The Discipline of Metaphor: How University Educators View and Use Metaphor Público
Steiner, Nicole (Spring 2020)
Published
Abstract
Introduction and Background: past metaphor research has revealed how unnoticed but pervasive metaphors are in human language [2], how human cognition around analogy and similarity, which is important for cognition around metaphor, may be what makes humans so smart [27], and how metaphors can alter an individual’s reasoning outcomes, despite homogony of facts and figures between experimental groups [1]. The present study begins with the notion that, if metaphor is largely unnoticed but it can greatly affect a person’s comprehension and reasoning, then metaphor is probably doing a great deal of unnoticed but influential work in higher education contexts. Professors and lecturers occupy a central role in the industry of information building and knowledge dissemination; therefore, how these educators use language in their research and teaching affects what students understand and how they understand it. It follows that how students learn will also affect what later information these students build, and how whole knowledge bases are constructed.
Methods: In the present study, eleven R1 university educators were sampled for interviewing from three disciplines: biology, English, and psychology. Interviews were recorded, transcribed, and analyzed.
Results: most professors believed that they used metaphor, and that it was important for research and education. Metaphors were found in terminology from every field, and all educators either failed to explain a phenomenona from their field without metaphor, or they were greatly slowed and challenged when doing so. Positive outcomes from metaphor included how cultural cross-talk about field terminology can expose the flaws in metaphors, metaphor can make for clear examples, and metaphor can enact creativity by connecting two previously unconnected ideas. Negative outcomes from metaphor include creating or propagating terms or practices which lead to discrimination, unclear metaphors making for confusing examples, and more. Many participants also agreed that metaphor can be nonlinguistic, such as in “‘miniatures”’ in movies, diagrams in any field, and communicative movements such as gestures. Future interests include gathering in-class data of professors use of metaphor, and other topics such as metaphor’s relationship with ethics, and metaphor’s relationship with narrative, and how narrative builds comprehension.
Table of Contents
Preface………………………………………………..…………………………….......……... 1
Introduction: Previous Literature and The Present Study………………...…...…...….…..2
Defining terms: Living vs dead metaphors, and metaphors vs analogy……….…………9
Which Disciplines Need Metaphor? ………………….…………………………….………24
Explain a Phenomenon From Your Field Without Using Metaphor………...……………31
Metaphor Outside of Language……………………..………………….…..…………..……34
The BEST of Metaphor………………………….………………....…………………..……..41
The WORST of Metaphor………………..….………………………..………………..….....59
Unexpected Finds: Threads for Future Directions ………..………………………….……79
Summary and Conclusion……………………………………………..………….…….….…86
Appendix: Interviewee Portraits…………………………………………………..……...…..89
Acknowledgements……………………………………………..……………………..….…..92
Works Cited……..…………………………………..…………………………………….……94
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