“Ourselves among others”: A new metaphor for business and technical writing

Business and technical writing grows out of a need to “build bridges” between ourselves and others. With today's diversifying readerships and increasingly global marketplace, business and industry face a new challenge that is reshaping our conception of business/technical writing and the metaphors of the genre. The metaphors of “selling” and “reader‐centeredness” demand especially to be recast and subordinated to a new metaphor of interculturalism/ internationalism—"ourselves among others.” Grounded in a social theory of language and communication, this new metaphor signifies that “bridge‐building” across differences will be the key in contexts becoming at once more heterogeneous and global.     

The Problem of Education Levels (Part 1): Conceptualising a Framework for Credit Accumulation and Transfer

Abstract

Current presentations of a Credit Accumulation and Transfer (CAT) framework are based on a matrix with two dimensions: notional learning time and ‘general educational level”. The latter concept is currently presented in terms of hierarchical metaphors for understanding cognitive processes, organisational responsibilities, and experiential commitment. Each of these metaphors is at best highly questionable, and the assumption that they can be combined to form a CAT framework has more to do with managerial ideology than with educational theory. Furthermore, although the notion of an education ‘currency’ based on notional learning time is helpful in some respects, its use in combination with a hierarchy of levels means that the currency of educational credit is non‐convertible, revealing the limitations of the currency metaphor.     

Establishing a method for analysing metaphors in higher education teaching: a case from business management teaching

ABSTRACT

It has been suggested that metaphors have a crucial influence on the way we perceive and construct the world. As a result, metaphor analysis has been used as a way to reveal, analyse and understand conceptions of teaching in higher education. This paper introduces a different way to analyse metaphors for teaching than the ones previously used in higher education. By focusing on temporarily stable, spontaneously uttered metaphors in conversation data, the unfiltered metaphors for teaching are analysed. Through a thorough analysis of eight interviews with lecturers from business management, it is established how teaching in this context is conceptualised as a vehicle on tracks and as having levels as well as depth and width. It is discussed how the identified metaphors open up a space of possibilities for the lecturers and to what extent these results can be generalised beyond this context.     

A Case for the Humanities in TAFE Courses: A Utilitarian Argument

Abstract

Education in Australia is a concern of the state. Tertiary education is based on philosophies of utility and political expediency. This is particularly true of technical and further education. To include a liberal education in technical and further education one can not argue for it, perse. A course must be shown to be materially useful and to have a place in economic productivity. This paper makes a utilitarian argument by showing the necessity for people to understand their industrial and economic world if they are to lead productive lives. Vocational education needs to include an understanding of what is common to all aspects of an industrial society. The humanities have a vital role to play, as only the humanities offer experience by means of analogies, metaphors, models, paradigms, ideologies and myths. By understanding these individuals can make well‐informed choices and so map out career and life paths for themselves. In this way they will not become passive victims of rapid technological change, by relying on outmoded traditions, but can help create their own productive world.     

Metaphors for Change

Abstract

A metaphor is the symbolic representation of an idea or a concept in communication. In the counseling context, the use of metaphors provides an alternative intervention strategy when direct communication is ineffective or undesirable. Four critical aspects of the counseling process-communicating understanding, increasing motivation, overcoming resistance, and facilitating solutions-can be enhanced through the use of metaphors. Case examples demonstrating the efficacy and integration of therapeutic metaphors in a college counseling setting are provided.     

Metaphors and the psychometric paradigm

ABSTRACT

This paper analyses the psychometric paradigm for understanding educational measurement and standard setting by considering the extent to which that understanding is based on metaphors. I argue that through the metaphors ‘more is up’ and ‘good is up’ we spatialise concepts that are not intrinsically spatial. Human abilities form a distinct conceptual category, with complex and varying rules for the correct usage of different ability terms. The fact that most abilities can be discussed in terms of both ‘possession’ and of ‘more or less’ invites reification, spatialisation, and hence the application of measurement metaphors. Insights into the measurement of abilities can be gained by careful consideration of how ability terms are used in normal discourse, especially of athletic abilities which are partly quantified in terms of attributes that are physically measureable. The fuzziness of natural language creates some of the problems in understanding standards in both psychometrics and physical measurement.     

Connecting online learners with diverse local practices: the design of effective common reference points for conversation

This mixed‐methods study probed the effectiveness of three kinds of objects (video, theory, metaphor) as common reference points for conversations between online learners (student teachers). Individuals’ degree of detail‐focus was examined as a potentially interacting covariate and the outcome measure was learners’ level of tacit knowledge related to their practice (teaching). Analysis was conducted using hierarchical linear modeling and significant results were followed up with a qualitative theme analysis. An interaction between reference point type and detail‐focus was found, demonstrating a positive effect of detail‐focus within the metaphor condition. Unexpectedly, some participants interpreted the metaphors in ways other than those intended, leading to differences in the kinds of understandings developed. The study indicated that a conceptual frame is an important characteristic of a reference point that will be truly taken in common, and that metaphors need additional framing to be viable in this role. Implications for online learning conversation design are discussed.     

