Turkish and Syrian Students' Perceptions of Peace through Metaphors

Abstract

This study aimed to examine metaphorical perceptions of 4th-grade primary school students on the concept of peace. The study was conducted with Turkish and Syrian students who attend primary schools in Sanliurfa, a city on the west eastern part of Turkey during the fall semester of 2019-2020 academic year. The results of the study showed that Turkish students produced a total of 39 valid metaphors clustered under seven conceptual categories and Syrian students produced a total of 34 valid metaphors clustered under seven conceptual categories. While five categories were common for both groups, two categories were different. The categories of unity and solidarity, tranquility and happiness, conditions for peace, peace as a valuable thing, freedom, possibility/impossibility were common for both groups. Therefore, the findings from Turkish and Syrian students' metaphors were presented together with a comparative approach under these categories. The category of need/necessity for the metaphors by Turkish students and the category of symbols for peace for the metaphors by Syrian students were examined separately.