system inherited from the Yugoslavera still appeard to be present in learners’ minds. The findings of the study reveal the existence of rooted cultural concepts of teaching and learning (where teaching is focused much more on ‘delivering the product’ than on learners’ involvement in the process), as well.
EFL pre-service teachers’ conceptualisation of teachers Respondents in 2004 generated 83 metaphors, whereas respondents in 2014 provided only 50 metaphors. Based on Chen’s (2003) taxonomy, five categories resulted from an examination of the metaphors about teachers (see Table 3.2). Three of those five categories dominated the results, with a response rate of 46.7% referring to the 2004 generation of respondents and 44.1% referring to the 2014 generation of respondents. In comparison to Table 3.1 the same three categories in Table 3.2 dominate the results. The total number of metaphors provided by the 2004 generation of EFL pre-service teachers is 83, whereas by the 2014 generation only 50 appeared. Nevertheless, detailed analysis pointed to some subtle differences in the depth of definitions generated by the 2014 generation.
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Despite great variation and somewhat conflicting metaphorical representations, most of the Bosnian pre-service teachers’ responses focused on the dominant TEACHER AS PROVIDER /GIVER /VESSEL FILLER metaphor, characterised by the expected element of ‘giving’, i.e. passing knowledge. Pre-service teachers’ responses characterised their teachers as experienced and influential, but also susceptible to lead and give orders. The findings are very much in line with the above-mentioned ‘conduit metaphor’. The metaphor of TEACHER AS CONDUIT – unidirectional information-giver is central to the cultural transmission perspective (Oxford et al., 1998). It tends to represent education as a one-way flow of information (‘give instructions, transmit knowledge, fill in, pour in’), skills and values from the TEACHER AS AUTHORITY FIGURE (‘has/possesses knowledge/skills, authority, mentor, speaker’) and ultimate professional (‘highly educated, qualified, most competent, having more experience, expert, skilful, specialised in one profession’) to learners as ‘empty vessels’. Metaphors in the second dominant category focus on the TEACHER AS COOPERATIVE LEADER – someone who coaches, conducts, guides and directs. Predominant metaphors in this category include ‘coordinator’, ‘guide’, ‘facilitator’, ‘helper’, ‘motivator’ and ‘active participant of teaching’. Also included in this category are metaphors which contain richer and more refined images, such as ‘mentor’, ‘mediator’ and ‘conductor’. The research findings in Table 3.2 are fairly compatible with the research findings in Table 3.1. They overlap not only in the similar number of metaphorical occurrences per individual categories, but also indicate a striking connection between two different generations of EFL pre-service teachers and their conceptualisation of teaching and learning. The third category, labelled TEACHER AS ARTIST, contains metaphors which focus on the artistic and entertaining (8.3% were produced by 2004 respondents and 4% from 2014 respondents.) characteristics (e.g. ‘performer’, ‘entertainer’ and ‘artist’, ‘actor’, ‘presenter’ and ‘speaker’). Surprisingly, the least dominant categories are TEACHER AS REPAIRER and TEACHER AS SUPERIOR AUTHORITY FIGURE. The first includes keywords like ‘improve’ and ‘implement’ and suggests that learners are not ‘empty vessels’ and that a certain amount of knowledge already exists, whereas the second evokes few images of teacher dominance and ultimate power. A small number of respondents focused less on the imbalance of power and more on teacher’s capacity to ‘help, motivate, mediate and share’ in TEACHER AS FACILITATOR , TEACHER AS ROLE MODEL, TEACHER AS MORAL COMPASS, TEACHER AS MOTHER /NURTURER , TEACHER AS MEDIATOR , but due to space limitations these metaphors are not included in the taxonomy. However, it is interesting to mention that we identified a proportionally higher number of such metaphorical constructions among the 2014 generation. As expected, the results might be attributed to the wider context of ongoing education reform which promotes a more nurturing role of the teacher in the EFL
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classroom. More liberal or socially inclusive attitudes among the 2014 generation of pre-service teachers, and their development of methodicaldidactic competences as a result of syllabus changes might have motivated such conceptualisations. As Table 3.2 shows, we identified most of Chen’s (2003) images of the teacher among Bosnian EFL pre-service teachers. However, the most consistent dimension is not the one that contains the metaphors pertaining to power relationships, but rather to the image of the TEACHER AS PROVIDER, which ultimately highlights the unidirectional nature of the classroom interaction between the parties. Even though the third dominant dimension of teachers implies the cooperative nature of the relationship, we still perceive that learners are still construed as passive observers in the process of teaching. In the classroom environment in which the focus is more on ‘the product’ than on ‘the process’ of learning, power is often concentrated solely in the hands of the teacher. Few metaphorical constructions, generated mostly by the 2014 generation, displayed teacher– learner equality typical of the democratic teaching approach. The reason for the lack of such images might be found in cultural and family values, the regional and social environment and educational practice. What comes as a surprise is the consistency in the teacher conceptualisations by the two generations of respondents across a decade. The pervasiveness of the same conceptual metaphors and the overlapping frequency of their distribution might point to the fact that some core beliefs and perceptions are very resistant to change.
