“Parent” or “Friend”: Teacher Metaphors from the Perspective of Future Teachers

Several studies in the area of education have recently applied metaphor analysis as an analytical tool for investigating the perceptions and attitudes of various stakeholders, such as learners, practicing and pre-service teachers, language teachers, etc. about different aspects of teaching and learning (Nikitina and Furuoka, 2008; Oxford et al., 1998; Chen, 2003). The primary aim of the study presented in this paper is to identify the ways pre-service teachers perceive the teacher‟s role through metaphors. The theoretical framework first looks at metaphor from a cognitive perspective (Lakoff, 1993). We then turn to the conceptualisation of teachers through metaphors, with particular reference to the typology of teacher metaphors developed by Oxford et al. (1998), Oxford (2001), and Chenʼs (2003) classification system for metaphors about teaching. The second part presents the results of qualitative research which was carried out based on the analysis of studentsʼ personal documentary material in the form of argumentative essays. The results of the content analysis are presented in different categories and include a selection of direct quotations by the participants. The results indicate that future primary school teachers perceive the teacher‟s role through a variety of metaphors, such as teachers as friends, parents or role models. We would like to argue that their perceptions expressed through metaphors reflect different educational paradigms.