Cover not available

Article published In: Metaphor and the Social World
Vol. 12:2 (2022) ► pp.292–317

Get fulltext from our e-platform
JBE logo with link
PDF logo with download linkDownload PDF
EPUB logo with download linkDownload EPUB
authorization required

Uncovering the structure of metaphorical lay theories of teaching II

What do different teaching metaphors imply about students?

 | Duke University
 | SUNY Purchase College
 | Duke University
Published online: 21 April 2022
DOI logo with link
https://doi.org/10.1075/msw.21008.har
Abstract
Metaphor plays a critical role in how people communicate and conceptualize complex activities like teaching. For example, a professor might be described as molding impressionable students (teacher as a sculptor), or helping students grow (teacher as a gardener). Prior research has largely focused on what metaphors like these communicate about the role of teachers, but many teaching metaphors simultaneously describe the role of students (e.g., students as clay; students as plants). We aimed to extend previous work with a recently developed method for mapping the structure of metaphorical concepts to examine the metaphorical entailments associated with students, rather than teachers. We presented participants recruited online with one of four common metaphors for the teacher-student relationship and found that different metaphors consistently bring to mind distinct, coherent clusters of student attributes and different intuitions about teacher and student responsibility and power – a finding we replicated with a larger sample and pre-registered analysis. Together with previous findings, this research suggests that teaching metaphors can efficiently capture and communicate structured beliefs about both teacher and student attributes.
Article outline
  • 1.Introduction
    • 1.1Metaphors for teaching: Popular metaphors and their entailments
    • 1.2What about students?
    • 1.3The present studies
  • 2.Study 1: What are the student entailments of different metaphors for the teacher-student relationship?
    • 2.1Methods
      • 2.1.1Participants
      • 2.1.2Measures and procedure
    • 2.2Results
      • 2.2.1How do student characteristics vary across metaphors?
      • 2.2.2Are different metaphors associated with different intuitions about responsibility?
      • 2.2.3Are different metaphors associated with different intuitions about a teacher’s power to influence?
      • 2.2.4What was the relative popularity of the different metaphors?
    • 2.3Discussion
  • 3.Study 2: Replicating our findings
    • 3.1Methods
      • 3.1.1Participants
      • 3.1.2Measures and procedure
    • 3.2Results and Discussion
      • 3.2.1How do student characteristics vary across metaphors?
      • 3.2.2Are different metaphors associated with different intuitions about responsibility?
      • 3.2.3Are different metaphors associated with different intuitions about a teacher’s power to influence?
      • 3.2.4What was the relative popularity of the different metaphors?
  • 4.General discussion
    • 4.1Metaphorical Conceptions of College Students
    • 4.2Limitations
    • 4.3Implications for Research and Practice
    • 4.4Conclusions
  • Acknowledgements
  • Notes
  • References
References (25)
References
Blackwell, L. S., Trzesniewski, K. H., & Dweck, C. S. (2007). Implicit theories of intelligence predict achievement across an adolescent transition: A longitudinal study and an intervention. Child development, 78(1), 246–263. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Buhrmester, M., Kwang, T., & Gosling, S. D. (2011). Amazon’s Mechanical Turk: A new source of inexpensive, yet high- quality, data? Perspectives on Psychological Science, 61, 3–5. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Casasanto, D. (2008). similarity and Proximity: When Does Close in space mean Close in mind? Memory & Cognition, 36(6), 1047–1056. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Chen, D. D. (2003). A Classification System for Metaphors about Teaching. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, 74(2), 24–31. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Flusberg, S. J., Matlock, T., & Thibodeau, P. H. (2017). Metaphors for the war (or race) against climate change. Environmental Communication, 11(6), 769–783. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Gibbs Jr., R. W. (1994). The poetics of mind: Figurative thought, language, and understanding. Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Hard, B. M., Liang, N., Wong, M., & Flusberg, S. J. (2021). Metaphors we teach by: Uncovering the structure of metaphorical lay theories of teaching. Metaphor and the social world, 46–70. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Keysar, B., & Bly, B. (1995). Intuitions of the transparency of idioms: Can one keep a secret by spilling the beans? Journal of Memory and Language, 341, 89–109. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Kövecses, Z. (2005). Metaphor in culture: Universality and variation. Cambridge University Press. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (1980). Metaphors we live by. University of Chicago press.Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Litman, L., Robinson, J., & Abberbock, T. (2017). TurkPrime.com: A versatile crowdsourcing data acquisition platform for the behavioral sciences. Behavior Research Methods, 49(2), 433–442. [URL].
Low, G. (2015). A practical validation model for researching elicited metaphor. Elicited Metaphor Analysis in Educational Discourse, 15–37. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Martı́nez, M. A., Sauleda, N., & Huber, G. L. (2001). Metaphors as blueprints of thinking about teaching and learning. Teaching and Teacher education, 17(8), 965–977. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Murphy, G. L. (1996). On metaphoric representation. Cognition, 60(2), 173–204. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Perkins, K. M., Toskos Dils, A., & Flusberg, S. J. (2022). The perceived threat of demographic shifts depends on how you think the economy works. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 25(1), 227–246. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Saban, A., Kocbeker, B. N., & Saban, A. (2007). Prospective teachers’ conceptions of teaching and learning revealed through metaphor analysis. Learning and Instruction, 17(2), 123–139. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Shaw, D. M., 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. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Seferoğlu, G., Korkmazgil, S., & Ölçü, Z. (2009). Gaining insights into teachers’ ways of thinking via metaphors. Educational Studies, 35(3), 323–335. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Sisk, V. F., Burgoyne, A. P., Sun, J., Butler, J. L., & Macnamara, B. N. (2018). To what extent and under which circumstances are growth mind-sets important to academic achievement? Two meta-analyses. Psychological Science, 29(4), 549–571. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thibodeau, P. H., & Boroditsky, L. (2011). Metaphors we think with: The role of metaphor in reasoning. PloS one, 6(2), e16782. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
(2013). Natural language metaphors covertly influence reasoning. PloS one, 8(1), e52961. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thibodeau, P. H., Crow, L., & Flusberg, S. J. (2017). The metaphor police: A case study of the role of metaphor in explanation. Psychonomic Bulletin & Review, 24(5), 1375–1386. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Thibodeau, P. H., Matlock, T., & Flusberg, S. J. (2019). The role of metaphor in communication and thought. Language and Linguistics Compass, 13(5), e12327. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Tobin, K. (1990). Changing metaphors and beliefs: A master switch for teaching?. Theory into practice, 29(2), 122–127. Google Scholar logo with link to Google Scholar
Watson, P. (2020, June 23). Teaching isn’t for Rock stars. Retrieved January 29, 2021, from [URL]
Cited by (3)

Cited by three other publications

Grisham, Emma L., Michelle Wong, Stephen J. Flusberg & Bridgette Martin Hard
2025. The Gardener and the Coach: How Metaphor Use Shapes Impression Formation. Journal of Language and Social Psychology 44:5 ► pp. 800 ff. DOI logo
GVOZDIC, Katarina & Catherine RIVIER
2025. Teaching Metaphors and Pedagogical Conceptions. In Metaphors for Education, ► pp. 75 ff. DOI logo
Porwol, Philip & Ingrid Scharlau
2025. Is explaining more like showing or more like building?—Agency in metaphors of explaining. Frontiers in Psychology 16 DOI logo

This list is based on CrossRef data as of 27 november 2025. 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.

Mobile Menu Logo with link to supplementary files background Layer 1 prag Twitter_Logo_Blue