EFL pre-service teachers’ conceptualisation of themselves
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Between 1967 and 1995, a group of second language acquisition researchers identified several main metaphors used in describing learners (adopted from Ellis, 2001: 72): (1) LEARNER AS CONTAINER, (2) LEARNER AS MACHINE, (3) LEARNER AS NEGOTIATOR , (4) LEARNER AS PROBLEM-SOLVER , (5) LEARNER AS BUILDER, (6) LEARNER AS STRUGGLER and (7) LEARNER AS INVESTOR. As indicated in Table 3.3 of our study, only a few of these metaphors (LEARNER AS CONTAINER , LEARNER AS MACHINE, LEARNER AS NEGOTIATOR) were identified as key metaphors in the definition of learners supplied by both generations of EFL students. Other metaphors were either labelled as subcategories within another dominant category (e.g. LEARNER AS STRUGGLER under LEARNER AS FOLLOWER) or were not identified at all (e.g. LEARNER AS INVESTOR). The overall results indicate a strong overlap in the total number of learner metaphors provided by the different generations of prospective teachers. Respondents in 2004 generated 77 metaphors, whereas respondents in 2014 provided 54 metaphors. As Table 3.3 indicates, the dominant metaphor category, labelled LEARNER AS RECIPIENT/CONTAINER /EMPTY VESSEL, is not only completely congruent with Ellis’s (2001) taxonomy, but also
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very consistent with Chen’s taxonomy (Tables 3.1 and 3.2). This metaphor logically derives from the concept of TEACHING IS FILLING A CONTAINER. This category represents the teacher who simply pours ‘the objects’ (i.e. knowledge) into ‘the vessels’ (i.e. learners). Metaphors that focus on what the teacher does rather than what the students learn do not expect students to take up any active role. In this respect, the LEARNER AS CONTAINER metaphor can be seen as part of the more general conduit metaphor. The LEARNER AS CONTAINER metaphor positions learners as lacking control over what they do and how they learn. It presents them as passive and restricted. According to Ellis:
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Learners are passive in the sense that they have things done to them rather than do things themselves. They are restricted in the sense that they have limited capacities for learning, both in the sense of what they can attend to and what they can remember. (Ellis, 2001: 72) The second and the third dominant categories, labelled as LEARNER and LEARNER AS TRAVELLER , put the learner in a much more active role than the predominant metaphor. The learner is perceived as the one who does the negotiating, knows what to negotiate and how the negotiation takes place. Consequently, it is an active process showing that learners can contribute equally to the process of learning in the classroom. L EARNER AS TRAVELLER positions the learner on a journey where she or he can either assume the role of a passive bystander or an active co-traveller. Manifestations of this metaphor are common in all of the conceptualisations (see Tables 3.1 through 3.3) under study. The metaphor clearly points to a rich number of entailments which learners can exploit to refer to different aspects of the learning process – ‘observing, extending the horizons, travelling with a companion, offering help and guidance, pointing to the right direction, travelling down a two-way street’. Following Lakoff and Turner (1989), Ellis (2001: 81) argues that ‘the LEARNER AS TRAVELLER metaphor can be seen as an adjunct of the more general LIFE IS A JOURNEY metaphor, which is one of the major ways in which we conceptualize goal-oriented behaviour’. While the journey metaphor potentially takes travellers on a ride down a two-way street, which implies exploratory endeavour, a reciprocal obligation or a mutual action, the overall research findings identify learners mostly as passive observers in the education process. Importantly, the results of our study revealed that the pre-service teachers’ metaphors did not only include cognitive aspects (e.g. LEARNER AS NEGOTIATOR), but also consisted of affective aspects of the learning process (e.g. LEARNER AS SUFFERER). The LEARNER AS SUFFERER metaphor describes learning in terms of how the learners feel, how they get along with other learners and teachers, how they face their fears and anxieties.
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Finally, the least dominant metaphor, labelled LEARNER AS MACHINE, exhibits a small number of occurrences, but revolves again around the idea that learners are not in control over what they do and how they learn. Not a single metaphor was identified under the category LEARNER AS PROBLEMSOLVER or LEARNER AS INVESTOR. These would both suggest learners’ active role and personal responsibility.
