The LANGUAGE IS MUSIC Metaphor as a Didactic Tool in Descriptive Phonetics and Phonology Classroom

Abstract

AbstractThe Conceptual Metaphor Theory and its applications to didactics have been discussed with reference to many areas of foreign language learning, in particular to the acquisition of vocabulary and idioms. At the same time, the pedagogical potential of metaphors has been studied in other scientific disciplines, including economics, physics, medical studies, engineering and others. This chapter discusses the application of CMT to the didactics of phonetics and phonology components of Descriptive grammar courses at the Institute of English of the University of Silesia. The author shall present the metaphor LANGUAGE IS MUSIC with its different extensions and a practical way in which it can facilitate students’ understanding of the basic theoretical notions of phonetics and phonology. The chapter presents also the results a survey analysis conducted among a group of English philology students purposefully exposed to the LANGUAGE IS MUSIC metaphor. The analysis of the survey appears to suggest that the metaphor has applicable practical merits as a didactic tool for basic notions from phonetics and phonology. The aim of this chapter is to propose a starting point for future more systematic and representative research into the role of metaphors in the didactics of linguistic subjects at university level.KeywordsCMTDescriptive grammarMetaphorMusicPhoneticsPhonologyUniversity didactics