The article aims to provide a critical review of 23 studies that have used metaphor analysis to provide insight into academic literacy research over the past 30 years. It begins by summarising some of the key issues and trends that have been addressed using metaphor analysis, grouping these into two broad categories: metaphor as a methodological tool, and metaphor as an intervention tool. Methods of metaphor collection and analysis are then outlined and discussed. It is noted that an increasing number of studies in this area have identified methodological issues resulting from what Armstrong et al. (2011) term ‘the subjectivity problem’, and the article thus discusses how such issues may be resolved in future research.
(2008) Using metaphor analysis to uncover learners’ conceptualisations of academic literacies in postsecondary developmental contexts. The International Journal of Learning, 15(9), 211–218.
Armstrong, S. L., Davis, H. S., & Paulson, E. J.
(2011) The subjectivity problem: Improving triangulation approaches in metaphor analysis studies. International Journal of Qualitative Methods, 10(2), 151–163.
Barcelos, A. M. F.
(2003) Researching beliefs about SLA: A critical review. In P. Kalaja & A. M. F. Barcelos (Eds.), Beliefs about SLA: New research approaches (pp. 7–33). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Cameron, L., & Low, G.
(1999) Metaphor. Language Teaching, 321, 77–96.
Cameron, L., & Maslen, R.
(2010) Metaphor analysis. London: Equinox.
Causarano, A.
(2015) Metaphors of literacy: Dialogues in inclusive settings. Journal of Education and Learning, 4(1), 41–48.
Cortazzi, M., & Jin, L.
(1999) Bridges to learning: Metaphors of teaching, learning, and language. In G. Low, & L. Cameron (Eds), Researching and applying metaphor (pp. 149–176). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Ellis, R.
(2008) Learner beliefs and language learning. The Asian EFL Journal Quarterly, 10(4), 7–25.
Erdoğan, T., & Erdoğan, O.
(2013) Metaphor analysis of the fifth grade students’ perceptions about writing. The Asia-Pacific Education Researcher, 22(4), 347–355.
Glucksberg, S., & Haught, C.
(2006) On the relation between metaphor and simile: When comparison fails. Mind and Language, 21(3), 360–378.
(2006) Helping doctoral students write: pedagogies for supervision. London: Routledge.
Knoeller, C.
(2004) Driving home at midnight in a dense fog: Using metaphor to explore writing processes. The Quarterly, 26(2). [URL]
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M.
(1980) Metaphors we live by. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.
Leki, I.
(2001) Hearing voices: L2 students’ experiences in L2 writing courses. In T. Silva & P. K. Matsuda (Eds.), On second language writing (pp. 17–28). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Levin, T., & Wagner, T.
(2006) In their own words: Understanding student conceptions of writing through their spontaneous metaphors in the science. Instructional Science, 341, 227–278.
Low, G. D.
(2008) Metaphor and education. In R. Gibbs (Ed.), Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought (pp. 212–230). Cambridge & New York: Cambridge University Press.
(1992) Student metaphors for themselves as writers. The English Journal, 81(4), 60–64.
Paulson, E. J., & Armstrong, S. L.
(2011) Mountains and pit bulls: Students’ metaphors for college reading and writing. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 54(7), 494–503.
Paulson, E. J., & Theado, C. K.
(2015) Locating agency in the classroom: A metaphor analysis of teacher talk in a college developmental reading class. Classroom Discourse, 6(1), 1–19.
Power, C., & Carmichael, E.
(2007) Parrot poo on the windscreen: Metaphor in academic skills learning. Journal of Academic Language & Learning, 1(1), A18–A32.
Scribner, S.
(1984) Literacy in three metaphors. American Journal of Education, 93(1), 6–21.
(2008) Pre-service teachers’ metaphors of teaching and literacy. Reading Psychology, 29(1), 31–60.
Shaw, D., Barry, A., & Mahlios, M.
(2008) Preservice teachers’ metaphors of teaching in relation to literacy beliefs. Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, 14(1), 35–50.
Shaw, D., & Mahlios, M.
(2011) Literacy metaphors of pre-service elementary teachers: Do they change after instruction? Which metaphors are stable? How do they connect to theories?Journal of Education for Teaching, 37(1), 77–92.
Shaw, D., & Mahlios, M.
(2014) Adult literacy students’ metaphors of reading and writing. International Journal of Research Studies in Education, 3(1), 21–34.
Simpson, Z.
(2009) Totally in the zone: Using metaphor to ‘glimpse’ writer-identity. Education as Change, 13(1), 195–209.
(2013) Metaphors we teach by: Examining teacher conceptualisations of literacy in the English language arts classroom. Language and Literacy, 15(2), 20–39.
Tobin, L.
(1989) Bridging gaps: Analyzing our students’ metaphors for composing. College Composition and Communication, 40(4), 444–458.
Vacca, R.
(2006) They can because they think they can. Educational Leadership, 63(5), 56–59.
Villamil, O. S., & de Guerrero, M. C.
(2005) Constructing theoretical notions of L2 writing through metaphor conceptualisation. In N. Bartels (Ed.), Applied linguistics in language teacher education (pp. 79–90). New York: Springer.
Vygotsky, L. S.
(1978) Mind and society: The development of higher mental processes. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
(2011) From students’ and teachers’ perspectives: Metaphor analysis of beliefs about EFL teachers’ roles. System, 39(3), 403–415.
Wan, W.
(2014) Constructing and developing ESL students’ beliefs about writing through metaphor: A longitudinal exploratory study. Journal of Second Language Writing, 231, 53–73.
(2009) Conceptualizing English academic writing via verbal and manual metaphors. IBERICA, 171, 119–138.
Cited by
Cited by 4 other publications
Ewertowska, Tanya, Katherine Ravenswood & Julie Douglas
2023. Centring participant voices through metaphor in employment relations research. Labour and Industry► pp. 1 ff.
Karsten, Andrea, Jana Schwede, Miriam Körber & Ingrid Scharlau
2022. Transitivitätscharakteristika als Werkzeug in der systematischen qualitativen Metaphernanalyse. In Die Praxis der systematischen Metaphernanalyse, ► pp. 201 ff.
Masterson, Jessica E.
2022. Literacy as a Race, Students as Machines: Conflicting Metaphors in a Remedial Reading Class.
Research in the Teaching of English
57:2 ► pp. 177 ff.
Yu, Shulin, Kaihao Yuan & Peisha Wu
2023. Revisiting the conceptualizations of feedback in second language writing: a metaphor analysis approach. Journal of Second Language Writing 59 ► pp. 100961 ff.
This list is based on CrossRef data as of 5 march 2024. Please note that it may not be complete. Sources presented here have been supplied by the respective publishers.
Any errors therein should be reported to them.