Critical Metaphor Analysis of Teacher Talk Based on Cognitive Frame

Abstract

The discussion in this paper is organized around “discourse analysis”, the subject that comes from linguistics and has been developed into academic sub-fields like “Critical Discourse Analysis” and “Critical Metaphor Analysis”. Though a great body of researches are conducted on teacher discourse, saying “teacher talk”, there remains an unsolved question why teacher talk tends to dominate classroom power relationship, which poses a threat to teacher-student interaction. According to this article, it is less a matter of teaching manner than that of teaching cognition, which is demonstrated from five parts. First, the development of discourse analysis is provided; Second, the essence of critical metaphor analysis is discussed; Third, the theoretical foundation of critical metaphor analysis is constructed; Fourth, ways of checking teacher talk are suggested; Lastly, it culminates in a tentative conclusion that cognitive frame might serve as the theoretical paradigm for critical metaphor analysis of teacher talk, which hopefully can provide teaching staffs with any reference for better check of classroom dynamics.