Abstract
Ph.D. (Educational Psychology)
This study works with a metaphor analysis of the creative work of English First Additional Language learners that may be overlooked at a first-level reading. The research is located in a postcolonial South Africa where English is a powerful enabling medium that can exclude learners from appropriate language competence at their school grade level. Instead of taking a probing and fresh look at the African context, the local curriculum still imposes English as the first language onto EFAL. The influence of language and culture upon each other lies at the heart of metaphor production and education. The research probes the significance of the way in which EFAL learners express meaning through metaphor.
Metaphor is no longer viewed as a poetic device only, but is now reconceptualised as a profound part of our everyday thinking. The method used in this study rests on a deeper level of understanding the metaphor expressed in learners’ essays. According to a newly developed method, metaphors are identified, interpreted, contextualised, themes are distinguished and lastly these themes are related to similar metaphoric themes in the field. It is found that learners make use of themes that are reported from other languages in other parts of the world. These metaphors are distinguished as master or universal metaphors and seem to be embedded in human thinking. The five dimensions of the research approach make it possible to relate, in a cyclical way, from the most basic element, identification, to the most comprehensive element, master themes, of the method. Both the specificity and complexity of metaphor use and production are studied in a conceptualisation of metaphor that enables language analysis at a deeper level.
Another contribution of this study is to look at metaphor beyond traditional linguistic matters, so that an original and powerful use of language is discovered. Although this contradicts years of training, errors made by learners become unimportant when viewed against the plethora of metaphors in their writing. Concepts that we believe in determine what we perceive, how we live in the world and how we relate to others. The conceptual system that we believe in plays a major role in defining our daily realities. Our system of concepts is metaphorical, with metaphors structuring how we perceive, think and act.
This study creates a new methodology to explore the meaning behind metaphor production of learners who are estranged in the English class, and so contributes to understanding the way in which learners express their lifeworlds. There seems to be limited studies on the use of metaphor in creative writing by L2 speakers of any language. It is concluded that learners’ familiarity with and proficiency in English as the LoLT could be enhanced when they are encouraged to use English in a way that reflects their identities and cultural understandings through metaphor.