Publish at February 20 2024 Updated February 20 2024
"Metaphor is not for the true poet a figure of speech, but a substituted image that he actually places before his eyes in place of an idea."
Paul Valéry
"Metaphor is originally a figure of speech, and designates a "figure of signification" by which a word in a sentence is given a different meaning from that which it possesses in common usage.
The word comes from the Greek metaphora, meaning 'transport' - in both the material and abstract senses." (Ascher 2005). Metaphor appears as a substitution of an element of reality by an imaginary and meaningful representation. Through the interplay of shift, euphemism or accentuation, and the symbolic force of displacement, it offers access to greater complexity, but also to intimacy for the person using it. If it's sometimes difficult to convey complex realities or to access the subtlety of feeling, metaphor is a powerful means of doing so.
Metaphors are figures of speech that use an implicit comparison between two different concepts. In education, metaphors are used to represent abstract or complex ideas in a more concrete and comprehensible way.
For example, the metaphor "carbon footprint" refers to a trace left in the ground, and makes us feel the pressure of our actions on the environment. The image speaks louder than a series of carbon concentration figures whose scope and scale we sometimes fail to understand.
The theoretical basis for the use of metaphors in pedagogy can be found in cognitive linguistics and learning theory. Approaches such as Lakoff and Johnson's theory of conceptual metaphor (1980), Kintsch's theory of the double articulation of metaphor (1988) and Gentner's theory of analogy (1981) have all influenced the use of metaphors in pedagogy.
Empirical research on the use of metaphors in pedagogy ( Aubertin 2022) has shown that the use of metaphors improves learners' conceptual understanding, long-term memory and motivation.
The use of metaphors in pedagogy has several advantages. They help to clarify complex concepts, facilitate comprehension, stimulate learners' imagination, promote information retention, arouse learners' interest and commitment, and above all facilitate the transfer of knowledge to new contexts. Knowledge retention works because metaphors create connections between familiar concepts and more abstract or new ones. They enable learners to visualize and mentally represent ideas, facilitating their integration into their existing knowledge schema.
In science, for example, they can be used to explain complex phenomena such as the structure of the atom or biological processes. In mathematics, for example, to represent weights, surfaces or distances. 30 round trips between Paris and New York are equivalent to a trip to the moon. In languages, they illustrate grammatical rules or idiomatic expressions. In vocational training, it is also possible to work on problem-solving, for example in professional co-development or systemic organizational constellation practices, by mobilizing not directly experienced situations but images and scenes that represent them.
A co-development session conducted entirely along the lines of the metaphor proposed by the person in charge of the problem situation will greatly limit any temptation to give direct, contextualized advice, but outside the intimacy of the person in charge of the problem situation. Without ever naming the problem, participants will evoke their relationship, for example, with their suitcase, its shape and its uses. Participants are entirely free to question this relationship, without knowing whether the suitcase is a project, a team, or a colleague. As they do not enter into the content of the situation, it is the relationships between the different elements of the system that are questioned, for a stimulating and creative benefit.
Teachers can integrate metaphors into their teaching practice by selecting metaphors appropriate to their subject and target audience, explaining them clearly to learners and using visual aids or concrete examples to reinforce the impact of metaphors.
However, the use of metaphors in pedagogy brings with it the possibility of misunderstandings or misinterpretations, the existence of culturally specific metaphors that may not be universally understood, and the need to ensure that metaphors are used in a way that is relevant to learning objectives.
For teachers and trainers wishing to integrate metaphors into their teaching practice, here are a few practical recommendations:
The training of trainers and teachers should probably retain space for the creation and effective use of metaphors in pedagogy, with an emphasis on the selection, explanation and evaluation of metaphors. The potential of educational technologies, such as interactive simulations and virtual reality, to create metaphor-based learning environments can be explored.
Sources
Ascher, F. (2005). Metaphor is transport: From ideas about movement to the movement of ideas. Cahiers internationaux de sociologie, 118, 37-54. https://doi. org/10.3917/cis.118.0037
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). The metaphorical structure of the human conceptual system. Cognitive science, 4(2), 195-208.
https://opessoa.fflch.usp.br/sites/opessoa.fflch.usp.br/files/Lakoff-Johnson-Metaphorical-Structure.pdf
Kintsch, W. (1988). The role of knowledge in discourse comprehension: a construction-integration model. Psychological review, 95(2), 163. https://citeseerx. ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?repid=rep1&type=pdf&doi=10.1.1.117.7990
Gentner, D. (1981). Are scientific analogies metaphors? Bolt Beranek and newman Inc Cambridge MA. https://apps. dtic.mil/sti/pdfs/ADA096679.pdf
Thot Cursus - Pedagogical metaphors meaning orientation
https://cursus.edu/fr/22043/metaphores-pedagogiques-orientation-du-sens
Thot Cursus - Dossier Analogies - https://cursus.edu/fr/dossiers/13399/analogies
Aubertin, C. (2022). De la pédagogie des métaphores. Pour la Science, 533, 24-24. https://doi. org/10.3917/pls.533.0024
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