Discussion
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Underlying beliefs regarding teacher/learner role doubtlessly influence an individual’s use of metaphors to describe the EFL teaching-learning process. The metaphor strategy applied in this study provided useful feedback to all the participants involved in the EFL classroom setting in evaluating the teaching process, learners’ beliefs and feelings, and their perception of the teachers. Applying the strategy of an open-ended questionnaire, Bosnian EFL pre-service teachers were challenged and provoked to think critically and respond reflectively to the classroom practice. They also showed they were confident in using a variety of metaphors to reflect on the teaching experience from both cognitive and affective perspectives. We must acknowledge, however, that the limitations in the analysis of this study included the relatively small sample size and difficulties with the interpretation of metaphors included due to their different possible interpretations (Glucksberg et al., 1992). Metaphors that pre-service teachers produce reflect complex and conflicting aspects of the Bosnian education system. As pointed out by the research findings, the metaphors generated relate to both autocratic and democratic teaching approaches. Along the same lines, teacher/learner roles vary substantially – from controlling to fairly open-minded and lenient. Varieties of metaphors thus capture the multidimensionality of the learning process. Exploring the nature of the teacher/learner roles and questioning the goals of schooling, metaphor proves to be an important instrument of analysis, a timely connecting tool that successfully combines past and present experiences, theory and practice. Unconsciously held metaphorical conceptualizations may influence how pre-service teachers approach classroom teaching. Metaphor analysis can also enhance self-awareness and professional development, and trigger creative impulses of the imagination into problem-solving and practical implementation. On the basis of all of the above-mentioned, we would recommend it as a useful strategy for developing learner autonomy. The present study was based on the assumption that Bosnia and Herzegovina, a country steeped in regional and national traditions and identities, yet facing the age of globalisation and growing cultural
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homogenisation, would demonstrate either encouraging or restricting shifts in the dominant societal metaphors for teaching. As the results point out, even under the influence of the contemporary educational paradigms, most EFL teachers’ beliefs remain unchanged across the decade. Remarkable consistencies, such as the distribution of metaphors and the dominant conceptual categories, are indicated in all the conceptualisations under study. The dimensions along which the metaphors aligned highlight TEACHING AS BUSINESS , TEACHERS AS INPUT PROVIDERS and LEARNERS AS RECIPIENTS . The concepts seem to evolve more around the issue of a one-way flow of information from the teacher to the learners rather than mutual sharing and interaction among them. It is not so much the conceptualisation of teachers as ‘subject-matter experts’ and the high recurrence of the ‘production’ metaphor that took us by surprise, but rather a static conceptualisation of learners as ‘passive recipients’ in a process largely controlled by others. The results of the present study, unlike previous studies (Cortazzi & Jin, 1999; Villamil & de Guerrero, 2005), show that EFL pre-service teachers’ conceptualisations are resistant to change across time and, in the case of these participants, seem to preserve the aspects of the traditional educational system. The inflexibility of learners’ belief system might be attributed to the following factors: (i) life in school experiences; (ii) past school experiences; (iii) life out of school experiences; (iv) current sociocultural context; (v) curriculum design and objectives; (vi) educational paradigm; (vii) professional development; (viii) lack of teaching practice. Current educational reform in BiH supports a more democratic teaching approach and recommends a shift towards a student-centred paradigm, in line with EU guidelines on education. This entails a substantial departure in learners’ perceptions and deeply rooted beliefs. We encourage future teacher educators in BiH to use metaphor analysis in pedagogical training programmes and thereby encourage greater reflective practice during these years of educational reform. The metaphors generated by pre-service teachers reveal much of their unconscious mind, and thus help in initiating inquiry into the fundamental purpose of education.
Notes (1) (2) (3)
Statistical Bulletin, Higher Education, Institute of Statistics of RS, No. 9, Banja Luka, 2012. Statistical Bulletin, Higher Education, Federal Office of Statistics, 2012. The Bologna Process is the most important and wide-ranging reform of higher education in Europe. The ultimate aim of the process was to establish an EHEA by 2010 in which staff and students could move with ease and have fair recognition of their qualifications. The Bologna Declaration was signed by ministers of education from 29 European countries in 1999. BiH joined the process in 2003.
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(4)
In line with the literature on conceptual metaphor studies, this chapter uses SMALL CAPITALS to designate conceptual metaphors and categories and italics to indicate metaphorical linguistic expressions. (5) Examples from students’ responses are provided throughout this section in italics.
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