About Creativity,Giftedness, and Teaching the Creatively Gifted in the Classroom

In this case study the author explored a teacher's beliefs about creativity and gifted‐ness and investigated the classroom practices of this teacher of gifted students for 20 years. Seven semi‐structured and 2 open observations were carried out in her classroom, and 2 prefigured interviews were conducted with her. She believed that creative children are those who are “free thinkers” and have “imaginative intelligence.” The thin line between an academically gifted child and a creatively gifted child is built by “imagination,” “emotional intensity,” and “curiosity.” In creative writing, she tried to implement activities such as learning to write poetry, personal narratives, research reports and essays posing solutions to real world problems, and mystery stories decorated with similes, metaphors and imaginative expressions. In reading, students analyzed characters, problems, places and times in stories and novels, and then rewrote stories.     

Developing emotional literacy through individual Dance Movement Therapy: a pilot study

This paper reports a pragmatic mixed methods pilot study of teacher perceptions regarding a school‐based Dance Movement therapy (DMT) service for six children aged four to seven in a North of England primary school.

No previous studies have systematically evaluated DMT in terms of the development of Emotional Literacy (EL), though theoretical support exists in the formation of a non‐verbally mediated empathic, attuned therapeutic relationship, and there is limited evidence linking arts education with EL.

Data were collected on teacher perceptions relating to teacher‐identified goals, and on movement metaphors reported in therapist notes. Results suggest a link between metaphors identified and positive teacher‐rated outcomes in the following areas relating to EL: self‐esteem; emotional expression and regulation; and social function. Causal links cannot be identified with certainty due to the pragmatic uncontrolled design, but are inferred through qualitative teacher feedback. Recommendations for further research are made.     

Seeing,grasping and constructing: pre-service teachers’ metaphors for ‘understanding’ in religious education

ABSTRACT

Despite its centrality to most, if not all educational endeavours, what is meant by understanding is highly contested. Using Religious Education (RE) in England as a case subject this paper examines pre-service secondary school teachers’ construals of understanding. It does so by employing conceptual metaphor theory to analyse their linguistic discourse. Specifically, it examines the metaphors employed by participants in a series of focus group discussions (FGD) and provides important insights into how understanding is conceptualised by these pre-service teachers who are preparing to enter the RE profession. The metaphors employed by these pre-service teachers (‘understanding is SEEING’; ‘understanding is CONSTRUCTING’; ‘understanding is GRASPING’), focus on the dynamic and developmental nature of understanding (rather than on the outcomes) and reveal subject specific ways of thinking and practicing. This paper argues that each of the three conceptual metaphors employed by participants suggest particular ways of acting towards understanding with significant implications for teaching and learning in RE.     

Children's Perception of Pictorial Metaphor

Abstract Pictures for children commonly contain pictorial metaphor. This non‐mimetic information supplements, clarifies or renders unambiguous properties or actions represented in the mimetic parts of a picture. Children's perception of some pictorial metaphors may not be wholly by processing them as metaphors or implied analogies but as word‐like figures. Some evidence is presented which may support this view.     

The epistemic role of novel metaphors in teachers’ knowledge constructions of school reform

In this article, a parallel is drawn between Steven Hawking’s use of common and novel metaphors in his evolving explanation of the theory of the universe and the similar use of common and novel metaphors by educators in four school contexts attempting to illuminate their experiences of school reform storied and restoried over time. The epistemic role of novel metaphors is unpacked through examining the plotlines of the metaphors, the morals of the metaphors, the freedom of the metaphors and the teacher knowledge implications resident in the live metaphorical utterances. Through the use of self‐selected novel metaphors, both Hawking and the educators merged propositional and non‐propositional knowledge that was bound up in persons—and communicated across people—in deceptively simple, though infinitely complex, ways.     

Discussing education by means of metaphors

Abstract

Metaphors help us understand a concept by resorting to the imaginary because it is sometimes difficult to do so through the use of words alone. Thinkers have made use of metaphors to not only describe ‘falling in love’, ‘the pain of losing someone dear to us’, but also to describe particular concepts both in arts and sciences. In fact, the use of metaphors in some disciplines, particularly the sciences, is now regarded as something essential for the development of the field. We note that influential philosophers of education, such as Martin Buber, Paulo Freire, Michael Apple, Gert Biesta and Ilan Gur-Ze’ev have also made use of metaphors to discuss education and specific issues in educational contexts. In this article, we do two things: (i) we discuss the methodological importance of metaphors in helping us make better sense of concepts and particular problems; (ii) building on this methodological discussion, we critically discuss the problems posed by the current processes of ‘marketisation’ and ‘learnification’ in education. We conclude by arguing that metaphors do not provide us with ultimate answers to the problems we face; rather, they help us unveil a diversity of novel perspectives and a world of new possibilities.     

