The role of figurative thinking in performing heuristic functions

It has been shown that figurative thinking (particularly metaphor) can serve a powerful heuristic function in general educational contexts (see, for example, Spiro et al., 1989; Low, forthcoming). Heuristic approaches to education involve the students discovering solutions for themselves, by a process of trial and error. For example, it has been shown that students of statistics who were taught through metaphor were significantly more able to transfer their knowledge to an unrelated domain than students who had not been taught through metaphor (Evans and Evans, 1989).

Cameron (2003) offers some interesting insights into the role of metaphor as a heuristic device. She is particularly interested in the ways in which metaphor contributes to the construction of opportunities for learning and participation. She looked at various lessons in British schools, including a geology class, two mathematics classes, a dancing class and a grammar class, and found that in all these classes the teachers used what she called ‘stepping stones’ to help pupils cross the gulf between their current levels of understanding and the levels of understanding desired by the teacher. The use of metaphor in these stepping stones often played a role in constructing values and attitudes between teachers and pupils. The main point seems to be that, in educational contexts, metaphor often has some kind of alignment func-tion, whether this be to promote shared values, to simplify, or to

mitigate potentially face-threatening situations. Her findings reveal the important role that metaphor plays in creating understanding, and managing relationships.

Implications for foreign language learning

Figurative thinking may help foreign language learners to perform heuristic functions, particularly in the area of English for Academic Purposes (EAP). This is because different discourse communities often rely on particular sets of conceptual metaphors, and in order to gain access to them EAP students will need to make use of Cameron’s

‘stepping stones’ in order to reach a full understanding of these concep-tual metaphors. Moreover, EAP students might usefully be asked to use and evaluate different conceptual metaphors in order to learn from each other. An attempt to use EAP students’ figurative thinking processes for heuristic purposes is given in Littlemore (2005). In this study, a group of International Development students were each asked to teach the other students in the group about their place of work using one or more conceptual metaphors. The students were asked to think of a conceptual metaphor which best described their organisation, to draw that object, and to give a short talk about their organisation, explaining why they had used that particular metaphor. Whilst they were making their presentations, other students in the group were encouraged to ask as many questions as they could.

A particularly interesting metaphor was chosen by one of the students to depict the Russian Economic Development Agency, which he had worked for prior to attending the course. The student drew a picture of a ray of sunlight shining down from the heavens (to represent the way in which the agency sees itself) and of a burnt out candle (to represent the way in which the agency is seen from the outside). The extract from his presentation in Box 6.2 shows how an intervention from another student in the group forced him to consider the future of his organisa-tion in more practical terms.

Another student depicted his organisation, the Tanzanian Prime Minister’s Office, as an elephant. This was interesting as it revealed a significant cross-cultural difference in word connotation. He chose an elephant because it is a strong, powerful and respected animal in Tanzania. During the presentation it emerged that, in Tanzania, elephants do not have the same connotations of clumsiness and slowness that they do in developed countries. This is presumably because in Tanzania, people find themselves in closer contact with elephants in the wild, and they are therefore more familiar with their actual characteristics. People in the

West, who only see elephants in zoos are perhaps more likely to perceive them as clumsy and slow. On the other hand, this may just be a residual folk memory, in the same way that in English the terms ‘old goat’ or

‘cow’ reflect a past that current speakers use but do not experience any longer.

A third interesting metaphor was proposed by a Lithuanian stu-dent, who chose a spider to represent her organisation, the Lithuanian Cabinet Office. She used the image of a spider to connote ‘happiness in the home’. This reveals the interesting fact that, in the Lithuanian mindset, a spider can be seen as a homely, sympathetic creature, and that it does not have the same negative connotations as it does in English. A student intervention: ‘Who are the flies that get caught in the web?’ forced the student to consider who the enemies of the Lithuanian Government might be. She replied ‘the criminals, I suppose’. Again, this shows how being asked to think metaphorically about their organisations encouraged the students to engage in critical thinking and comparative reflection.

Although these examples show performance rather than learning, they do suggest that the explicit use of conceptual metaphors in EAP contexts may make it easier for students to use metaphor as a heuristic device. Moreover, the afore-mentioned activity fits well into the task-based language learning framework, as it provides the students with plenty of opportunities to negotiate meaning, since they need to explain

Box 6.2 The Russian Economic Development Agency

There are actually two metaphors for describing my organisation. The upper … the metaphor that I’m using is the ray of light in the kingdom of darkness, so what I’m thinking is the economic development agency is a ray of light in the dark kingdom or for the governmental organisations area in general. And the other metaphor, which was used by other critics to the same character, was the poor remains of the candle because the scale of my organi-sation is really small … so that could be one of the overall general opinions of the general public about the activities of the agency.

Other student: Your metaphor seems interesting. However, it seems to me that the second one there is not sustainable. It seems after some times like it’s going to fade away this last one. Maybe it should be electric light or something … I mean you’re absolutely right, I mean er it’s very unsustainable in the this sense because if I want to go to the … City Council, and not defend the money that I’m supposed to get as a pay cheque for my employees, then I won’t get anything. There won’t be any light at all, I mean it’s very shaky. So in a certain way there is also some kind of instability which is showing in here.

and recast the metaphors carefully, which is likely to develop their vocabulary and inter-language (Skehan and Foster, 2001). It is also, potentially at least, a good example of co-operative learning, as the stu-dents explore and develop the metaphors together. This type of learning has been found to increase peer motivation, learner autonomy and intrinsic interest (Ehrman and Dörnyei, 1998).

6.5 The role of figurative thinking in performing