PRE-SERVICE EFL TEACHERS’ METAPHORICAL CONCEPTUALIZATIONS OF AN EFL TEACHER

Abstract

This study aimed to examine pre-service Turkish EFL teachers’ conceptualizations of an EFL teacher through metaphors. To this end, a total of 59 senior pre-service EFL teachers, who are majoring in ELT at Gazi University, a state university in Ankara took part in this study. Of these participants who are aged between 20 and 24, 53 were female and 6 were male. The data for the study were collected via a metaphor elicitation task in which the participants were asked to fill in the prompt “An English teacher is like…………. because………..” in Turkish. Before eliciting the metaphors of pre-service teachers, a 15- minute workshop was held to explain what metaphor is and how it is utilized to reflect individuals’ thoughts and actions in daily life. Qualitative research method was used in the present study and content analysis was carried out to analyze the data accordingly. The results of the study showed that senior pre-service EFL teachers conceptualize an EFL teacher mostly through roles that are not peculiar to an EFL teacher, but a teacher in general. Furthermore, the results suggest that senior pre-service teachers tend to adopt traditional teacher roles like provider of knowledge in their conceptualizations of an EFL teacher. Article visualizations: