Abstract


METAPHORS OF SCHOOL, PRINCIPAL AND TEACHER IN CHILDREN’S BOOKS AT SECONDARY SCHOOL LEVEL

In this research, metaphors of school, principal and teacher in children's books at secondary school level were examined. Aim of this research is to identify the concepts of school, principal and teacher that are presented in children’s books with metaphors, and exhibit the differences between them and concepts of contemporary school, contemporary principal and contemporary teacher that are defined in modern literature. It is also among the aims of the research to identify the concepts of school, principal and teacher that may be shaped in minds of the students with the help of metaphors in the books they read. In this research, 30 children’s books at secondary school level were examined with the help of qualitative research methodology. Confirmatory document analysis is used while choosing the documents examined. Data of the research were collected by making direct quotations from the books examined by the researcher and these data were transferred to digital environment with help of Microsoft Office Word program. The data obtained in the study were examined using content analysis. At the end of the research, it was concluded that school metaphors in the examined children's books are gathered under three themes in terms of physical conditions, educational conditions and analogy to a living being, meanwhile principal and teacher metaphors are grouped under the themes of physical features, characteristic features, and professional features. In addition, it has been concluded that these metaphors detected in the research have positive, negative, and neutral characteristics based on the meanings they contain. However, it was concluded that school, principal and teachers were mostly represented by negative metaphors in children's books, and school, principal and teacher concepts that should be in the literature did not match with the detected metaphors. In these detected metaphors, school was described as a restrictive place that resembles army, military, prison with its chains, locked doors and barred windows. Also the principals were depicted as over-disciplined, high-handed, angry and authoritarian, and they were resembled to police, guardian, and commander. As a result of the research, positive metaphors about being compassionate, sympathetic, smiling, and understanding were detected about teachers. Although there are positive metaphors, it was concluded that teachers are more prominent with negative metaphors such as being angry, aggressive, harsh, insensitive, closed to change with their horrible characteristics, and being antidemocratic in the books.



Keywords

School, principal, teacher, metaphor.





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