Qualitative Metaphor Analysis and Language Learning Opportunities

Abstract

This study has as its main concern focusing on the assorted ways Iranian language learners view their language educational system and the impact of these views on their success in learning a foreign language. For the qualitative aim of this study, metaphors being stated by the learners were collected by some unfinished sentences which learners were required to complete to demonstrate their beliefs about their teachers, the teaching process and how they view themselves as learners. Then, the analysis and categorization of these metaphors based on Martinez (2001) taxonomy of metaphors revealed the kinds of learning principles which seem to be more favourable to learners than others. Results of the analysis of the metaphors showed that the public school learners mostly attribute their level of failure in language learning to the ‘behaviouristic’ methods in their classes; while the private school learners attribute their apparent success to the ‘cognitive’ style of learning. Finally, the results were discussed in the context of second language acquisition.