High school students' metaphors about literature
The definitions of the metaphor that individuals apply to understand and explain some abstract and
complex concepts, events or situations are varied. According to Morgan (1998), the metaphor, a way
of thinking and seeing, is defined by Lakoff and Johnson (1980) as a way of explaining a concept with
other expressions similar in certain respects. Metaphors, which are expressed as a trope, simile, and
figurative expression are close to education. Studies on metaphor and metaphor are prevalent in
the field of educational sciences. One of the reasons for this is the power of metaphors to provide
the embodiment. It is essential to know the structure of thought in which students look at the
abstract concept such as literature, which covers our subject and to know both the course and the
attitudes towards this concept. Therefore, this study is vital in that determining the different
perspectives, intellectual structures, metaphors, analogies, and attitudes of the students about an
abstract field such as literature.
Purpose of the study
This study aims to determine the perceptions of high school students about literature, which is an
abstract and broad concept and to examine the metaphors associated with the concept of literature.
In this study, various classifications and interpretations were made based on the common features
of the metaphor’s students produced.
Method
In the research, phenomenology was used because it was aimed to investigate the perceptions of
students about the concept of literature. The phenomenology pattern focuses on the facts that we
do not have an in-depth and detailed understanding. These phenomena that we are aware of can be
seen in various forms such as event, concepts, situation, and perception. (Yıldırım ve Şimşek, 2005).
'' Cases; the world in which we live can be seen as concepts such as experiences, experiences,
perceptions, orientations, and situations. With these cases, we can encounter various forms in our
daily life. Our familiarity with these phenomena or the fact that we know them does not mean that
we fully understand them. Phenomenology provides a suitable research base for the studies that are
not entirely foreign to us but which aim to investigate the facts that we have not fully understood.''
(Yıldırım ve Şimşek, 2005: 72).
Study group
The participants of this study consist of high school students who continue their education in a
public school in the city center of Kütahya in the academic year of-.
Data Collection, Parsing, and Analysis
In the study, students were asked to produce various metaphors related to literature. For this
purpose, it is stated that they need to fill in space in the formed sentence. (Literature is
like......because,......). Content analysis technique was used to analyze and evaluate the data. ''The
main purpose of the content analysis is to reach the concepts and relations that can make sense of
the collected data.'' (Yıldırım ve Şimşek, 2005: 227). First, students' metaphor expressions were read
and evaluated. Then, the metaphors stated by the students were determined, and the invalid
metaphors were excluded from the study. The data analysis and interpretation of the metaphors
produced by the students were carried out in four categories.
These are; 1. Screening and selection/sorting stage, 2. Naming stage, 3. Category
creation/development phase, 4. Validity and reliability stage.
In this process, relevant studies (Sevim, Veyis, and Kınay, 2012; Yazıcı, 2012; Kaygana, Güney and
Yapıcı, 2013; Pilav and Uslu Top, 2013; Candan and Öztaş, 2017; Dinçel and Yılmaz, 2018) were
utilized. Direct quotations are included in the interpretation of the findings; In the direct quotations
from the participants, encodings expressing the student's number were used. For example, student
#1 is given in the form (S1).
Findings and Interpretation
At this stage, the current metaphors produced by high school students about the concept of
literature are tabulated; data were interpreted after the category creation/development phase. The
data is classified into five categories. The students in the Literature category produced the first
category, "Twelve (12) metaphor as Emotional Expressions and thirty-two (32) students repeated
these metaphors. ''Love (9)'' and ''women (6)'' have been the most frequently used metaphors. The
characteristic feature of metaphors in this classification is that students considered literature as a
means of expressing their emotions. Twenty-seven metaphors produced by students in Literature as
a Material, Vehicle, Diversity/Difference category, and forty-three students repeated these
metaphors. Drug (3), form/paste (3), phone (3), mirror (3) and language (4) were the most
commonly used metaphors. The common feature of the metaphors in this category is that students
have likened literature to a variety of different concrete objects. In the third category of Literature,
Space, Boundlessness/Width, students produced seven (7) metaphors, and fourteen (14) students
repeated these metaphors. The common feature of the metaphors is that the students expressed
the literature from space with the perspective of unlimited/ broad perspectives. The rainbow (4) was
the most commonly used metaphor. The fourth category, namely, Literature as a Nature Element
students produced ten (10) metaphors; Thirty-seven (37) students repeated these metaphors. The
characteristic feature of the metaphors in this category is that students thought literature as an
element of nature. The most common metaphors were water (9), flower/rose (4). In the category of
Literature, Constructive, Abstract Concept Reflecting Life, which is the last category, students
produce, nineteen (19) metaphors, and it was seen that sixty-one (61) students repeated these
metaphors. ''Life'' was the most frequently used metaphor by using twenty-three (23) times. The
characteristic feature of metaphors in this category is that students thought literature as an abstract
concept and reflective element.
Conclusion and Discussion
In this study, it was tried to reveal the thoughts of high school students about the concept of
literature through metaphors. Metaphors were classified under specific categories, and the results
were evaluated accordingly. When the research findings were examined, it was determined that 187
students who participated in the study produce 75 metaphors. In similar studies conducted with
secondary school students for metaphors, for example, Pilav and Üstten (2013); 276 high school
students produced 96 metaphors related to literature. Candan and Öztaş (2017), in their studies,
determine the metaphors of 160 secondary school students about the concept of history, have
obtained the result that they produce 130 valid metaphors. Öztürk (2007), in his study, aimed to
determine the metaphors of social studies, classroom and science teacher candidates for
''geography'', and stated that 316 students produced 106 metaphors in 12 categories. In a similar
study conducted on the metaphor perceptions of university students other than secondary
education, for example, the study was conducted to determine the metaphors of 110 Turkish preservice teachers conducted by Kaygana (2013). Sixty-six pre-service teachers produced 66 valid
metaphors. In another study conducted by Yazıcı (2012), it was concluded that 77 participants from
Turkish Language and Literature department produced 60 different metaphors. In this study, the
most produced metaphor categories of students; The second category (Literature as a Material,
Vehicle, Diversity/Difference category) (27) and the fifth category (In the category of Literature,
Constructive, Abstract Concept Reflecting Life) (19). In this sense, for the second category, high
school students use the concept of literature as a tool to make sense of real/concrete life; It can be
said that the concept contains much diversity and that it produces metaphors such as puzzles,
candles, umbrellas, telephones, sunglasses, and wine. For the fifth category, it is seen that the
concept of literature reflects life, reflects imagination and reflects human. When we look at the
frequency values of metaphors of ''life'' analogy, it is the most using metaphor (23). In addition to
''life'' analogy, in the study; water (9), love (9), human (6), female (6) were the most repetitive
concepts. In the study conducted by Pilav and Uslu Üstten (2013) ''Determination of Perceptions of
High School Students about Literature by Metaphors'', we can state that life (26) and human (6)
metaphors and their frequency values have parallel results with our study. Performed by the Yazıcı
(2012); In the study on the 'Metaphors of the Prospective Teacher Candidates from the Department
of Turkish Language and Literature,' the most frequently expressed metaphors were life (9%) and
human (8%). It was observed that students developed a positive metaphor about literature. In this
study, it can be stated that the negative metaphors such as ''rubbish'', ''balls of string'' and ''spoilt
yogurt'' are the analogies of the students who perceive the concept of literature as a literary lesson
regarding the course content they find complex and intense. The study can be developed with
different populations and samples.