Virtual Reality: Real Promises and False Expectations

Abstract

The article examines the latest development in advanced computer‐graphics termed Virtual Reality (VR), which is a technology that entails a 3‐dimensional artificial environment in which the user perceives a sense of presence. The paper discusses the dilemma of defining VR, and the limitations of the current technology. Furthermore, the author describes his experience with VR and looks at the implications of this new technology for education.     

Social and cognitive effects of professional communication on software usability

We designed and piloted a technical communication course for software engineering majors to take concurrently with their capstone project course in software design. In the pilot, one third of the capstone design course students jointly enrolled in the writing class. One goal of the collaborative courses was to use writing to improve the usability of students’ software. We studied the effects of writing on students’ user‐centered beliefs and design practices and on the usability of their product, using surveys, document analyses, expert reviews, and user test results. When possible, we compared the usability processes and products of teams who did and did not take the writing class. Our findings suggest that the synergy of this interdisciplinary approach effectively sensitized students to user‐centered design, instilled in them a commitment to it, and helped them develop usable products.     

Exploring the Effect of Graphical Metaphors on the Performance of Learning Computer Programming Concepts in Adult Learners: a pilot study

ABSTRACT The effect of instructional materials enhanced with textual metaphors versus graphical metaphors was investigated. In the text‐plus‐textual metaphor material, the learning content described computer programming logic patterns (i.e. sequence, selection and repetition control structures) in a generic text format, followed by expository examples in the form of textual metaphors. The text‐plus‐graphical metaphor material consisted of the generic text instruction with the expository examples replaced by graphical metaphors (pictures). A total of 37 adult learners attended one lecture and two tutorials to learn how to write programming algorithms. All of the participants completed Riding and Cheema's (1991) Cognitive Styles Analysis (CSA) to measure their position on two cognitive style dimensions: Wholist‐Analytic and Verbal‐Imagery. The participants were paired based on their similar CSA ratios. One participant from each pair was given the text‐plus‐textual metaphor treatment, while the other was given the text‐plus‐graphical metaphor treatment. The treatment groups were controlled for instructional format and cognitive style. These independent variables were used to test for their effect on learning abstract computer programming concepts. Performance, as measured by the difference between pre‐test and post‐test scores, was analysed using statistical means and the QUEST probability analysis program. Both methods show that graphical metaphors improve participants’ performance. They also show that the best performance is achieved by Verbalisers, given the graphical metaphor instructional material.     

Uncertain identities of non-higher-education-based EFL teacher educators: a third space theory perspective

ABSTRACT

Although research on teacher educators’ identities has received increasing attention in recent years, non-higher-education-based teacher educators’ professional identities are still under-researched. Informed by the third space theory perspective, this paper presents a study that investigated 139 non-higher-education-based English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher educators’ identities through the lens of metaphors. An analysis of the metaphors revealed four types of identities, namely, the willing communicators, the discontented jack-of-all-trades and master of none, the struggling professional leaders, as well as the caring supporters. These terms capture the participants’ self-images and specify their obligations and responsibilities as teacher educators. The paper concludes with some implications for teacher educators’ preparation and continuing development.     

Triple‐X and passivity — barriers to learning

Abstract

Triple‐X Syndrome is a little‐known condition that is found in approximately one‐in‐a‐thousand girls. The effects are not readily observable and are variable, particularly in the area of academic achievement. However, passivity and delayed expressive language skills are generally noted as characteristics of the syndrome and are very likely to have implications for the child's learning. The extremely passive nature of the child may mean that explicit and direct teaching is required if learning is to keep pace with peers. This paper presents a single case study involving a seventeen‐year‐old girl with Triple‐X. It describes and explains a ’later’ intervention program based on sight recognition of common words, use of controlled text, short‐term auditory memory training, and development of semantic skills and working memory. The program proved successful in improving reading, short‐term memory, and spoken language skills.     

Who takes the cake in community and economic development? ‘Going along' with metaphor to problematize the collective impact of a place-based promise programme

ABSTRACT

Linguists understand metaphors to be shortcuts to an individual’s tacit knowledge about the world. As ethnographers and planners building a university-school partnership and seeking to understand residents’ perceptions of their urban neighbourhood, attention to use of metaphor allowed us insight into an insider’s mental model of who is in the community. In this article, we describe how, in our interview-based ethnographic needs assessment, one of our project participant’s metaphors helped us discern the lived nature of social stratification as racialised economic inequality. This insight not only informs our partnership work but subverts some important assumptions about programme impact. Our experience suggests metaphor analysis contributes an important tool for ethnographic interpretation.     

The unfortunate human factor: A selective history of human factors for technical communicators

Human factors Is an important discipline for technical communicators to explore, but an examination of its historical bias toward the technological system and away from the user should be part of this exploration if we are to effectively use human factors methods in print and on‐line document development. Beginning with the advent of formal human factors in the early twentieth century, this essay reviews moments in the history of human factors that are especially relevant to technical communicators. The essay concludes with a discussion of human factors research that is most applicable to technical communications, specifically qualitative usability research, minimalism, and human activity interface design.